The rebuild of my MF 25 disc harrow

[rangerfredbob]

I got this thing for I think $200 or $250 around 4 years ago at auction but it needed some work, it was missing a couple pins and needed some tinkering, it sat for a while, then I moved it to the driveway hoping it would get me working on it if it was in my way, but nope... then just over a week ago I decided enough and drug it into the shop now that I have power... In a day and a half I had two of the 3 pins made and the one missing piece fabricated. All of the bearings are dry and rusty so tonight I got two of the outer parts cleaned up, still need to wire brush the inside parts before I put it back together. Next up though is twisting one of the bars by the ball back to straight, it's just 3/8" by 3" bar... . The pictures show it partially disassembled and some of the progress, don't have a before picture... One of the next steps is getting the AC/DC stick welder from the garage and putting the AC Thunderbolt into the garage, I'd like to run 7018 for some of the next steps instead of just 6011... That vise in the in floor receiver is fantabulous though! I have a bench grinder on another post about 5' away from the vise, very handy, glad I did it... I'm aware that vise is a junk China vise, it was basically free and the 2" tube is light wall so I'm not worried, the big Columbia on the bench is for more serious work .

I'll try to keep this updated if there's interest...

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm interested in following your progress. It looks like it could be a really nice disk once it's all refurbished.

 

[Alan W.]

Like what your doing. I enjoy fixing up older equipment and modifying what I have.
When I concrete the tractor shed floor I may place a few mounts like you have for the vise.
I can see it not only working for a vise but my tire bead breaker.

 

[Avenger]

I'm definitely interested! I love refurbishing, renewing, reworking, fabricating, sharing of ideas!
I'd put some tires on it with a hydraulic lift and a drawbar! But you do you!

Love the idea of putting a hole like that in the shop floor for various tools. Kinda like a hardy hole in an anvil. Swap out tools to what you need, in this case, at an optimal level and doesn't take up bench space!

 

[rangerfredbob]

My little tractor doesn't have a remote or anything but has a couple thousand pounds of 3 point lift ability so 3 point is preferred, I had a drag type disc that was way too big for a while but once I got this I sold the drag disc to a guy that turned it into fountains... lol

For good measure here's what the receivers looked like before the floor was poured, the short pieces of rebar were tied to the rebar grid in the floor, I put 6 of those receivers in in various areas, also put in 6 anchor pots to do some frame work on my rigs with bent frames

Will get out to the shop tomorrow evening and hopefully get the torch out and crank on the bent areas, should be interesting, will probably use some of the receivers to anchor in two directions and have the wife help pull while I heat... the 36" pipe wrench is already in place... I doubt I'll be getting as fancy as painting this guy but will probably at least pressure wash it, we'll see... I'm looking forward to using it this spring somewhere here, it really needs to be flattened again...

 

[rangerfredbob]

I got a cold this week which slowed me down... yesterday I took 30 minutes in the shop to untwist the twisted area on the one ball end, it's a 5/8" by 2.5" bar so wasn't going to do it cold, took the O/A torch and got it hot with the 36" pipe wrench on the link and 2" ratchet straps pulling both ways with the wife helping some and I got it straight enough, little wavy but the ball socket is at abut the right angle so good enough... Feeling better today so I'll head out in a bit and drag the AC/DC stick welder to the shop so I can use 7018 to fill in some gaps on one of the brackets from it running with that twisted bar for so long... I don't feel like fighting with 6011 on AC, I like the old Monkey Wards/Century welder better than that Thunderbolt but no regerts... maybe update pictures later tonight...

 

[rangerfredbob]

Here's early on in straightening the one arm

Here's after I got it as straight as I think it needs to be

Here's the one piece I had to make, it was missing the angled piece of 3/8", I'll admit I was kinda winging it at first and the hole ended up needing to be right on the edge so I ground the sides of the corner I cut off and welded that in place, should be plenty strong...

Here you can see where the area next to the ball on the twisted part wore, it was also bent so I straightened it in the press before welding, I cleaned it up more before filling it with 7018 then grinding smooth and dremeling the welds some

Then I put that one gang together, the two bearings on that are pretty loose, one of them has about 1/4" of vertical play, I may take it apart and take the halves to the belt sander at work and trim until closer to round...

I know some of my welds aren't great, like I said I had some issues with the Thunderbolt, now that I have my other stick welder in the shop any further welds will be better... Oh and I know the mud scrapers need some attention, I'll get all of those tweaked at the same time, wasn't in the mood tonight...

 

[DJ54]

I think you're really going to like that disk. I have a similar model 22. Just the fact the gangs are lever adjusted is way better than gangs that have to be adjusted by removing bolts, then set to different angles. Set to full cut for first time passes over plowed ground, then set to a lesser angle for finish pass. A little more for covering a cover crop that has been broadcast spread.

I mounted a 4" vise on an adjustable stem made from square tubing bolted to a 15" rim. Pretty handy to move it wherever you need it. A heavier set up can be made from a semi brake drum for a base.

I put a 15" I-beam spanning my shop with 3 trolleys and chain hoists on them. I have 3 more to put on there. Seems you never have enough. Great for splitting tractors parking it parallel with the beam, you can have a complete smaller tractor hanging there in pieces.

 

[AndyMA]

Looking good. I really like those floor anchors. I'm doing a garage this spring and will be adding some

Andy

 

[Cougsfan]

I think you are going to like that disc too. One thing that i think would help it a lot is to figure out how to add some serious weight to it. With weight it will dig into the ground a lot better and do the job with a lot fewer passes.