Thats right ... sink that disc to the hub and its a whole new ball game. If your simply discing up the corn stubble getting it ready for a bottom plow you'll pull it.
My 5520 pulls my 12' tandem disc just fine the first pass breaking the surface a couple inches, the second pass at 4-5 inches I start to loose traction and a third pass when I'm plowing near or at the disc hub even with 4x4 I really loose the traction and need to regulate the depth of the disc.
Well blue, you hit it spot on. I would def say my "little E" had her hands full. I'll do my best do describe things since i forgot my camera and was racing to beat the rain.... The fact that the fields were not freshly plowed but covered in packed dirt and corn stalks gave me some comfort actually.
I knew I was off to a good start when as soon as I hooked the hydraulics up I blew a line.

Great, I knew I should have just said no. Anyways, $60 and a new line plus 40 min wasted to run to town and back and I'm back in business. I racked all the wings back, picked up the disc, threw her in high range and I was off down the road to the first field. This was the driest field of the bunch. I figured if I couldn't pull it in the dry, I wasn't even going to try to wetter fields. SO that field is pretty small and is only a couple acres. Pulled into the field, dropped, the wings, and the disc, pointed her uphill (oh boy) and started out in B2 (I have a 4X3 with a power reverser, so midrange 2nd gear) Way to dam slow, about 3.6 mph, so I grabbed another gear to get closer to the 6-7 mph Im supposed to be getting. SO 4wd, B3, and 2400 rpm, (right around my pto mark), and she was straining but pulling, I was stepping on and off the diff lock to kind of help things. Now the only place I reallyhad any problem was a little bit of a soft spot, driving uphill, and the discs buried. It happened fast enough I almost stalled the tractor before I could lift the disc. What really stinks is the noticeable lag in the motor when trying to run the hydraulics while the motor is bogging, NOT A GOOD COMBO!
The weird thing was how much a little grade difference made. Going uphill I had to feather the depth from time to time, Downhill, I could actually grab another gear!!! SO, I would never dream of trying to disc with a 16' transport disc in a freshly plowed field! I didn't have near enough tractor to handle the roughness of the field, or pull it at the speed that I needed to. Now I will say, I was impressed/depressed at how the tractor pulled. I never thought 83hp wasn't a big enough tractor. This was the first time I NEEDED more weight and more power to do what I wanted to do. I can only imagine how poorly this would have worked with worn out tires and an old, tired machine. I guess I should just stick to playing farmer instead of actual farming! :thumbsup:
One funny part about the pulling uphill, I found a WET spot, green grass in the middle of a field that was plowed last year. I started bumping the disc up before I got into it, Its not a good feeling with the tractor turning 2500rpm ,4wd and the DIff locked and you stop dead. Oh BABY! lol Thank god I could back down the hill and get a head of steam up for it.
So the short verison. the E pulled the discs. It was more than I should have put behind the tractor. Never would have worked in a plowed field. And, I found out the wings are coming off so we can make them a little more frield for my E and the 4020. Thanks for the input fellas!