Pull Type Disk Harrow

Bill VA

Well-known Member
Older disk harrows pulled by a Farmall H or M or any tractor without a 3 point - such that it required the disk to be pulled, with no hydraulics to lift the disk on wheels, how did one transport the disk from one field to another? Were they easily adjusted such that the disk blades pulled straight, essentially like a set of wheels?

Any recommendations (including parts availability) for a 6-8ish ft pull behind disk - should I encounter one on CL or at an auction?

Thanks!
Bill
 
There was a latch on the tongue. You pulled a rope,backed up and straightened out the gangs. There was one particular John Deere I wouldn't recommend,but I don't know the model number. The frame was round where it come down in to the boxing on the bearing at the far inside of the gangs. You'll see a cotter pin or probably a nail in a hole in the front and back of that boxing. There was a pin in there that went through a hole in the frame part,but didn't go through the holes in the boxing. It kind of slid in a groove in the boxing. Those wore out quick and the frame would jump out. Then the hole would fill up with dirt. They were a nightmare. Just make sure you get one where everything is bolted together instead.
 
I don't know if there were good ones and bad ones. Mine is a 11 ft. McCormick tandem disk and it works real good. Pull mine with a "L" Case or a "D" JD. Good load for them. As said below, just pull the rope and straighten them out.
 
Growing up we had another farm four miles away. Would load the disc on a hay wagon to move it there. Backed the wagon up to the backside, lifted the hitch to vertical, and somehow lifted it and tied it to the wagon. Don"t remember how it was lifted- we didn"t have a loader tractor then, so Dad probably used a wire stretcher too lift it. Wasn"t done often- our main secondary tillage tool was always a field cultivator. At home we just pulled it between fields with the frame straightened. Road to a distant 40 was gravel.
 
The McCormick drag disks were good. Cut about as well as you could expect for such a tool. Lay a RR tie on top if you wanted to cut a little better. You can set them at several angles from full angle to straight. We used to back a trailer down in a ditch and then back the disk on and haul it if we were moving to another farm if it was much distance. Had wood box bearings and needed to be kept greased. Not sure if replacement bearings can be bought now. Seems like we pulled an eight foot model in 3rd gear in plowed ground with an M.

As earlier mentioned, the JD drag disks weren't very effective as I recall.
 
We had a 7, or 8 foot tandem that had adjustable gangs. Dad always set the gangs to pull straight as possible which it seemed to work very well on compacted tracks without digging in hardly at all. When He got to where it was to used then set the working angle to deep disking. I only remember it being used on gardens. By the early/mid 70's we were into 14 foot hydraulic lift Kewanee, & Minneapolis Moline disks.

Anyway if You don't have far to go (like over a 500 feet), & not over a rock, or paved drive, Pulling is probably fine!
 
Latch on tge tongue with a rope to the seat on the 'newer' ones, back up a tad and pull the latch up and drive foreward, could drop the latch into several cogs to have different disk angles. Back up again and the latch would walk back and the gangs would be straight, then you could drive across grass to the next field. It would take out very tiny strips of grass at times, as just the curl of the disk blade would catch a little sod.

Made a lot of racket on gravel not good for the blades, and no go on tar.....

That was our IHC 12 foot disk, it had 2 wings to add another couple feet per round, you overlapped the wing width so each wing threw one way, then back again the return trip.

The older 10 foot IHC disk had a lever from the latch up to the seat, same idea. It wasn't as flexible.

Paul
 
(quoted from post at 17:22:07 01/31/17) Latch on tge tongue with a rope to the seat on the 'newer' ones, back up a tad and pull the latch up and drive foreward, could drop the latch into several cogs to have different disk angles. Back up again and the latch would walk back and the gangs would be straight, then you could drive across grass to the next field.

Paul

IHC pull type disk angling must exact opposite of my JD KBA. To angle disk on KBA one pulled latch & backed up. To put disk straight for transport one pulled latch & pulled forward,
 
I have a reprint of an old Deere equipment catalog. It states that the "straighten while moving
forward" design was beneficial in case the tractor started bogging down - you could straighten the
gangs to lighten the load without stopping. Once through the mud hole or whatever else you could
stop and back up to re-angle.
 
I have a 7 ft. tandem disc that I pull with a Farmall C with weight added. I would think you would want an 8 ft. one unless it is a really heavy one.
 
KBA and had several including the wheel carried version and never a problem. I liked them. If still farming would have one, And Deere measured the width on the back gang. Only on single disks were they measured on front. When farmed had tilt bed trailer with hand crank winch to pull it on. Most just drug them on the roads.
 
I pulled this very disc many miles on the roads. One farm was 15 miles away.

cubmobilewheels010-vi.jpg


You pull the rope on the Oliver disc as you drive forward to set the disc as deep as wanted. You back up to make it more shallow or straight.

cubmobilewheels011-vi.jpg
 

Some people make a carrier that picked the harrow up. I never made one but maybe I can describe it. They would take 2 front car spindles and mount them to an A shaped frame. Another part of the frame would extend to the front to a hitch that could be attached to a tractor. An old car rear axle was mounted on top of the A frame. The differental was welded so that the axles turned as one. A drive shaft with a suitable number of universal joints was used to hook to the tractor PTO. The rear wheels were fastened far enough apart so that the transporter could be backed over the harrow. The harrow tongue was hitched to the front of the transporter. Empty wheels were mounted on the axle and cables with hooks were attached. The cables were attached to the harrow and the driveshaft was turned by the tractor PTO until the harrow was off the ground. I assume they then chained the harrow up. I think another variation used a hand crank. This same transporter could be used to skid logs.

AS I SAID WE NEVER HAD ONE AND I NEVER MADE ONE, SO I COULD HAVE A LOT OF DETAILS WRONG. I suppose someone using one could use his tractor to move the harrow, lower the harrow, unhook, move the transporter, then hook up to the harrow. Also, I would think that they were a lot of variations on making one.

Back in the 50s someone moved a sawmill in on the property behind us. I remember them using a transporter as described to skid logs, pulling it with a M Farmall.

KEH
 
I still have the old 8 ft kewanee disk and it had a hand crank jack to raise and lower it. It also has a place where I now put a cylinder. It was a real bear for a 10 year old me weighing 75 pounds to crank it up when stuck in the mud, then hope to pull it out and let it down again. Pulled it with the WD, unless we were able to borrow uncle's M, which was quite the luxury by comparison. Then there was the 6 ft offset disk we pulled with the DC case when we needed to cut through hard ground or weeds better. Talk about slow going.
 
Some dealers were selling them in the 1950's. I wanted dad to buy one and he said he didn't want to mess with something that wasn't needed. Most of the roads we had to pull them on was gravel back in the 50's
 
I had one like that, may still be in my disc harrow lineup. Not sure as to mfgr. as mine were all "well broken-in". Deere comes to mind as I have/had several pull types, and some IH. I never transported one on a road. For that I got one with tires and a hyd. cylinder. One thing I prefer and that is to get one wider than your tire spread leaving a little extra width to keep your tires out of the cuttings when on the next pass. So for a 6' tractor wheel spacing I always looked for at least a 7, preferably 8' minimum width.

Another solution to that road problem would be to purchase a more popular these days, 3 pt.
 
I have 3 of them 2 are JD and one Oliver all are 7 to 8 ft wide and they do a much better job than the 3 pt disks I own.Real simple to operate pull the rope to release the latch on the tongue and pull it all the way forward then back up to the slot you want which will adjust how much angle the disks have,when you want to transport back up all the way to the last forward most slot and you're ready to go.All 3 have heavy greaseable bearings.These are all a type of cutting disk(not offset) with the blades farther apart and more dished than a finishing disk.I have a couple of old IH disks to finish with or if planting something like the garden I use a tiller for final prep.I paid less than $100 each for them.
 
Probably not what you want but, why not just buy a wheel disc and use a ratchet to lift it for road travel? If you look close you can find them fairly reasonable and it gives you the option of using hydraulics later. Have seen quite a few on CL for $500 and up. Some are even less. Years ago, I bought a 12' International at an auction for $350. Replaced 3 blades and used it for years. This is in NY so I don't know availability where you are.

Unless you are looking for an era correct one to put behind that same era tractor, this would give you more options
 
Farm show magazine this month had a excellent article on using PVC pipe to make bearings for these old discs.But anyone can make new bearings out of wood if they are somewhat handy with wood working tools.Hard maple was most popular.My dealer said to make them last the longest instead of greasing them.soak them in heavy gear oil for about a month.Grease would atract sand which ground them up. I've been told they would last about 100 acres that way.
 
Thin motor oil so it will soak in, that thick stuff will not. And then grease every half day till grease comes out of bearings. They will last till they rot away. Thousands of acres. And they used the maple because it will absorb the oil, oak or other hard woods will not.
 
Great looking disc,, I have a case model "R" disc that has power angle,, pull the rope it angles to the set limit pull again its in road transport mode, they also had hand controls or later a hyd option
cnt
 
There was a set of transport trucks available for them… They were a speical item, shown on page 36 of my Owner's Manual.
SadFarmall
45072.jpg
 
You can always spot an old Oliver disc from the rear center bolt. I heard that MM bought and sold Oliver disks with their color but never seen one myself. Dad bought this one in the late 1940's. Dad gave me this one when he bought an Oliver 1600 and a larger wheel disc.
 
Henry, I don't know if you ever had a Sears Robuck or Montgomery Ward catalog down there, this would have been in the 40's to early 50's. They both had farm catalogs and sold a lot of machinery. Sears was the David Bradly line and Wards earlier was the BF Avery line. They both had those disk carriers in them and they were designed for all models. I have never seen a set tho as nobody thought they were worth having. Most farms did not have road travel at that time. And if they did it was just too much work to fool with them as there were only gravel roads at that time. Ohio here does not have any gravel rods left but neighboring Indiana still has lots of them in the Amish area that I get to all the time.
 
(quoted from post at 04:46:12 02/02/17) Great looking disc,, I have a case model "R" disc that has power angle,, pull the rope it angles to the set limit pull again its in road transport mode, they also had hand controls or later a hyd option
cnt
e had one of those Case disks with the "power" angle feature back in the 1950's. Two things I remember is (1)you never wanted to pull the rope to straighten it while you were still in soft ground, it would bog down in our soft, sandy soil, and (2) as the disk got older the trip mechanism started to give problems, like it wouldn't engage or slipped; my grandfather traded it for something else after a few years.

Did these have a cast iron housing where a chain ran in oil? I seem to remember having to fiddle with something inside the housing when it was giving trouble, but that sure was a long time ago, I was just a pre-teenage kid working summers on the farm.
 
(quoted from post at 04:46:12 02/02/17) Great looking disc,, I have a case model "R" disc that has power angle,, pull the rope it angles to the set limit pull again its in road transport mode, they also had hand controls or later a hyd option
cnt
e had one of those Case disks with the "power" angle feature back in the 1950's. Two things I remember is (1)you never wanted to pull the rope to straighten it while you were still in soft ground, it would bog down in our soft, sandy soil, and (2) as the disk got older the trip mechanism started to give problems, like it wouldn't engage or slipped; my grandfather traded it for something else after a few years.

Did these have a cast iron housing where a chain ran in oil? I seem to remember having to fiddle with something inside the housing when it was giving trouble, but that sure was a long time ago, I was just a pre-teenage kid working summers on the farm.
 

Use an old 24 plate Massey Harris here, it had all brand new plates put on it a few years back. It bends in the middle so you can turn quite easy with it, does a great job. Think there is less than $200 in this disk including purchase and a few bolts etc ever the years.

The gangs straighten up for transport, while we don't go far with it, no worries going down paved road at a decent speed.

Best part? If you happen to get stuck: Pull the ropes, the gangs straighten out and you can drive right out. If that doesn't work, pull the hitch pin, drive forward a few feet, hitch a chain and pull the disk.
 
Bill,
I have an 8ft folding Deere disc, and my Deere AR has its hands full with it out in the field, especially in fresh plowing. It works fairly well, though one must be pretty quick on the rope if you end up in the mud and don't want to bury the tractor. About where are you? I know there are a few for sale in Northeastern WI at the moment.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top