Coulter for disc hiller

[UncleW]

I’ll post a build thread (if it works) but I’m building a 3 point toolbar hiller to mound up soil around my vineyard rows to protect vines from winter injury. I have most of it built, but I’m stumped on this bit

There are dual hillers on the right side of the tractor because the rows arent uniform enough to do both sides of a row at once without wiping out the vines on the other side. I knew going in that the tractor tends to steer into the row from the drag of the hillers on just the right side

The design I stole calls for a coulter to run on the centerline of the 3 pt to reduce the torque on the tractor. It’s supposed to dig into the soil and counteract the torque

But I’m having trouble figuring out how to buy or fab the coulter without spending a ton of $.

I thought of buying a 1 3/16” blanton hub and putting a coulter on it, but the bolt circles dont match. And ArgiSupply, etc dont seem to sell just the hiller shaft and hub. Could buy a complete hiller/shaft/hub and throw away the hiller disc, but the cost goes up. Before I kludge something up, I thought I’d ask if anybody has any ideas

The coulter doesnt need to be angled so I could just weld an axle onto 2” square tubing, but I’d need to get a hub. Any ideas how to do this on the cheap?

 

[Tinhack]

I'll follow along because I used to raise grapes and strawberries about 15 years ago. Shared more with the birds than I got to eat or sell. Had a 100-year freeze that wiped out everything here in South Texas. I don't do wine, so I never got back into it. That's good because we had another record freeze in 2021 and lost electric for a week. No one is safe.

You don't mention where you are, but I can't figure out how they grow grapes up North. I left Ohio going on 30 years ago. Burrrrrrr.

 

[UncleW]

Palisade, CO about 250 miles west of Denver. Lots of growers here. I grow Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. I have about 1/2 mile of vine row. Not enough vines to make money, but plenty of work to keep me amused. I get a 1 1/2 to 2 tons of grapes if the winter doesn’t kill em. High desert here, so we have 100F summers, but an occasional arctic blast will kill off the buds and/or vines

I’m 72 yo and severed my sciatic nerve in an accident last winter, so I needed to figure out a way to weed, hill up vines, etc that doesnt require as much hard labor as I was doing.

If my toolbar idea works, I’ll build a contraption to weed my vine rows during the growing season. We have free range chickens, geese, goats who love to eat prunings, etc so I’m trying not to use herbicides

 

[oldnslo]

3 point mounted cultivators for corn rows had straight colters for the exact purpose you describe. These typically were U-bolt mounted to the main beam. Not sure if there are any farm equipment bone yards in your area since around here almost no one cultivates anymore. All chemicals for weed control

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Or you should be able to use a coulter off of an old turn plow.

 

[paulsharvey]

I'm following; built a 3 point frame, and looked at using Kulivator hiller parts on a it, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. Had everything in my cart, but shipping was going to drive the price up quite a bit,

 

[DJ54]

Shoup Mfg. makes/sells a bubble flute coulter assy. designed for no till planters. Not exactly cheap, but under $300. https://www.shoupparts.com/NTC4-Shoup-No-Till-Coulter

 

[old and tired]

Something like these?

 

[jfsawatzky]

Check out local farm auctions. Sometimes you might find the exact parts you want, otherwise pick up an old plow to strip off the parts.

 

[masseyrider]

I use a few 3 furrow plows but never on virgin sod. I took my coulters off and never use them. Sitting in the barn somewhere.

 

[oldnslo]

Something like these?

Those look like they rotate some so would not work well fir this application.

 

[paulsharvey]

For the OPs situation; would a old spair tire wheel, possibly with a spring, putting down pressure, work? I would think that would resist the torque better, ans I'm sure you can find a wheel bearing, couple pieces of steel tube, and a donut rim, probably on the side of the road.


I'm not entirely sure how your row spacing is working; do you have basically a 6 ft dead row between your actual rows?

 

[UncleW]

The vines/trellis are on nominal 8 foot centers, but they aren't laser straight and vines don't always behave well. So in the tight spots could be 7’. I keep a center 5’ strip of native vegetation (aka weeds) that I mow with my 5’ rotary cutter. I till the rest so vines dont have to compete with weeds

 

[UncleW]

For the OPs situation; would a old spair tire wheel, possibly with a spring, putting down pressure, work? I would think that would resist the torque better, ans I'm sure you can find a wheel bearing, couple pieces of steel tube, and a donut rim, probably on the side of the road.


I'm not entirely sure how your row spacing is working; do you have basically a 6 ft dead row between your actual rows?

Great idea! I have some old rims lying around. Maybe even a wheelbarrow rim with a Grade 8 bolt as an axle. When I tried it out today it skewed pretty badly. I’m thinking that I’d need a couple hundred pound counterweight over the rim/coulter to drive it into the soil. I have about 150 lb of 2” heavy wall tube in the tool bar frame and another 50 lb in the 3 pt 2” receiver hitch, so more weight would help. Wish I had a hydraulic top link, but that’s another project. The rim would also act as a gauge wheel better than the coulter. Must sketch

 

[UncleW]

3 point mounted cultivators for corn rows had straight colters for the exact purpose you describe. These typically were U-bolt mounted to the main beam. Not sure if there are any farm equipment bone yards in your area since around here almost no one cultivates anymore. All chemicals for weed control

90% of the agriculture around here is peach orchard and grapes. So there isnt much cultivator stuff in the scrap yards. I did find a free 1970’s Burch disc harrow that I rebuilt to cultivate the row middles.

Sad about the chemicals. Around here just about everything is Roundup resistant and folks have to use some pretty nasty stuff

 

[UncleW]

Something like these?

Exactly. Is the linkage above the blade for a spring or for height adjustment?

 

[UncleW]

I use a few 3 furrow plows but never on virgin sod. I took my coulters off and never use them. Sitting in the barn somewhere.

Don’t suppose your barn is in Colorado?

 

[UncleW]

Those look like they rotate some so would not work well fir this application.

Rotate is probably ok so it will roll over rocks?

 

[masseyrider]

Don’t suppose your barn is in Colorado?

Only if the Wizard of OZ blows them over

 

[UncleW]

Great idea! I have some old rims lying around. Maybe even a wheelbarrow rim with a Grade 8 bolt as an axle. When I tried it out today it skewed pretty badly. I’m thinking that I’d need a couple hundred pound counterweight over the rim/coulter to drive it into the soil. I have about 150 lb of 2” heavy wall tube in the tool bar frame and another 50 lb in the 3 pt 2” receiver hitch, so more weight would help. Wish I had a hydraulic top link, but that’s another project. The rim would also act as a gauge wheel better than the coulter. Must sketch

Do you think this might work? Front wheel drive cars often have a hub assembly that bolts to the McPherson strut. Many cheep chinese knockoffs on ebay