#s per blade for disc harrows

[peter_vii]

Hi there,

For those who have disc harrows, I was wondering what is your disc weight per blade?

I bought some Chinese, 8' offset disc, it weights about 1300lb and it has 22 blades. It works out to 65lb per blade, but I found it does a poor job of cutting any field that has not been plowed first. We've added about 300lb to it but still we cannot cut deep enough on some old pastures. It goes down about 2" at best.

I was wondering what is a good weight/blade to cut reliably through sod?
I can probably add 800 lb to my disc but that is about it. For maybe a 95lb/blade.

Am I wasting my time? I see the heavy pull type wheel disc have 150-200lb/disc, but they probably cost a fortune not to mention you need a big 100+ HP tractor to pull them.


What is your experience?

Thanks,
Peter

 

[luckyme2010]

its really hard for a small disc to cut through the grass unless its like you say one of the huge ones i had that problem with a field that hadnt been busted for 15 years i finally just used my bottom plow to rip it up and then ran it over with my disc i use a 6' howse disc and have abbout 500 lbs of railroad track for weight but the grass was even to tough for my neighbors 12' pull type disc also if your able burning off the field will help to for easier discing

 

[sweettractors]

its really hard for a small disc to cut through the grass unless its like you say one of the huge ones i had that problem with a field that hadnt been busted for 15 years i finally just used my bottom plow to rip it up and then ran it over with my disc i use a 6' howse disc and have abbout 500 lbs of railroad track for weight but the grass was even to tough for my neighbors 12' pull type disc also if your able burning off the field will help to for easier discing

I agree. Ken Sweet

 

[clemsonfor]

i put about 300lbs or so on my 4.5foot 12 disk harrow. I figure the harrow weighs 400# ish so add the 300 lbs to that and we have 700 divide by 12 and thats 58lbs disk, i cut through some stuff that has not been disked in 6 years or so, but it was nice n wet to.

 

[schmism]

i also would suggest either a much larger disc (one of those 100-200 lbs per disc machines) or to rip and or turn plow the feild before hand.

 

[sweettractors]

i also would suggest either a much larger disc (one of those 100-200 lbs per disc machines) or to rip and or turn plow the feild before hand.

This should do it at 400 lb per disc. Ken Sweet

 

[flusher]

Hi there,

For those who have disc harrows, I was wondering what is your disc weight per blade?

I bought some Chinese, 8' offset disc, it weights about 1300lb and it has 22 blades. It works out to 65lb per blade, but I found it does a poor job of cutting any field that has not been plowed first. We've added about 300lb to it but still we cannot cut deep enough on some old pastures. It goes down about 2" at best.

I was wondering what is a good weight/blade to cut reliably through sod?
I can probably add 800 lb to my disc but that is about it. For maybe a 95lb/blade.

Am I wasting my time? I see the heavy pull type wheel disc have 150-200lb/disc, but they probably cost a fortune not to mention you need a big 100+ HP tractor to pull them.


What is your experience?

Thanks,
Peter

Add more weight. I have an old 6-ft Towner offset disc that weighs about 800 lb. I use 4 concrete weights that add about 500 lb. Blades are 20" dia--9 and 9. So I working at 72 lb/blade.



The disc is set at an aggressive cutting angle and I pull it at 5-6 mph with my 2008 Mahindra 5525 (54 hp engine, 45 hp pto, 2WD, gear tranny). You have to pull that disc at high speed to get it to work effectively.

I wait for the first rain in Oct (fire hazard, our rainy season is Oct thru May) and then start by mowing the hayfield with my brush hog as low as possible. (That was last year. Since then I bought a 68" wide flail mower for this job--lower cut. I'll be mowing my 6-acre hayfield with that baby in early Nov after the burn ban is lifted and the fire season is over).

Then I run the disc in a criss cross pattern over the field, which is bone dry. After the first soaking rain I repeat the discing and then plant (Kanota oats) with my restored Minneapolis Moline P3-6 grain drill (10 ft wide, 20 drops, single disc openers)--mid Nov planting, bale in following May.

 

[peter_vii]

Thanks guys,

I'll try to find some old railroad rails and weld them to the frame. That should bring the weight to 90-100lb/blade range. If that does not work, I'll stop at that. My tractor lifts about 3500lb at 3pth, but the disc frame might not be so lucky.

As it is now, I can only use this disc after I plow the field first.
Still useful, but it would be nice if I can go 4-5" deep and be done in one pass with the disc.

 

[merrickvilleguy]

I had issues with my mf25 cutting through even with several hundred lbs on top ... when I plowed I had 4" of trash to turn over ... turns into a spongy mess that either just bunched up in front of the disk or the disk just rolled right over it

 

[Ford tractor]

Depends on soil. I would guess that you can weight it down and do that on fluffy soils. But on old sod-bound heavy (clay) soil -- not so much.

Our soils are heavy and I have to use a bottom plow first.