Mowing Discing vrs. mowing

[project]

TSC has a 16/14 inch notched blade disc for compact tractors. I have a Kubota 7510 Gear. I thinking about trying to disc rather than mow . I have about 3 acres to turn over for grass control. I 'm not trying to prepare for planting. Winter and spring , the ground will slice like butter. Summer will take explosives. I've done discing years ago and know what it takes using larger equipment. My question is, can a 21hp tractor pull a small disc (don't know the weight) with reasonable success?? thanks

 

[AMR]

I saw the same thing at TSC and have the same question, but with a BX23. The soil I have here in Western CT varies only slightly throughout the year, early spring it will be a little swampy, late spring through the fall is generally nice moist loam.

 

[Sully2]

TSC has a 16/14 inch notched blade disc for compact tractors. I have a Kubota 7510 Gear. I thinking about trying to disc rather than mow . I have about 3 acres to turn over for grass control. I 'm not trying to prepare for planting. Winter and spring , the ground will slice like butter. Summer will take explosives. I've done discing years ago and know what it takes using larger equipment. My question is, can a 21hp tractor pull a small disc (don't know the weight) with reasonable success?? thanks

I wouldnt be afraid to hook on to it! Year ago I had a small Kubota ( a B5100 I think it was?? 2 wheel drive..stick shift..12 HP diesel model) and I used a 4 ft set of disks with it here. Had to add weight to it in fact.

 

[wushaw]

I wouldn't go any bigger than a 48" disk with your B7510.

 

[Sully2]

I wouldn't go any bigger than a 48" disk with your B7510.

?? Its rated to be able to operate a Kubota 57 inch rear tiller. Certainly it SHOULD be able to pull a 60 inch wide set of disks....depending on their actual weight.

I think the small KK set is about 4 1/2 feet wide.

 

[wushaw]

?? Its rated to be able to operate a Kubota 57 inch rear tiller. Certainly it SHOULD be able to pull a 60 inch wide set of disks....depending on their actual weight.

I think the small KK set is about 4 1/2 feet wide.

Yes... but it is powered and he is not trying to pull it through the ground.
The only thing I can relate to it is when I had a B7500 and had to load the rears to pull a 48" KK BB without spinning the tires.
I never did pull a disk behind it.
I did try to pull the disk I built behind my 2wd 15hp Mitsubishi LOL that was a joke...can you say boat anchor and I only had one set of gangs on it at the time..with both gangs it weighs 663lbs and it's only 60".
I still recommend 48" a few inches won't matter.

 

[Sully2]

Yes... but it is powered and he is not trying to pull it through the ground.
The only thing I can relate to it is when I had a B7500 and had to load the rears to pull a 48" KK BB without spinning the tires.
I never did pull a disk behind it.
I did try to pull the disk I built behind my 2wd 15hp Mitsubishi LOL that was a joke...can you say boat anchor and I only had one set of gangs on it at the time..with both gangs it weighs 663lbs and it's only 60".
I still recommend 48" a few inches won't matter.

True...very true! I looked at that series once...just thought they had more "grunt" than that??

 

[HRS]

Project, as long as your tractor can lift it, you should be fine with a small set of harrows. The question comes in to how deep you are able to cut. You will need to load tires if you haven't already. If while cutting you hit a soft spot causing your tractor to bog/dig, come up on the lift a little. Work it as you plow. However, with a small set of discs, you will probably be more concerned with getting them into the ground rather than out. If grass is invovled, they like to ride over it.

However, this is a good way to encourage a running grass to spread. Bermuda loves it when you loosen the soil.

 

[AceDeuce]

You've got plenty of horsepower but you need a lot of traction to pull a disc. Add some ballast and go slow. Think about all those old Allis-Chalmers Bs and Farmalls. They had less HP than your 7510 and were only 2WD yet they could pull discs and 2 bottom plows without any trouble. The reason is because those machines weighed a lot more.

 

[bx23barry]

I have always been amazed at what small wheeled tractors pull in the east/midwest. Here in the Calif. valley Holt invented the crawler because a wheeled tractor was next to useless with a plow or disc hooked to it. Everyone had a crawler out here. D2s-D5s/td6s-td9s were the common tractors around here. I never saw a wheeled tractor hooked to a disc or plow out here until the bigger tractors started showing up in the 60s/70s. Those rubber tracked things are now the workhorses out here. I know a D2 will pull a 5' disc pretty good out here. A 4' disc is as big as I would attempt on a small wheeled tractor out here.

 

[charlz]

Are you sure you want to disk just for grass control? You are likely to get a really nice weed patch going which you will need to disk under a few times in the summer. Weeds grow fast and some are pretty tall so it may make the situation worse.

Charles

 

[bx23barry]

Weeds don't grow in the summer in the valley. They need rain to grow.

 

[project]

Thanks for all the comments. Fire is our major concern here in Northern CA. during the summer months. Mowing wet grass in the wet season is difficult at best. Once its cut prior to summer, its good for many months. We're just now getting some growth in Jan. Discing seems like a solution and not the fire hazzard of a fast moving blade striking a rock. I don't want to spent the bucks for a disc I 'm not able to use. May have to gamble on it. I'll check the capacity of my 3 pt. I think the 4 ft. disc is about 5-6oo lbs. A dealer may let you try it before the purchase but I doubt it will be close to the cost at Tractor Supply. Any additional thoughts will be appreciated. Thanks,

Tony

 

[Mahana79]

i have a 5ft tandem disc i use all the time with my L3400 i have rail road rails added to it for weight. i have rear tires loaded and keep the loader on and 4wd engaged and go to town with it. dont have any problems at all. not sure how our 2 tractors compare though

 

[flusher]

TSC has a 16/14 inch notched blade disc for compact tractors. I have a Kubota 7510 Gear. I thinking about trying to disc rather than mow . I have about 3 acres to turn over for grass control. I 'm not trying to prepare for planting. Winter and spring , the ground will slice like butter. Summer will take explosives. I've done discing years ago and know what it takes using larger equipment. My question is, can a 21hp tractor pull a small disc (don't know the weight) with reasonable success?? thanks

I have a 7510HST. Looked at that 16/14 King Kutter disc (425 lb) at TSC. Also checked out the KK ATV disc (330 lb, 33" wide) that's quite a bit smaller

King Kutter Incorporated

I figure that my 7510 would have no problem pulling the ATV disc.
Don't know about that larger disc.

I like the box frame on the ATV disc. The 16/14 disc has an angle frame that's supposed to be less rugged than a box frame.

One of my neighbors pulls a 6-7-ft wide tandem disc with a Ford 8N tractor (27 hp pto). Discs about 10 acres for his hay crop with no problem.

Last July a bought a 1966 MF-135 diesel (38-hp pto) to work up about 7 acres of hay crop on my place. My neighbor dragged a nice 6-ft wide offset disc over to my place a few weeks ago. I'll see if the 135 can pull that baby once I get that tractor rewired and serviced.

I understand that offset discs are primary tillage tools that are harder to pull that an equivalent sized symmetric tandem disc, which is a secondary tillage tool.

 

[chuckcoug]

I guess I can give you some good feedback because this is what I have been doing for the past two years. Well pretty close.

I have a B7800 Kubota, I pull a Gearmore 60" Tandem Discs weighing in at 525#(http://www.gearmore.com/catpdf/Cat_P25_P26.pdf).

The B7800 pulls it without any problems. During the summer it takes a couple of passes here in Southern California to break the crust layer.

Some things to note>>The discs stick out pretty far in the back. When lifting them you notice. I have a bucket on my 7800 so I have no problems, but without a bucket you might need some weights in the front.

Regarding traction. Maybe 3 or 4 time I have gotten the dirt really soft where the disc have just sunk past the 1/2 way point cause a traction issue. Easy to fix, just lift the discs a little bit. No biggy.

I try to disc after a light rain. .25 or .5 inchs. Work great the next day. If you get a lot more, then you may have to wait a day or two. Mud just doesn't disc well.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you need anything else.

Chuck

 

[kwolfe]

flusher,
I would think that your 21hp should be able to pull at least a 4 ft. I looked at the the KK XB line, and I think my BX1500 could pull that. I have pulled a BB with the rippers digging in with only 15hp. Like the others said, traction is probably your main concern. Add plenty of wieght and you should be OK.

 

[RobJ]

This thread except for a couple posts seem to be if the tractor can pull a disk. Sticking with disking verses mowing I would say they are not the same and one doesn't replace the other. To disk new soil with a light disk will take several passes at least. Unless you run a turning plow over it it'll take many passes to get to dirt. When I started a garden a 10' disk on a 50hp tractor didn't do much until I ran the turning plow. Now I can bury that tractor with the 10' and my tractor with a 5' in the loam.

Plus you'll flip the soil and old seeds will germinate...usually the weeds, then with no grass the soil can errode, topsoil can be wind blown away. I'd just keep mowing. JMHO.

Rob