Homemade Harrow??

[johnnydel29]

I have an old moldboard plow that works well w/ my machine. I would love to own a disc harrow, but cannot afford at this time. I need something to beakup and smooth the dirt after I plow.

I was thinking of building something out of a bunch of scrap metal I have. I am thinking a 4' x 4' sqaure, that attaches to the 3 pt arms with a whole bunch of spkies (I cut solid steel rods to make) scattered w/in the sqaure attached to angel irons. Something like the attached pic King Kutter makes, but sqaure.

 

[MMagis]

That's not going to do what you want. The pictured harrow spins and is for leveling out ground, but not breaking up plowed dirt. Attend some local farm auctions and you can likely pick up a used disc for a fraction of a new one, and you'll have a piece of equipment that does what you need. Even a regular spike tooth harrow (basically what you're describing you want to build) will not break up plowed ground in an efficient manner.

 

[kthompson]

A disk would be my suggestion also. Here you have to watch auctions or you pay too much. People get caught up in the bidding. Watch craigslist, ad papers, if your state has a farmer sale site a good place also to find and ask tractor dealerships, check with farmer supply stores as some have bulletin boards or know who wants to sell.

 

[Egon]

You could make a section of Diamond Harrow and buy the teeth. Rig it up so the three point lifts it which isn't hard to do and like you planned.

In some areas of the agricultural world these were very common and used to smooth fields and also followed behind seed drills.

 

[MMagis]

To me, that’s still a spike tooth harrow and is either used after disking or dragged behind the disk. I’ve never tried mine on plowed dirt, but I can’t imagine it would do much more than bounce. I suppose its effectiveness would depend on the type of soil.

 

[Egon]

They work quite well on cultivated land that has been ploughed. But the land must be under cultivation. They do not work on fresh turned sod .

They actually pull quite hard and do not bounce.

 

[Oldmax]

If you have excess to railroad spikes they will work.

 

[jenkinsph]

I have an old moldboard plow that works well w/ my machine. I would love to own a disc harrow, but cannot afford at this time. I need something to beakup and smooth the dirt after I plow.

I was thinking of building something out of a bunch of scrap metal I have. I am thinking a 4' x 4' sqaure, that attaches to the 3 pt arms with a whole bunch of spkies (I cut solid steel rods to make) scattered w/in the sqaure attached to angel irons. Something like the attached pic King Kutter makes, but sqaure.

I am building a 3 pt harrow right now and hope to have it finished next week.


For what you are trying to do I think a good inexpensive tool is the S tine field cultivator on the Frontier site, it is about $800, 6 ft wide 13 teeth. After running the cultivator over it a time or two, the section harrow should finish the job.


Steve

 

[AKfish]

The OP is tryin' to save some money..

The spike harrow or drag (as we used to call 'em) will work - even on plowed sod - but you'll have to make lot's and lot's of trips; around and around that field! And the first couple of times over the ground will find you on and off the tractor to pull out the big wads of grass and sod that get stuck in the drag. Best to drag after it's dried out a bit, too.

But, you can find a spike harrow for alot less than a disc (or disc harrow; as you prefer) or a S-tine cultivator.

Good luck.

AKfish

 

[jenkinsph]

Cheapest way to do this is to make a frame out of your scrap with about 4 or 5 rows of teeth spaced about 6" apart. Stagger the teeth and set them at an angle between 45 and 60 degrees tilt. Don't bother wth 3 pt hitch just drag with a chain that is welded to each front corner and looped over drawbar.


Steve

 

[AKfish]

There ya go!! That would do the job..

Might want to cross brace with an "X" over the top of the spike bars. Depending on the heft of the materials, it might start to crack and break apart after a bit of use.

AKfish

 

[bassgrinder]

You could also get a gate or a stock pen section the size you want and add some teeth, maybe drill 1/2" holes though the tubes all at the same aprox angle and use 1/2' nuts and bolts with a length that makes the bolts extend a few inches past the nut. When the bolts get wore or too bent you can cut them off and replace them easily. Simply drag it with a chain, and pile what ever on top for added weight if needed. Pull with bolts facing forward for aggressive action and pull with bolts facing to rear for a finer action. Of course there is almost nothing that can beat an old steel bed spring for finale smoothing.

 

[BrentD]

Keep an eye out for old equipment sitting around with weeds growing up in it and then talk to the property owner. My dad picked up an old drag-type disc for $30. Once we managed to get it untangled from 40 years worth of tie-vine and dewberry growth and got the discs all spinning freely it's made a fantastic tool. One of these days I may try to adapt it to 3-point and put a hydraulic cylinder on it to adjust the disc pitch. Right now, you pull out a retaining pin and drive forward to increase the angle, or back up and push the bar in to level it out.