How much horsepower for a 8ft disc?

Cowboy2005 · Nov 18, 2019

Hey, how much horsepower does it take to pull a 8ft disc comfortably?
I know soil type and how wet it is all plays into that but what would you say it would generally take to pull it?
Thanks

Crookedwrench · Nov 18, 2019

8? would be a breeze for a M Farmall, A pretty good load for an H Farmall. MF 165 would handle an 8? well. JD 50 520 530 would be a good fit. Ford 3000 would be good. Depends upon age and weight and tires of the tractor. Late model FWAs are out of my wheelhouse. Horsepower rating of new tractors is a rpm issue compared to lower rpm heavier units prior to the 70?s

Janicholson · Nov 18, 2019

A heavy or weighted disk in heavy soil at 8 feet width will make a G JD, or 450 Farmall stay in second gear. A finishing disk or a wheel disk at 3 inches is the SH Farmall or Alis WD-40. Jim

Bob · Nov 18, 2019

(quoted from post at 22:39:14 11/18/19) Hey, how much horsepower does it take to pull a 8ft disc comfortably?
I know soil type and how wet it is all plays into that but what would you say it would generally take to pull it?
Thanks

There's a wide variety of "discs" and of local soil types.

A light duty disc in "light soil" doesn't take much H.P. per foot, as compared to a "plowing disc" in "heavy soil".

A few more details would be GREAT, or better yet, some local experience where you want to do this would be more informative to you than any "pie in the sky" internet comments, IMHO.

gene bender · Nov 18, 2019

8ft tandem and two sections of harrow 4th gear M Farmall on all ground later went to 10ft wheel disc with harrow same tractor 4th gear

Brendon-KS · Nov 18, 2019

I pull a Fast-Hitch 9 foot tandem disk with my Farmall 350 (40 PTO horsepower, 35 at the drawbar) in our heavy gumbo ground. This disk is rather light, probably around 1200 lbs, and the disks are about 17" diameter. In soft plowed ground where it sinks in deeply it makes the tractor work hard but not to the point of being overloaded. In firm ground where the disk is only going in several inches the tractor pulls it easily.

Ultradog MN · Nov 19, 2019

As others have said that's really not enough info to give you a meaningful answer as tire condition, ballast, type and weight of the disc and whether mounted or not all make a difference - to say nothing of soil condition.
My 38 hp 3000 will lift and pull this average weight 8' disc easily.
My 50 hp 4000 will play with it.

Traditional Farmer · Nov 19, 2019

As said what type of disk and how big are the blades?I've seen 8ft disks a 30 HP tractor could pull no problem and big bog disk 8 ft wide that would give a 100 HP tractor a workout in deep soil where it was running up to the axle.

tomstractorsandtoys · Nov 19, 2019

I always liked the looks of the 4000 row crop tractors with a narrow front. Neighbor had one and even had a New Idea mounted picker for on it. Tom

JK-NY · Nov 19, 2019

I would say a farm tractor with 35- 40 hp as long as you have enough traction. Not talking about a newer compact or subcompact tractor , they are not built heavy enough for that kind of work.

Mike(NEOhio) · Nov 19, 2019

FIL had two 8 foot pull type and used them behind a couple of E3s with no trouble in heavy soils.

Ultradog MN · Nov 19, 2019

Thanks Tom.
For my purposes it is not very practical but I do like the tractor.
It's currently undergoing a major rehab.

cool hand · Nov 19, 2019

Having the rear tires on backward probably helps a lot!

cool hand · Nov 19, 2019

WD-40??

teddy52food · Nov 19, 2019

I had an 8 foot tandem behind my H Farmall It had hydraulic lift & had to use it to keep from going too deep in soft plowed ground. In running down cornstalks before plowing I could run in 3rd & 4th.

Dean · Nov 19, 2019

Some folks call the WD (not WD-45) the WD-40, or even WD-35).

I think it's a regional thing.

Dean

Ultradog MN · Nov 19, 2019

Ha ha.
Good eye.
When I bought it the tires were set too wide to go on my trailer. As I didn't have the tools with me I had to hire a tire service to flip the tires narrower. I had just got it running in that photo and hadn't bothered to put the tires right.

Texasmark1 · Nov 19, 2019

I'm running a 3 pt 7' with 4 Ford rear wheel weights (about 360# best I can tell) on top, with a '65 Ford 3000 diesel 2wd and other than the front end getting light in a quick end of row turn, stomping the appropriate brake, hard to tell it's back there.....Houston Black Clay, wet or dry. On dry, I go over the field with a Hay Kiing Pasture Renovator first (different tractor) to get some depth of cut then come back with the disc.

When I really want to tear things up, between the pasture renovator and disc, I come in with an Offset Disc, then the harrow, then a spike toothed chain harrow. After the fall rains and some freezing and thawing, like a couple of days ago, come back over the field with the disc set at about 1" penetration and the chain and smooth out any clods.

On an 8' drag implement, the 3000 would probably handle it....if now I know the Ford 3910 2wd would.

miangus · Nov 19, 2019

Disk a lot of plowed ground with a JD 8ft disk behind a late model JD B. That's where I learned just keep going and you will get the job done.

aFORDable · Nov 19, 2019

I pulled an 8' wheel disc for years with a 801 Ford.

DR. EVIL · Nov 19, 2019

Jim - I pulled a 12 ft 4 inch Kewanee disk with 20 inch rippled blades all over our farms, up steep hills and down. Always 3rd gear in plowed ground with duals for traction and flotation, on old corn ground disking before plowing I could run in 4th gear in the level fields and third on hilly ground.

I have absolutely no idea how much weight I would had to have added to make that disk pull hard enough to drop into 2nd gear. 500#? 1000#? 2000#? More weight than the disk was built to carry for sure! Not sure there would be room on an 8 ft disk for enough weight to need to drop into 2nd gear. There are heavy offset disks made for primary tillage. They weigh 2-3 times what a typical tandem pull type disk weighs, and I could see an 8 ft disk of that type being all a good 450 could handle in 2nd.

Janicholson · Nov 19, 2019

I am interested in what tractor you were using, I'm not sure you mentioned it. Jim

How much horsepower for a 8ft disc?

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