What to drag behind a disc?

[scootr]

What to drag behind a disc to flatten the ground?
I've been looking around and raking my brain on this.
I want to add something behind my 6x7 Towner disc to smooth the ground for future mowing of a feral field.

 

[JethroB]

I use a piece of old railroad track about 8 feet long attached by chains. About 200#. We once used a length of old utility pole. Both can be aggravating as heck when transporting or not needed and riding on top of the disc frame. Upside it adds weight to the disc. They do like to bounce off or snag up on things.

The best I’ve used is a rigid frame with a stout board bolted to the disc frame. It lifts with the harrow for transport.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm curious about this too. Seems like there is a round thing that some disc's have that looks like a push lawn mower, but I haven't seen them for sale anywhere.

 

[scootr]

My search has led me to a cultipacker. This 6 ft 465 pound clod buster looks like the best solution but at $1k price and $500 delivery....I'm hesitant.

Amazon.com

I've thought about making something, like a PVC pipe filled with concrete ? I could drill and insert short bits of rebar through it before filling with Concrete to add spikes but then it would need axles and bearings at each end to roll. It gets complicated.

My disc has wheels

Also I found 4ft ATV cultipackers. 2 would work, they are cheap ($250 each free ship) but light and poly construction. I could add weight (fill with concrete slurry?) but I wonder about the longevity of these?

Black Boar - ATV Cultipacker, Implement (E/F)

Used to break up stubborn dirt clods, or pack down freshly tilled earth, the Black Boar ATV / UTV Cultipacker is useful for many different applications.

blackboaratv.com

 

[EddieWalker]

That's not what I've seen on the videos that I've watched. I want an 8 to ten foot disc. Probably 8 foot because I want and offset disc and I only have 70 hp to pull it. I might have trouble with a bigger disc. I've thought about a heavy drag, but I already have one and it causes as many issues as it solves.

 

[scootr]

The disc I have is probably 70 yrs old. The discs are worn smaller but it was cheap and works for knocking down and chewing up weeds, small discs are good for our rocky soil as going deeper just hits more rock.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I'm curious about this too. Seems like there is a round thing that some disc's have that looks like a push lawn mower, but I haven't seen them for sale anywhere.

Something like this. These have become common behind BIG disks that I have seen at the AG shows.

And a 9' disk with 22" notched pans would be a good match for your tractor IMO.

 

[Gee Ray]

I was able to trade 2 bales of hay for this spreader bar. With all the attachment points I can angle it to move dirt if needed.

I pull it with a New Holland TL80A pulling an eight foot Rome Plow. It makes things very flat.

It is a load for the L2501 to pick it up to set it on the trailer.

 

[LouNY]

There are a multitude of items that can be pulled behind a disk, rolling baskets, spring tooth harrows, culti-packers, rollers, logs, planks.
Depending upon your soil and the desired finish results.

And then you can use chisel plows and pull a disk behind that.

 

[careyo63]

What works really Easy and Cheap. I drag a piece of old Chain link Fence weighted down. Esp. when I Drop my rippers and drag it. Works fantastic behind my few hundred feet of Crush Run driveway. Use it behind a Yanmar for 15yrs.. I'm sure dirt or turned soil would be just as easy. 1 pass and super cheap and smooth. I gave 75$ new for the BB. to grade the Rd. The fence came off a old gate that had to be replaced so it was a freebee.

 

[EddieWalker]

Something like this. These have become common behind BIG disks that I have seen at the AG shows.

And a 9' disk with 22" notched pans would be a good match for your tractor IMO.

Yes, that's kind of what I've seen on those videos. I haven't seen one done with rebar, or as cheaply built as that one. I sure hope a good one doesn't cost as much as that one!!!!!

 

[scootr]

All good ideas. One thing about this project is the field had previously been let go. I disced it last summer. I was mostly 5-6 ft tall Mustard. So while the disc knocked it all down there was a lot of debris left on the surface. I tried the land plane but in 40ft it was clogged with the debris and holding dirt instead of letting it pass over the blades. So ~
I went to my buddy's place today and picked up a 3/4 x 8 inch inch dozer cutting blade. Weight is 200 pounds plus. I'm going to rig this up and give it a go... a more or less free attempt to solve the problem...
I do like that 6 ft culti-packer but the price - not so much. No used one around.
My mig is out of gas so no more progress today beyond ideas, keep em coming.

 

[EddieWalker]

I made this almost two decades ago, and it works pretty good on clean soil, but if I take it into anything with branches of any kind, they get stuck under it and dig a never ending trench.





I just don't think it would accomplish anything after disking.

 

[California]

All good ideas. One thing about this project is the field had previously been let go. I disced it last summer. I was mostly 5-6 ft tall Mustard. So while the disc knocked it all down there was a lot of debris left on the surface. I tried the land plane but in 40ft it was clogged with the debris and holding dirt instead of letting it pass over the blades.

The advice I got from someone with years of experience operating a vineyard:

Next time, try mowing a couple of weeks before discing. The shredded and rotting material should be easier to disc into the soil. Instead of how knocked-over green weeds provide a surface mat, where the disc simply rolls along.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

I agree with the idea of cutting it first before trying to disc it under.

I like the look of the cultipackers I've seen in use, but I don't have one either myself, and doubt I'd get enough use out of one to justify the expense.

 

[careyo63]

I never had any problems with sticks or debris. The rippers broke it up and then the BB would catch and hold all the bigger debris. The grass was shaken out of the clumps and never a problem. Stop lift up the BB. and clear it out.

 

[wolc123]

A cultipacker would be best. Ive got (2) 7 footers, one at our place and another over at my parents, about 20 miles away. Each of them were originally 8 footers, owned by neighbors of mine, but had some busted wheels.

I rebuilt the first one about 20 years ago. It was rusting away, back in a hedgerow, and I asked the guy what he wanted for it. He said “a case of beer”. I think that cost me $ 14 or so back then.

The last one had been dragged out to the road by another neighbor, along with a bunch of other “junk”. With (4) busted wheels and a broken frame, I saw that it had potential. I was tired of hauling the one I had back and forth to my parents place. A cultipacker works one heck of a lot better than dragging a log or railroad tie sideways. I offered $40 to the old woman for it, which she happily accepted.

It took me a couple hours to repair the frame, and make new treated wood bearings and spacers for it. It works great behind a 6 ft disk or drag.

 

[Texasmark]

I use an 8' chain link, spike harrow and let mother nature flatten it with rain. Also have had situations where clods are large (clay soil) and run the harrow and then the packer....cylinder full of water....like a cultipacker but no variations in the surface

 

[careyo63]

Chain link is the way to go no doubt. I use to play ball and that's how we did it 60's 70's. Little league. You see it today when they have the field crew drag it. I wanted to make my drag bigger also but it was a Chain link Gate that cought a trailer bumper which I had to cut out. When I tilled it Afterwards it does look like a baseball Dia.. Small rear Implements has always worked well for the little tractor. It my lawn mower and that's my Front yard in Profile. Office window pic..
This is how Set it up also and then added weight were it was needed. 3'x5' Baseball/Softball Infield Steel Drag Mat

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[jaxs]

All good ideas. One thing about this project is the field had previously been let go. I disced it last summer. I was mostly 5-6 ft tall Mustard. So while the disc knocked it all down there was a lot of debris left on the surface. I tried the land plane but in 40ft it was clogged with the debris and holding dirt instead of letting it pass over the blades. So ~
I went to my buddy's place today and picked up a 3/4 x 8 inch inch dozer cutting blade. Weight is 200 pounds plus. I'm going to rig this up and give it a go... a more or less free attempt to solve the problem...
I do like that 6 ft culti-packer but the price - not so much. No used one around.
My mig is out of gas so no more progress today beyond ideas, keep em coming.

I've worked overgrown land and watched several others and never saw a single pass do it all regardless how many implements are being dragged. The conventional apporach is mow or disc,let the elements break down stubble and soften clods then disc again and possably third time to get it right.