Restoring PM disk harrows

[BMan2005]

I got these last year on a trade, a friend wanted my lighter set. Unfortunately I caught a stump with them behind my tractor doing fire breaks and ripped a gang hanger, not cool. Since they were down for repair I致e decided to completely over haul them and make some upgrades to some areas I want to beef up. I will add pictures along the way but so far here is what I致e got, and this is my first time tearing down a set of disk harrows.

Took the gangs off and flipped the disk frame for easier work. You can see the front gang hanger torn here

 

[BMan2005]

This axles was worked on before by the previous owner and had some clever but not correct engineering done I wanted to fix while torn down. Middle spacer is a pipe cut to length and slip between the spool spacers, and the outside spool spacer was shorter and had the blade spaced 7.5” instead of 9”. You can see the small galvanized pipe cut and used on the end to space the nut on the axle. Bought new correct spools for this axle.

 

[BMan2005]

Tip, I sprayed all the axle nuts yesterday with PB blaster and again first thing this morning before jumping on removing the nuts after the tip from a friend. Much easier than the first! After disassembling this axle I found out two spools were busted that you couldn’t tell before. Luckily I had the new parts for this one, unfortunately not a new axle. I noticed it had a grove cut so I’ll go pick up an axle tomorrow.

 

[BMan2005]

2-3 bearings were rough so decided to replace all of them since I’m this far into it. I know I would hate myself to have one go out after putting everything back together. Bought all new bolts and trying to find new u bolts now. Mine are 5/8” I could only find 1/2” in the size I needed. Any suggestions on where to look online?

 

[BMan2005]

Some of the welds are broke or cracked in the gang hangers also. Going to cut those out, grind clean and flat, then reweld them all. Also going to change up the 3pt mounts too. My hopes is to have a long lasting trouble free set of disk again after this.

 

[3Lfarms]

You are doing it right, so it should be as good as new when you are done. Good job! I love seeing old stuff get fixed up and reused vs just thrown away like everything else these days.

 

[gstrom99]

Farm and Fleet has a good supply of 5/8" bolts.

 

[DaveOmak]

I buy all my bolts and stuff at Bolt depot ....

U-Bolts - Bolt Depot

Check them out....

 

[BMan2005]

Hey guys, stepped away from this project for awhile getting settled in on the new farm and just had to prioritize my time elsewhere. We got hit by a tornado and took my 20x20 metal building I used as my welding area with it so I’ve ran power to a metal container shop and doing all my metal work there until I get the new shop finished. It sucks, but is what it is, could have been a lot worse. But, I got all new bearings, axles, replaced what spacers needed it on the disk, and completely rewelded the braces on the gang hangers just yesterday. Now to make a few changes on the frame for 3pt hookup and prep it all for paint.

I buy all my bolts and stuff at Bolt depot ....

U-Bolts - Bolt Depot

Check them out....

Appreciate the advice, Fedex dropped them off Tuesday. Ordered all new square U bolts.

 

[DaveOmak]

Glad they could help you out...

 

[BMan2005]

Happy Easter everyone!! I cut out and repaired a lot of stuff yesterday on the disk frame that had been previously fixed before and just looked horrible and waiting to fail, rewelded a few plates that had cracks, and added some new bracing. I removed the existing 3pt hookup yesterday also and going to weld in some new brackets and move the hookup 4” lower than it was so my 32hp kubota can use them also, brackets are to high for it to lift much.

 

[BMan2005]

Cut out, added new plate, beveled both sides and welded back out.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Cut out, added new plate, beveled both sides and welded back out.

View attachment 650592

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That is about the worst welding job (middle photo ) I have ever seen. Lucky I didn't just fall off after the original repair. Heck a blind beaver could have done better.
Your welding looks great!!

 

[EddieWalker]

Sorry to hear about the tornado. Did it just destroy the one building?

 

[BMan2005]

That is about the worst welding job (middle photo ) I have ever seen. Lucky I didn't just fall off after the original repair. Heck a blind beaver could have done better.
Your welding looks great!!

HAHA!! And I appreciate that man, I was a little rusty not touching my welder in over a year.

Here is another hack job on it, I completely cut these off and making new brackets.

 

[BMan2005]

Sorry to hear about the tornado. Did it just destroy the one building?

Two buildings and a lot of Misc stuff, it sucked. We moved a mobile home out here to live in until the house is built and it got a good bit of damage, about blown off the blocks so thank god they have a new storm brace system for these things. We just reset the few areas it was pushed off the blocks, and our new pole barn not even a year old barely survived but the trusses are damaged in a few places pretty good so I have to cut and replace those areas here soon. It was bad, but what it did just a few hundred yards past us it could have been so much worse. We think it wasn’t actually full force on the ground yet when it passed us because it leveled everything literally a couple hundred yards past the house and on.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Tornados do some strange things. When I was about 14 my friends and I were riding bikes and saw a tornado coming across a field and heading straight for my friends house. Just before it got there it lifted up and went over the house without a bit of damage, then touched back down across the road. It grabbed up a grain silo and tossed it about 1/4 mile away. Like idiots we sat on our bikes less than 200 yards from the path. It seemed to be only about 100 yards wide.

Another time a tornado hit my girlfriends house and sucked all the bricks off the north side of the house but didn't damage the roses in a bed right beside the house. Really weird.
Glad you weren't damaged any worse that you were. Mobile homes seem to attract tornadoes.

 

[BMan2005]

Cut, squared, and about to tack and weld the new 3pt hook up bracket

 

[BMan2005]

Tornados do some strange things. When I was about 14 my friends and I were riding bikes and saw a tornado coming across a field and heading straight for my friends house. Just before it got there it lifted up and went over the house without a bit of damage, then touched back down across the road. It grabbed up a grain silo and tossed it about 1/4 mile away. Like idiots we sat on our bikes less than 200 yards from the path. It seemed to be only about 100 yards wide.

Another time a tornado hit my girlfriends house and sucked all the bricks off the north side of the house but didn't damage the roses in a bed right beside the house. Really weird.
Glad you weren't damaged any worse that you were. Mobile homes seem to attract tornadoes.

I’ve heard that that they will sometimes just pick and choose it almost seems like, pretty crazy.

 

[BMan2005]

Need to drill holes for hitch pins and bolt in Top link frame hook up. I used 1/2” angle iron for the main hook up bracket notched for the top link frame, and 3/8” flat bar for added support to spread the load from the pins. Should be good to go I hope.

Now to sand, prime, paint, and put it all back together.