[Tx Jim]

Some makes & models of disc harrows just won't leave soil level. JD model RW & RWA are 2 models that come to mind. As mentioned ground speed especially faster affects levelness of soil. Are frt & rear gangs adjustable for different angles? Field. cultivator with spring evener will get soil level.

 

[Farmerbrown2]

We have a JD 215 great disc when we got it ,once the blades get worn it's performance goes down hill . Even with good blades on now the linkedge is getting worn so it doesn't do the best job .

 

[r82230]

For years we used a set of drags ALWAYS after disking for hay fields. That was before I got the field cultivator with leveling fingers on the back end. Now I am 100% no-till.

I remember a neighbor who dragged a piece of telephone pole with old bed springs attached behind his disk to level his hay fields.

Larry

 

[slowzuki]

Without a levelling attachment they don't level very well. We pull a spring tooth drag harrow that is 2 ft wider than the disc to do the levelling.

In days of yore here they didn't use discs, only the spring tooth harrows.

 

[FarmerCline]

Discs are considered primary tillage and would not plan on just the discs to get the ground level and ready to plant. You would want to run mulch finishers, drags, and or cultimulchers after you disc. Do your cultimulchers have teeth? You could finish with them if you don't have access to the other pieces. I personally don't like to finish a hay field with the teeth on a cultimulcher. They don't do as good of a job as the drags.

My cultimulcher has c tines. I'm not trying to finish the ground with the disc.....just using it to work down the chisel plowed ground before running the cultimulcher. It just seems like I'm going backwards though in getting the ground smooth since the disc is leaving the ground so unlevel. It sounds like I have tried to make the proper adjustments on the disc without much luck so as I suspected it sounds like my disc is just a pos.

With only having this disc and a cultimulcher to work with at this point what would be your method of trying to get the ground as smooth and level as possible for planting?

 

[r82230]

Rent, borrow (do not steal) a piece of equipment to get the job done right first (level field). If you don't get the field nice and level, I think you will be possibly 'kicking' your self somewhere for years to come with that hay field.

Larry

I should have added, "don't ask me how I know", regarding the kicking part.

 

[FarmerCline]

Rent, borrow (do not steal) a piece of equipment to get the job done right first (level field). If you don't get the field nice and level, I think you will be possibly 'kicking' your self somewhere for years to come with that hay field.

Larry

I should have added, "don't ask me how I know", regarding the kicking part.

Unfortunately in my area that isn't going to be an option. I don't know of anyone that has tillage equipment that I could borrow and there are no dealers that rent out equipment around here.....very little farming that goes on around here anymore and everything is pretty much no till. Sounds like I'm going to have to purchase some different tillage equipment before I work up another field this fall.....not going to help me much now though. Trying to transition to no till but I have to get the ground smooth and level first.

 

[slowzuki]

If the clumps pulled up by the chisel have been killed off and the sod is loosened, almost anything you drag will work better than the disc.

Local options include telephone poles, rail road track, old i-beams, 8x8 beams, old tires bolted together. You need something that carries dirt and is rigid either side to side or front to back so the dirt can fall into low spots and the high stuff gets chopped off.

Edit, I've used 6" well casing with a chain through it as well, works ok. The transport tire drags - just bolted together through the tread or a couple of big loader tires seem to work really well.

 

[r82230]

It's a long drive but I have an old set of spring tooth drags that I would let you borrow. I have personally used them many years ago behind the Farmall H, with the swing drawbar being used. (just so you know the HP requirements). Man that brings back a few memories of what was called 'summer fallowing' in MY neck of the woods. The drags are what we called a 3 section drag, so broke down you could load in the back of a pickup (the 12 foot cross beam might be sticking out a little however).

Larry

 

[IH 1586]

My cultimulcher has c tines. I'm not trying to finish the ground with the disc.....just using it to work down the chisel plowed ground before running the cultimulcher. It just seems like I'm going backwards though in getting the ground smooth since the disc is leaving the ground so unlevel. It sounds like I have tried to make the proper adjustments on the disc without much luck so as I suspected it sounds like my disc is just a pos.

With only having this disc and a cultimulcher to work with at this point what would be your method of trying to get the ground as smooth and level as possible for planting?

I wouldn't say your discs are pos they sound like typical discs. For finishing the field after discing and if the field is not sod run the teeth on the cultimulcher deep and run the field at an angle. With the deep setting and good speed you will move a lot of dirt around. The second time over run the teeth shallower and run the field in the same direction you will be planting and haying. The reason I don't run the teeth down on hay field is cultimulchers seem to leave it a little rougher than the drags do but if you work it in the correct direction it won't be noticeable.

They have various drag type attachments that can be mounted right on the discs. Some fold up if you don't want to use them all the time.

 

[FarmerCline]

I wonder how it would work to not use the disc and just run the cultimulcher with the tines down? The field was soybean stubble so there isn't any sod to deal with. I'm pulling a railroad iron behind the disc but it still isn't fully leveling it out enough.

 

[BWfarms]

I have 3 harrow setups. A pull type crosscut with full set of cutting disc, a pull type with front cutting disc followed by smoothing disk, and a 3 point with cutting disc. I can change pitch on all but the crosscut. I use them according to soil moisture or hardness. You can smooth a field up with one but it takes a lot of speed adjusting and staying on top of your implement depth.

I find the faster I go, the deeper a harrow cuts but I need speed to break up the clods. Cut max depth I want to go the first pass then raise the harrow for each subsequent pass going the opposite direction. This is really the only way if you have limited resources. Have never used a cultimulcher but I have used a chain drag following a cultipacker and it does wonders.

 

[IH 1586]

I wonder how it would work to not use the disc and just run the cultimulcher with the tines down? The field was soybean stubble so there isn't any sod to deal with. I'm pulling a railroad iron behind the disc but it still isn't fully leveling it out enough.

I would give it a shot. I believe you said it was chiseled and if it's good and dry I would think it work just as good. It could take 3 trips over. I have a method that dad did that I call a zig zag that covers a field twice quickly works great on square or rectangle field. Not sure how to explain on here its more of a draw it on the hood of the tractor explanation.

 

[SCtrailrider]

If you have time & material, weld some heavy metal together, not straight across per say but at say a 45* angle, some running one way, others going the other way, when you drag it it will move dirt from one side to another and fill low spots.. Don't know how close you are to Spartanburg but I have a 3pt drag with the spikes sticking down you can use, it would fit in a p/u and hang off some....

 

[Gearclash]

Since it's bean stubble, I would try the cultimulcher with out disking. You've got nothing to lose. If that doesn't work I would disk it, then follow up with the cultimulcher fairly soon, before the dirt drys out. Run the cultimilcher at an angle to the disk pattern.

 

[stack em up]

How level a disc makes a field also depends on blade size. Our old IH did ammuchc more level job with 18" blades than out AC did with 24" blaeds

 

[Tx Jim]

How level a disc makes a field also depends on blade size. Our old IH did ammuchc more level job with 18" blades than out AC did with 24" blaeds

Do you have any facts to prove your statement? If one utilized hyd cylinder stops so each disk harrow penetrated the soil at the same depth & were pulled at the same ground speed I doubt one could tell much difference in the levelness of soil because of disk diameter.

 

[8350HiTech]

Get longer hoses and run the cultimulcher behind your disc with the tines down. Then finish with just the cultimulcher without the tines or with them not as deep.

 

[stack em up]

Do you have any facts to prove your statement? If one utilized hyd cylinder stops so each disk harrow penetrated the soil at the same depth & were pulled at the same ground speed I doubt one could tell much difference in the levelness of soil because of disk diameter.

I guarantee if you ran a disc same speed and depth, you will see a much smoother job on 18" blades versus 24". Like a 14" plow bottom versus an 18".

 

[Gearclash]

In order to properly compare apples to apples you'd have to have the same blade spacing.