JD 2305 - What size Disc Harrows?

[mattmayo]

My dad just bought a JD 2305 (24hp) 4x4 with a FEL. We are looking for a set of harrows for planting food plots on our hunting lease. We don't have a lot of experience in small tractors and are wondering if our machine will handle a decent set of 5 foot harrows or if we will be relegated to a 4ft set?

We want a tubed set that we can adjust the angles and the heaviest that we can comfortably get away with the better?

The specs on the rear lift say 681lbs. Is this what we should stick to?

Any thoughts or experiences or advice??????

 

[nmu98]

Its going to depend on a few things.

1. What kind of soil. Heavy ground takes more power.
2. What kind of tires do you have? Turfs suck pulling in dirt.
3. Are your tires loaded. Getting traction with these smaller tractors is more of an issue than power in most cases.

I know a 4110 with Ags will not pull a 5'er in my soil. I would be looking at a 4' or less if I were you. Get as much weight on the rear as possible to help with tire slippage.

 

[mattmayo]

Its going to depend on a few things.

1. What kind of soil. Heavy ground takes more power.
2. What kind of tires do you have? Turfs suck pulling in dirt.
3. Are your tires loaded. Getting traction with these smaller tractors is more of an issue than power in most cases.

I know a 4110 with Ags will not pull a 5'er in my soil. I would be looking at a 4' or less if I were you. Get as much weight on the rear as possible to help with tire slippage.

The typical soil is a sandy/clay. It has the R4 ag tires and is 4x4.

 

[bp fick]

Not all disks are created equal. The problem with disking with small CUTs is by the time the weight is heavy enough to do some good and the blades get pitched to do any good, you've exceeded the tractor's ability.

Small tractor owners just have to accept this reality. Disking for chopping up clods and trash is fine. Expecting earthshaking ground breaking results is very unrealistic. If you are OK with that, then a small 4'-5' disk is just fine to drag around. Picking it up at the headrows? That's a different issue.

 

[Artesia Aggie]

I have JD 2520, slightly bigger and more HP but not drastically. I looked at discs but opted for a tiller instead. It will cost more than discs but for a little tractor it should work better.

 

[jenkinsph]

I have JD 2520, slightly bigger and more HP but not drastically. I looked at discs but opted for a tiller instead. It will cost more than discs but for a little tractor it should work better.

I agree a 647 tiller would be alot better than a disk behind a 2305. I would use the 647 tiller followed by a small harrow then a tow behind broadcast seeder then lightly cover seed with the harrow.

The tiller works well because when used with a small hydro tractor you can adjust your ground speed to the fastest you can go without bogging down the tiller. Easy to watch the ground behind the tiller and adjust your speed depending on how pulverized you want it to be. The benefit to a tiller is you can get maximum engine power to the ground. This is often hard to do with light tractors, making use of the pto really helps with this.

For small jobs broadcasting seed and fertilizer I use either the tow behind 40" drop seeder with spikes or the tow behind mentioned above. Depends on whether I need to control the spread or not. both of these are reasonable in cost, the tow spin spreader is about $200-250 and the drop seeder is $350 approximately. For larger seeds the broadcast spin spreader would work the best, for small grass seeds I prefer the drop seeder.

Good disks and good tillers are similarly priced, that is a good disk that will till as deep as the 647 tiller will cost close to the same price. The problem you may have is ground speed for disking would require at least twice the speed. I am not sure you could pull a disk 4.5 to 5.5 mph on your last pass with a disk. You should be able to run 1.5 to 2.0 mph with a tiller running 6" deep in one pass.

I haven't bought a disk for my 4520 yet because from past experiences I have found that you need to be in the 8,000 lb range to make it more practical than a tiller. Depending on soil I can run my 673 tiller 7" deoth at about 1.8 to 2.4 mph and have it seedbed ready in one pass. Using a disk or two would require 3 to 4 passes but at a higher ground speed. So I have a hard time seeing the difference in time savings.

Just something to think about.

 

[LBrown59]

The typical soil is a sandy/clay. It has the R4 ag tires and is 4x4.

R4s are industrial not AGs.