The rebuild of my MF 25 disc harrow

[rangerfredbob]

Tonight I straightened the adjuster levers so the spring linkages work like they should and cleaned out one more of the bearings, so 5 more bearings to clean and one pin to make... and I might be able to test it next weekend, last I heard was dry the next 10 days so might be about right...

 

[DJ54]

Does that disk have metal bearings..?? Just curious, my 22 has wooden bearing inserts, as does the model 20. I went though mine 20-25 years ago much like you were doing. 2 of the gang end nuts were loose so took it apart to check the bearings, clean the threads etc. and discovered the wooden bearings. Apparently the PO kept it greased up, as the bearings were, and are still in good shape.

Just for curiosity I went to the M-F online parts book and got the part number for the bearings. Entered the part number in a Google search, and found there is a company that still made them. There was a fellow several year ago on this forum, or another who had a model 22 and was asking what kind of wood to make them out of, he was going to turn some on a lathe. I again looked up the part number, and did the search, and found them again, then posted that link. Made him a pretty happy guy saving him a lot of work.

 

[rangerfredbob]

This has metal bearings, at some point I might look into replacement, we'll see what kinda shape the rest are in

 

[rangerfredbob]

There seems to be a similar amount of play in all the bearings (in the 4 I've had off so far), I'm going to get the things together and try it out before I get too excited, I know I should be able to extend the life and accuracy of the bearings by taking each half to a belt sander (if I had a mill that would be better, but use the options you have...), and since the only working belt sander I have here is the puny type, getting a new drum for my big one is on the list so it's going to wait...

That said it's half together now, the rear gangs are together and partially greased, before I jump to the front I'll lift the back and spin the rear gangs then pump some more grease in there... should be able to get it together tomorrow and hopefully out of the shop!

 

[rangerfredbob]

I forgot to spin the rear gangs before I moved to the front but will do that later... got the pin made for the one missing on the front and got all those bearings cleaned and greased, conveniently I had just enough 45* 1/8" pipe grease zerks since it had 4 straight ones and two of the ones I cleaned wouldn't let grease through...

One thing I missed before is one of the gangs is loose, I tried putting a wrench on it but apparently it's either not a square shaft like I'm used to seeing on discs or it's been loose enough to round out the axle at the discs, pretty sure it's just round since the spacers spin too... Anyway, I don't have a 1 1/2" socket so that's a job for tomorrow... will borrow a socket from work then impact it on...

 

[rangerfredbob]

Ok, here's the pictures from this weekend... first is one of the cleaner pair of bearing clamshells:

Then one of a cleaned bearing on both sides:

Then of the last pin I had to make, this one welded in place where they other just pinned in place...

The lower spring clamp was the junky ground clamp that came with that Thunderbolt... it was just holding the pin up. It's all together now, even put in the 2 new cotter pins it needed... Borrowed a 1.5" socket from work on Monday and got the one gang nut off, wire brushed the threads then put it back together. Will likely just use it a little on Saturday if it's dry enough and stick it outside so I can buy a bunch of plywood and sheet the inside of the shop...

 

[rangerfredbob]

I did get it out of the shop today and tried it, it works but the ground is too wet, just made lines and not enough traction to get anywhere... gotta wait for the ground to get in better shape but it's usable! It'll be a lot nicer to have the 3 point disc instead of the pull type I had before, this little tractor should do better with the 5' width than the 8' of the old pull type I had before... independent adjustment will be nice too, sometimes you want to pull more in than you push out... with it as aggressive as it was in the pic below I made it like a foot before the tires spun, not enough tractor for the conditions...

 

[DJ54]

Set at full cut, you'll definitely know it's back there in plowed ground. Seeing the loader, I'll assume your tires are loaded, you'll need it. Not so bad on the first pass, but on the second pass it will cut in more, and pull harder. Mine will make my Ford 2000 3cyl. talk pretty good, and the engine is healthy, as it's a low hour machine.

They did make a weight bracket for them that fits ahead of the disk adjusting levers, between the lower 3 pt. connection. Mine doesn't have one, and have only seen a couple with them on it. Good place to put rocks you may find in the field, either leave them there for weight, or add to the rock pile that used to collect at the end of the fields back in the day.

 

[rangerfredbob]

Yes the rears are filled, don't remember how much but it's over half, need to keep on the lookout for new to me tires or a good deal on new... If I had a plow I'd plow first but I don't, I think my brother has a 2 bottom I could borrow... my septic drain field is out there so just discing a bunch of times works for me too, I'm not making money on it just flattening some ground. A Ford 2000 is a bit bigger than mine I think, mine's about 3500lb with the loader and 26hp, I lost traction before it bogged down.

If there wasn't so much underground that I didn't know exactly where was I'd borrow bigger stuff, but I don't mind going roundy round a bunch of times , a 6 pack cooler fits next to the seat decent... at least I'm not doing as much flattening as I did last time, this time I just want to break up the top 2-3" and drag things smooth other than some spots that need more

 

[rangerfredbob]

Since I have a post on this thing, figured I'd update it... In May I worked up part of the front yard next to the shop to help take down the burm from leveling the shop then yesterday I pulled the disc out again and worked up the back area of the property, did two passes perpendicular then took the tiller I picked up early this year to it... The disc works good, doing what I did only got down into the sod layer but that's all I was trying for (want to level it out from the stupid gophers and voles, gophers are gone for now as I only had one on the property this year temporarily...). The pic with the T post with grass around it is my tiny pond that's dry for now, decided to work it up and get a head start on next year by not having any grass living at the bottom... I took the box scraper and scraped everything into the back low spot so it should be deeper this winter...

With this tractor the disc can't take any more weight, as it is if it digs in too hard the tires spin... if I had more traction the disc would work better and it would certainly need weight... I could sure use a Ford 2000 or 3000, if the right deal comes along I'll have one...