How much weight can be added to disc

[thunder86]

Looking to purchase a L3901 with a DH1060 disc that's 548 pounds. According to the spec sheet that's 34 pounds per disc, 16 disc. If I add 203 pounds of weight I'd have 47 pounds per disc equivalent to a much heavier DH2572.
I've seen the DH2572 on youtube and liked how much it rips into the ground. So with less disc adding weight with sandbags I'd have the same thing.
So my question is can I add 200 pounds with sand bags on this without tearing anything up on the tractor 3 point or disc harrow?
My dealer told me I could go to a heavier disc that weighs 100 pounds more for $500 more, I'm not paying $500 for 100 pounds if I can add weight.
Am I thinking correctly? Thank you.
Looking to disc fallow field that was cow pasture to enhance native forbs and disc maintain switchgrass.

 

[bmaverick]

Cow pasture disc'ing. Ouch. So cow breeds get upwards to 1200-lbs. So, the pasture will be hard soil.

For the front row gangs; notched disc. Back rows, smooth disc.

Your machine is in the same power range as mine. My Disc Harrow is a KingKutter 6FT double gang, double row.
Each cinder block is about 30-lbs. That makes 120-lbs of weight total. Going with more, it can get stuck in the fields. IF the soil is soft, then don't run with the weight in the far back. Instead, stack up front. Works better. Let the rear discs do their own work under their own pressure.

 

[thunder86]

Nice field and pics. At one time this was a cultivated field but that was a very long time ago. Didn't think about the weight of a cow and hard ground but they haven't been in there for over 4 years maybe?
Why smooth in the back? Wouldn't I want notched front and back?

 

[bmaverick]

Nice field and pics. At one time this was a cultivated field but that was a very long time ago. Didn't think about the weight of a cow and hard ground but they haven't been in there for over 4 years maybe?
Why smooth in the back? Wouldn't I want notched front and back?

If you go all notched on all gangs, then the ground will loot ratty and clumpy. The land will then have speed bumps all over the place or it would be like a gofer community moved in. Now, if that's what you are aiming for, that's fine.

Also, on my KK and others I've seen, when lifted off the ground, one can back off the large nuts, and set the attack angle of each gang. The steeper the attack angle the more power is needed to pull. I would rather hit the area twice vs. putting too much hard work on the machine in low speed and high rpms. Not worth it when tractors cost so much now.

 

[thunder86]

Haha good points, I'm not looking to leave it bumping. So the notches ones tear better but leave clumps and the smooth ones will break those clumps up leaving smooth?
As far as aggressive setting on the angle I like your point keeping it easier on the machine. For enhancing native forbs I think your only looking for 50% disturbance to the ground.

 

[bmaverick]

Yes to all your questions and statements. You got it down pat now.

In my pix, there were about 3,000 pines all 6ft apart in dense rows. It was to be a Christmas tree farm, but it went bust. Owners just left it alone for 40 years. Loggers took out the trees, the disc harrow just grinds the old root systems like knife cutters.

One pass on un-touched soil will not show much work. It takes a few passes doing checkerboard style to get it like rototiller powder or PTO tiller powder. Even a criss-cross pattern would work should you have the room to turn around.
When all the weights are loaded on, I have to lock the rear axle for unison pull effort. And just before ending a path, I have to let up on the lock pedal, then raise the disc harrow, else the tractor will drive straight into the woods even with the wheels turned. So, pay close attention to that. It's part of how it all works together.

 

[jeff9366]

If you go all notched on all gangs, then the ground will loot ratty and clumpy.

While I am occasionally surprised by 'exceptions' on T-B-N, few disc harrows with pans of diameter 16" - 18" - 20" - 22" are available outfitted with anything but notched pans front and rear. All these relatively light discs struggle to cut unplowed ground and only the notches make cutting through feasible. (( Dirt Dog and Monroe Tufline offer discs with notched pans in front, smooth pans in the back. ))

Discs with 9" spacing between pans penetrate better than discs with 7" or 7-1/2" disc spacing. Less important than notched vs un-notched, but a factor. Less "float" with 9" pan spacing.

When pan diameter increase to 24" - 26" - 28" - 30" there is enough weight to cut through almost any grass. You need a Utility Class tractor (6,000 pounds bare weight) to pull these.


Box frame discs are adjustable. If you begin with aggressive gang settings, then reduce aggressive set with each succeeding pass, a disc harrow can leave a quite smooth field. For reasons beyond my understanding few on T-B-N seem to adjust their disc harrow gang angles.

ADJUSTING Three Point Hitch Mounted TANDEM DISC HARROWS

If you are considering the acquisition of a Disc Harrow, first read this LINK covering Disc Harrow selection: LINK: Disc Harrow Selection For 18-45 Horsepower Tractors (Revision 2b) The Three Point Hitch mounted Tandem Disc Harrow is a secondary tillage implement. The Disc Harrow is a...

www.tractorbynet.com

 

[bmaverick]

While I am occasionally surprised by 'exceptions' on T-B-N, few disc harrows with pans of diameter 16" - 18" - 20" - 22" are available outfitted with anything but notched pans front and rear. All these relatively light discs struggle to cut unplowed ground and only the notches make cutting through feasible. (( Dirt Dog and Monroe Tufline offer discs with notched pans in front, smooth pans in the back. ))

Discs with 9" spacing between pans penetrate better than discs with 7" or 7-1/2" disc spacing. Less important than notched vs un-notched, but a factor. Less "float" with 9" spacing.

When pan diameter increase to 24" - 26" - 28" - 30" there is enough weight to cut through almost any grass. You need a Utility Class tractor (6,000 pounds bare weight) to pull these.


Box frame discs are adjustable. If you begin with aggressive gang settings, then reduce aggressive set with each succeeding pass, a disc harrow can leave a quite smooth field. For reasons beyond my understanding few on T-B-N seem to adjust their disc harrow gang angles.

ADJUSTING Three Point Hitch Mounted TANDEM DISC HARROWS

If you are considering the acquisition of a Disc Harrow, first read this LINK covering Disc Harrow selection: LINK: Disc Harrow Selection For 18-45 Horsepower Tractors (Revision 2b) The Three Point Hitch mounted Tandem Disc Harrow is a secondary tillage implement. The Disc Harrow is a...

www.tractorbynet.com

Jeff,

He's looking at a 37.5Hp compact tractor with a weight less than 3,000-lbs. He would need something over 50Hp for the 6K you had posted.

As my posted image shows, the King Kutter has notched up from and smooth in the rear.

For adjusting the gang angles depends on the compact tractor. The gray market tractors are mainly rice paddy machines with PTO tillers. Tossing a disc harrow onto them needs some sort of tuning for the angle. It's not hard. Takes just one adjustment and it's tuned for the the tractor. My King Kutter is fully adjustable for the attack angle. Love it! You can see the bolt patterns in my images above.

I've found that adding weight is far superior than the pan diameter increases. Adjusting weight loads help tremendously is various soils in all kinds of conditions. And running with no weights will give the garden or land that really fine and smooth till. This is how plant nurseries use a disc harrow. That smooth till pass allows them to place down the nursery garden black fabric rolls. If adding weight up front the first gang takes the hard work. The rear gang will smooth things out too. Having weight on the rear gang will get the disc harrow stuck and the tractor to stall. Having an increased pan would drive a disc harrow into the ground and can get stuck there. Weights really allow for adjustments on the fly. Been doing this for nearly 3 decades.

BMaverick

 

[kneedeep]

If there is too much weight on the disc frame and the angle is aggressive, something will eventually break. Adding a 100# may be all it needs.
If you need to add 100's of # to it, disc is too small for your job.

 

[mred2]

Heavier disc have heavier frame. Stronger!

 

[bmaverick]

Heavier disc have heavier frame. Stronger!

True with a heavier machine.

In the OP's 1st posting, he has a little compact tractor. Not some commercial Ag tractor. That's what he is dealing with. So, it will be a compact tractor disc harrow and pulled by a compact tractor. Thus, adding some weight in proper places will be the advantage.

 

[Bearsixty7]

Almost every disk I ever saw under 8' wide had additional weight added on it so I decided to just do it right and not have to worry about it falling off or chains or straps breaking or rotting.
The Disc weighs 515lbs and I added 425lbs of weights.

I've only used it once for the food plot but it worked great chopping up most of what I brush hogged last summer. Having the hydraulic top link was a great help as I could level it perfectly on the fly or change the weight front to rear.

 

[bmaverick]

Almost every disk I ever saw under 8' wide had additional weight added on it so I decided to just do it right and not have to worry about it falling off or chains or straps breaking or rotting.
The Disc weighs 515lbs and I added 425lbs of weights.

I've only used it once for the food plot but it worked great chopping up most of what I brush hogged last summer. Having the hydraulic top link was a great help as I could level it perfectly on the fly or change the weight front to rear.

View attachment 694951

View attachment 694953

I like the weight setup. You can mount them facing forward or rearward for a slight change in soil action.

 

[bdog]

My 7.5’ disc weighs 2,018 lbs from the factory. It seems to be just about right. As long as the frame can handle it and your tractor can pull it I say the more weight the better. Smaller discs are notorious for being too light to do any good.

 

[bmaverick]

My 7.5’ disc weighs 2,018 lbs from the factory. It seems to be just about right. As long as the frame can handle it and your tractor can pull it I say the more weight the better. Smaller discs are notorious for being too light to do any good.

Guess your post has no value to the OPs question then. He can't go bigger because he has a nice small compact tractor.

 

[bdog]

Guess your post has no value to the OPs question then. He can't go bigger because he has a nice small compact tractor.

It has more value than your post. I wasn’t suggesting He needs a 2000 pound disc I was merely stating the more weight the better. Make it as heavy as the frame will support and the tractor can pull. Adding sandbags or cinder blocks it seems it would be pretty easy to experiment and find out how much you can add before the frame starts flexing or the tractor can’t pull it.

If OP can’t pull it with enough weight on it to do some good then try making the disc narrower by removing the outside discs Or maybe sell it and buy a narrower unit and adding weight to it. How well a disc performs is directly related to the weight per disc.

I have nothing against compact tractors I used to own a tiny BX23S but when it comes to tillage there is simple physics involved. It takes all my 73 HP to pull my 7’6” disc. Works out to about 10 hp per foot. Equivalent for his HP is a 3’6” disc. When it comes to tillage if you have a smaller tractor one needs to realize that they are going to have to use narrow implements. A compact tractor can do pretty much anything a full size farm tractor can you just have to realize it will be just a few feet at a time instead of 20 or 30.

Many of the implements marketed towards compact owners sort of anger me because they are just too light to do any good. I have owned a variety of smaller tractors over the years and the typical farm store discs and they are basically useless. People plop down their hard earned money and wind up with something that will disappoint them. They are not cheap but on smaller tractors I have found rototillers to be the best in terms of getting tillage done with limited HP.

 

[bmaverick]

It has more value than your post. I wasn’t suggesting He needs a 2000 pound disc I was merely stating the more weight the better. Make it as heavy as the frame will support and the tractor can pull. Adding sandbags or cinder blocks it seems it would be pretty easy to experiment and find out how much you can add before the frame starts flexing or the tractor can’t pull it.

If OP can’t pull it with enough weight on it to do some good then try making the disc narrower by removing the outside discs Or maybe sell it and buy a narrower unit and adding weight to it. How well a disc performs is directly related to the weight per disc.

I have nothing against compact tractors I used to own a tiny BX23S but when it comes to tillage there is simple physics involved. It takes all my 73 HP to pull my 7’6” disc. Works out to about 10 hp per foot. Equivalent for his HP is a 3’6” disc. When it comes to tillage if you have a smaller tractor one needs to realize that they are going to have to use narrow implements. A compact tractor can do pretty much anything a full size farm tractor can you just have to realize it will be just a few feet at a time instead of 20 or 30.

Many of the implements marketed towards compact owners sort of anger me because they are just too light to do any good. I have owned a variety of smaller tractors over the years and the typical farm store discs and they are basically useless. People plop down their hard earned money and wind up with something that will disappoint them. They are not cheap but on smaller tractors I have found rototillers to be the best in terms of getting tillage done with limited HP.

Oh, I value your post, sorry you didn't think mine was insightful. Your your post came across like a big iron tractor use only for tilling with a disc harrow and made it seem the OPs posting for his machine was inferior and to forget even thinking about doing it.

In my postings, images and success with the disc harrow with use of a compact tractor, going full depth of what the disc harrow can doing can be counter-productive especially when tilling in surface compost. Going too deep will submerge the compost to the point the the planted field of crop would never root down far enough to benefit from it.

Should a heavy disc harrow need to be lifted to keep the compost tilled in at a controlled depth range, it would fail and the 3PT hydraulics isn't reliable enough as the tractor moves forwards. Going over any high or low spots will negate that benefit. Now, Bear67 did post his pixs of the top-link hydraulic assist. This is a great way to overcome the problem, however, not all folks can afford a fancy upgrade for a couple of acres or less.

 

[thunder86]

Almost every disk I ever saw under 8' wide had additional weight added on it so I decided to just do it right and not have to worry about it falling off or chains or straps breaking or rotting.
The Disc weighs 515lbs and I added 425lbs of weights.

I've only used it once for the food plot but it worked great chopping up most of what I brush hogged last summer. Having the hydraulic top link was a great help as I could level it perfectly on the fly or change the weight front to rear.

View attachment 694951

View attachment 694953

That is an awesome setup with the weight. Can't believe you was able to add so much. What size tractor do you pull that with? Hydraulic top link is new to me, you can control it up and down from a function? How much did that cost?

 

[bdog]

I just added a hydraulic top link to my cat 2 tractor and my total cost with hoses and all was $400. I think on a smaller tractor it could be done for quite a bit less. I bought the components at agristore.

 

[bdog]

Oh, I value your post, sorry you didn't think mine was insightful. Your your post came across like a big iron tractor use only for tilling with a disc harrow and made it seem the OPs posting for his machine was inferior and to forget even thinking about doing it.

In my postings, images and success with the disc harrow with use of a compact tractor, going full depth of what the disc harrow can doing can be counter-productive especially when tilling in surface compost. Going too deep will submerge the compost to the point the the planted field of crop would never root down far enough to benefit from it.

Should a heavy disc harrow need to be lifted to keep the compost tilled in at a controlled depth range, it would fail and the 3PT hydraulics isn't reliable enough as the tractor moves forwards. Going over any high or low spots will negate that benefit. Now, Bear67 did post his pixs of the top-link hydraulic assist. This is a great way to overcome the problem, however, not all folks can afford a fancy upgrade for a couple of acres or less.

You have got some very good results from your setup. I am sure like anything it depends on location, soil types, etc but around here a light disc pretty much just rides on the surface and does nothing. Very frustrating. In the beginning I, and probably many other people, had unrealistic expectations of what a tractor could do. I remember being so excited bringing my new disc home only for that to turn to disappointment when I used it.

Chisel plowing is very effective and commonly used here but it takes even more HP. A 10’ chisel is all my 150 HP tractor with duals would want. Do the math on that and with a small tractor you basically are left pulling a single shank subsoiler. It will get the job done but it won’t be five or six feet at time.