Heavy Disc Plow

Question: I have a JD 5100E, with MFWD, it's a 100hp tractor.

I want to take over more of the farming instead of sharecropping, about 275 acres. I don't really want to go into debt for a larger tractor so I prefer to keep this one (already paid for).

I've been told by JD that this tractor would max out at a 12 foot disc (or even a 10 foot).

Any suggestions about which disc plow to purchase?

71/2", 9" or 10" spacings ?

Thanks !!

We pulled a 10 ft with a JD 70, 3 gear, and an A JD
2nd gear. Maybe the description is muddled.

Sounds like he's talking about what in my part of the country is called a heavy offset disk. They soak up horsepower.

Well.... typically the closer the blade spacing the more of a finishing and the easier to pull a disk is. Smaller blades,
lighter.

Your 7.5 inch might have 16 or 18 inch blades and you could pull a 20 foot.

An actual heavy disk plow is a massive machine, it cuts up old sod with 26 or 30 inch blades, wide spacing, very
heavy frame, your tractor could hardly pull it on the driveway never in the ground.

So I think there is a lot of confusion as to what exactly you mean by disk, and how rugged a machine you are
looking for.

What are you trying to accomplish with your disk, very heavy primary tillage like a molboard plow, or spring
freshening up of tilled soil before planting? You are kind of mixing up the terminology and combining all together.

In my part of the upper corn belt we have disks, and a heavy disk.

In parts of the south they have disk harrows, and plowing disks I think?

It gets a little difficult to know what is what.



Paul

Better listen to Mother Deere. According to Tractor Data, that tractor's 100 engine HP, 85 PTO (Claimed). In reality, probably not
over 70-75 drawbar.

Ya, that's the way I'm reading it. With a big Wilbeck or similar, 6-7 foot would max out a glorified utility tractor like that. There used to be two old cousins over west of me who farmed together. Their big tractor was a 2630. I think that offset they had was maybe six foot. If the OP wants to farm 275 acres with that 5100E, I hope he doesn't have a day job, because just farming will be a full time career.

An 8-9 foot offset disk would be easy for that tractor to pull but finding one would be the problem. I pulled that size with the JD A. mine was not a wheel disk tho and only company that made a wheel disk that size was Case And I only saw one and wanted it but did not get the chance to buy it. Perhaps a disk tiller or like some call then a one way might be good for first time over followed by a field cultivator or even a finnishing type of disk.

I don't think Deere understood what you are thinking about as a heavy disk
plow would only be found in the south and be limited to 4 or 5 blades. Used
instead of a moldboard plow. And from your name spraying or no till is not an
option. Moldboard plow followed up with a finnishing disk bets option. Is your
ground sandy easy working or heavy clay that is hard working? Even type of
weeds come into figuring things out, small easy to control or diffcult to
controll? Lots more facts needed to actually help.

Ya, we need a better idea of what he's looking for. A neighbor had an 11 foot Wilbeck offset. He pulled it with an Allis Chalmers 7000 with 18.4 38s and couldn't pull it without the duals on it. Even then he wasn't setting any new land speed records.

Soil type will be a determining factor along with disk spacing & weight of disk. I think an 8'-10' plowing type disc harrow will be a load for a JD utility tractor with 75 DBHP

............ and yet another post where proper terminology in the original question would help lead to pertinent answers......sigh....

(quoted from post at 12:55:04 01/22/23) ............ and yet another post where proper terminology in the original question would help lead to pertinent answers......sigh....

Click to expand...

Sure sounds as if Organicfarmer1972 was referring to disk harrow or tandem disk not disk breaking plow to me. Plus I've never seen a disk breaking plow that covered 12 ft or was built in 71/2", 9" or 10" spacings

Reading his name he left out the important information. What he wants is
something that will leave no vegetation to continue to grow and most disks
will leave some. He needs something that will cut every plant off by the
root as his name says no spraying and that would mean only complete weed
free fields when planting and depending on crop if he could cultivate to
keep weeds under control or a crop like wheat or hay that can get weedy but
that you cannot cultivate. I think most disks will at times leave hard to
control weeds still growing with weed sliping past disk blade so need
something like a C shank field cultivator with sweeps to get rid of those
weeds, a Danish tine will just let the weeds slip past. I think most missed
the organic in his name including the Deere dealer thinking he was just
wanting something to loosen up the soil for a non no till planter or drill
and forgetting the no spraying part. Only something like a moldboard plow
will if set properly cut of every deep rooted hard to destroy weed. And that
means full cut shares and not the short shares that can bypass the weed. We
need to know what type of ground he has, what he wants to be growing. If it
has to be completely weed free. How he plans to control later groth weeds.
Every thing that tillage alone cannot answer. Heavy clay soil harder to get
rid of weds before planting than a sandy type easy working type of soil. All
things I dought he has thought of. What works in south probably would not
work here in the Corn Belt or in the North. And western part of stated would
also be different as well as the east. No one answer for him as what works
for Grandpa Love would not work for me.

I saw the organic name right off the bat, that's why I figured he meant a super heavy offset that'll cut deep and bury everything. That's why I said he won't pull much over six foot with that small tractor.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond to my question.

I feel very honored by the many replies.

A little clarification; I live in north central Texas where we have heavy black clay. I grow corn, wheat, and milo.

I had a 7800 JD (150hp) and tried pulling a 24' JD 235 with 7" spacing. It would not turn over the dirt deep enough to bury the trash. One of the farmers said the JD 235 is too light and I needed a heavier plow to bury the residue. One of the young and upcoming farmers talked me into selling him the 7800 so he could use it to bale hay.

So I'm back to square one with the smaller tractor.

Another poster was right about 7" spacings being used as a lever for planting and not for turning over .

Would it be correct that a larger spacing would be better to cover the residue? I have a 12' offset but the 7800 could barely pull it so I feel certain the 5100E would not be a good idea.

Thanks again for the replies-I learn something new with each of them ! (PS; I'm a retired law enforcement officer so hopefully I do have the time now. Also, I farm the traditional way and not so much organic)

Way back when I was employed by JD dealer in N Texas I sold one customer several JD 335 tandems disk harrow that did a good job plowing the local black soil. Later yrs when I custom plowed I pulled a 13'10'' JD 310 disk harrow with my 4255 that did a nice job covering trash

Have had a Wilbeck off-set, 12', made in Hutchinson, Kansas, bought new in about 1970 and pulled with a 820 JD 2-cylinder 820 tractor which was a little underpowered. Later pulled with a 4020 which was a little better. Later used a 5020 to pull it which was a good combination. Used it last summer to work under some wheat stubble and the ground was hard and dry. Pulled it with my 4555 JD tractor which was somewhat overkill. Can't see why you would have trouble pulling your 11' with a 7800 JD. I pull a 21' Krause double off-set with ease with my 4555 which is slightly less HP than your 7800. Don't think you would be happy pulling anything more than a 10' regular tandem disk. Just speaking from my experience here in central Kansas, mostly medium soil with some heavy gumbo spots.

I had been looking for a heavy offset disk to till up weedy melon fields in late summer, and also to turn under rye cover crops in
spring without leaving dead furrows. Finally found an 8 ft Bush Hog model in Iowa, priced only $2500, with good blades and decent
paint. Being in Southern Indiana, it took me a few weeks to get there to pick it up. Dealer said he could have sold it several
times by then so good thing I sent a check. I really like it behind my 100 hp Kubota or my 4020. Could probably have gone to 10
ft but not if there are very many soft spots. Hard item to find in Midwest, but I noticed a lot more in the south and Texas
especially. But anything with much paint still on it had been selling for $5,000 and up.