Farming with 4630/ 230 disk

dieselfume · Apr 10, 2015

I've been farming up a small piece of hayfield to replant the last couple days with our newer 4630 and a JD 230 disk (black gangs) Is there any way to get this disk to stop making a valley in the middle? I've tried adjusting the turnbuckle on the tongue, but all that seems to do is drop the rear of the disk down lower when raised.

This disk also has had a habit of busting the center out of the disk blades. Old or new. We have no rocks but we do use it as the primary tilling tool when re-planting hay fields that have been producing 15 years at a time. This field I'm working on was tilling up so well (disk really sinking in) that it had this 4630 pulling and hopping the front end much of the first pass driving in b1/b2.

Some research I've done on this disk has only shown that there isn't much of a following for JD disks. but several people who hate them. Wish I knew that before I bought it.

Not much for bearing problems, but putting in a new disk blade every 100 acres is getting a little old, and pricy.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

sideconsole4020guy · Apr 10, 2015

Deere disks suck. Plain and simple. I am not sure how you can get it to go that deep. Around here deere disks are called fluffers.

Jethro Lilley · Apr 11, 2015

Ditto... We farmed back in the 50' through the 90's with all JD green machines... except
for the red IH disk.

Tx Jim · Apr 11, 2015

IIRC JD area service manager stated disks with centers broken out centers was caused from not enough torque on disk gang nut.

On removing valley behind harrow have you tried tighten the nuts(parts key 1) to raise the frt of the disk harrow???

newgenjdcollector · Apr 11, 2015

Have you tried reducing the pitch of the front gangs. Also, does it have the deep coned blades?

dieselfume · Apr 11, 2015

No I have not. I'll try that today. Thanks Jim.

dieselfume · Apr 11, 2015

It has 22inch cone blades. Purchased .25 inch thick blades last time I was at the dealership instead of the .177 factory units. I'm betting I'll never break them.

dieselfume · Apr 11, 2015

As for the gang nuts, when we bought the disk we immediately had problems with the gangs loosening. So we went and bought an extra nut for each of the 8 gangs as a jam nut (the rod only had one when we bought it.). This helped ALOT. When I change out a disk, I tighten the nuts to the point where I'm jumping on the 2 foot wrench to get it as tight as a possibly can. I'm not having problems with the centers wearing out on the square shaft from the disks walking, just busting the centers out around the cast iron spacers that separate them. Looks like fatigue?.

Tx Jim · Apr 11, 2015

(quoted from post at 07:30:53 04/11/15) When I change out a disk, I tighten the nuts to the point where I'm jumping on the 2 foot wrench to get it as tight as a possibly can. , just busting the centers out around the cast iron spacers that separate them.

I can guarantee you jumping on a 2 foot wrench isn't near enough torque. You need to put a 6 ft cheater pipe on wrench and apply at least 200#s of body weight to end of pipe until nut will not turn any more. Back in the day I assembled many new JD plows & disk harrows.

Disk harrow's that I've seen came with double nuts on disk shaft from the factory with one of the nuts being a crimped lock nut.

Also on harrow not leveling I've also seen broken spring inside the tube where nuts(parts key 1) are located.

Mike Aylward · Apr 11, 2015

The turnbuckle on the hitch is NOT for leveling the disk. It is for leveling the frame for transport. Once it is set, leave it alone. The disk is leveled front to back by the nuts behind the spring on the lift linkage (see Jim's picture). To raise the front of the disk, tighten the nuts. To lower the front, do the reverse. If you are running cone blades at full angle it will be difficult to bring in all the dirt in the back. Deere disks of that vintage have the rear gangs 2 degrees less than the front when set the same. Odds are if you have messed with the front turnbuckle your front gangs are plowing and the rear is just floating along. Set the hitch FIRST, then adjust the spring pressure for leveling. That should help your disk work better. Most disks of this vintage are set miserably wrong and then get blamed for having inherent design flaws. They are a good disk if set properly. They just take some more time to do so. Mike

larryanderson · Apr 11, 2015

I bought a tractor from a man and in the deal I had to buy a JD disc and someother items.I figuered the disc was worth what it weighed as it had the 22in cone blades that are useless in our area.I advertised it before I took it to a consignment sale and a guy drove 200 miles as he said he had sandy soil and they worked fine.Only call I got but he was a buyer.

dieselfume · Apr 11, 2015

ok, I leveled the disk when fully raised with the turnbuckle.

Then I lowered the disk, and ran the nuts in incrementally. I ended up with them all the way in which was compressing the spring about 2-3 inches when fully lowered. It seemed to help some, but didn't fully fix the problem. I have some slop in the two eyelets of the turnbuckle, so I'm wondering if that could be part of the issue too. What's weird is, if I run it with the tires fully raised, I get a valley. If I let the tires fall to where they just touch, the valley is gone, but I start to lose my cutting depth.

The disk has it's gangs set at full angle, so I may not be able to get all the dirt pulled back like you mentioned. It's a little better now than it was, so that's helpful. I might try and add some washers under the nuts to see if I can put more pressure on the spring. The condition of the spring looked fine.

ejr-IA. · Apr 11, 2015

I have a 235 basically same disk it is a self leveling but you have to turn the hand crank to level it for rear and front depth.As fore blades I switched to IH earth metal 22'' blades.Mines the 19' 11''and also pull it with a 4630.

Kent Petersen · Apr 11, 2015

Don't blame the disk if you cant auj it correctly. read the owners manual there is lots of good info in there

Ken11487 · Apr 11, 2015

College prof told us max speed for any disk was 4 mph or you are throwing diet too far.

dieselfume · Apr 11, 2015

interesting. I've been told by many that 4 mph is much to slow to run a disk because they won't cut well. they told me target mph is 5-6? Maybe this is incorrect?

rockyridgefarm · Apr 12, 2015

Deere did make some poor disks, like the AW and the KBA, but I have to defend my disk. I Have a BWF I am well pleased with.

Full cut is surely gonna be harder on the disk blades. If you're roughing up unplowed ground, you may want to consider going to notched blades. They're much more aggressive and made for the job. I have a TWA that needs all new blades, but haven't had the time nor the need to get it fixed up. Even with worn out notched blades, it'll do a lot more tillage than my BWF.

Tx Jim · Apr 12, 2015

(quoted from post at 08:37:24 04/12/15) Deere did make some poor disks, like the AW and the KBA, but I have to defend my disk.

I'd take a JD AW over a RW/RWA/KBA any day

sideconsole4020guy · Apr 12, 2015

The first disk dad bought was an AW. He only had it for a year. He refers to them to this day as "All Wrong". The BW is "Beyond Wrong".
We now have a 14 foot Krause and 16 foot Bush Hog disks. Those disks do a great job.

Tx Jim · Apr 12, 2015

IMHO BW/BWA weren't that bad of a disk harrow

sideconsole4020guy · Apr 12, 2015

They just aren't heavy enough for the ground we have

rockyridgefarm · Apr 12, 2015

(quoted from post at 09:35:42 04/12/15) They just aren't heavy enough for the ground we have

My ground is quite heavy and I still like my BWF.

The biggest problem with your dad's BW would have been the too-short hitch. Otherwise, it should have been a pretty good rig. A BWF or BWA is better, though.

I forgot to add any Disk ending in "10" for bad John Deere disks....

Farming with 4630/ 230 disk

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