Deere RW disc score

[carterbeauford]

my local dealer had what appears to be an RW disc sitting in the weeds, I looked at it earlier this year but didn't realize it was a Deere until I did a little research. I can't figure out the correct width, front gangs at 10' and rear gangs are 12' between the outermost blades, would this be a 12' disc? it needs painted, 2 new tires and has 3 bad scrapers, drug it home for $300, good deal? how do I grease the bearings? the only grease fittings I can see are on the lift arm.
 

[DeltaRed]

Sounds like you may have an 11' disk with 'furrow
closers'.Are you sure that the outer blades on the
front gangs are not missing?Those are often
broken.Clean up the bearing area well,If there are
zerks you will find them.If no zerks,then your disk
has sealed bearings.$300 is a good buy.
 

[mb58]

$300 aint bad unless you have to put a bearing in it. Then you'll be looking to sell it to someone else.
 

[Tx Jim]

[rockyridgefarm]

Dunno where you are, but that's an average to low price here in SW WI. I have a 10 foot RWA and wouldn't sell it for twice that. It's a good fit for behind my 60. They're a good, light disk. They can't do much cutting, but do a decent job of finishing.

A better, heavier disk is the BWA and BWF. They'll do a little more work than the RWs. I have a 15 foot BWF for behind my 4430. It's everything that 4430 wants when pulling a spring tine harrow as well.
 

[Rick Kaufmann]

I bought a RW about 5 years ago from a Mennonite farmer for $175.00 along with 2 unused 16" disc blades. No cylinder or hoses. Still had visible green paint on the frame and yellow on the rims. Tires were round and black, though semi-bald, but they still hold air pretty well. I thought that was so reasonable I didn't even try to talk him down. It's a 9' model (#916) I believe with 32 blades. I went out and measured it out of curiosity after reading the OP, just to compare. Front gangs measured approximately 8'-5" straight across and rear gangs measured 9'-7" straight across. The manual has it as a 9'-10" cut. I pull it with my 1958, 530 and it does a fair job of working down moldboard plowed ground in sandy loam. It doesn't level as well as I would like, but with a pass or 2 with a drag all is well. Parts are stll available from JD, though as others have stated, expensive. The only thing I bought so far was a spool for between the blades. It was $69 and change IIRC.

You can probably get a reprint of the original owners manual (OM-B41-754) from JD Plublications, maybe. I bought mine on Ebay for considerably less. Can't remember exactly what I paid. It appears to be an old dealers copy probably bought at some public sale.

FYI and other intereste persons, I thought I would include a spec. chart so you can see the model differences and home in on your model .

Model # Disc Spacing Size Actual Cut Width # of Blades Disc Dia.
716 7-1/8" 7' 7'-6" 24 16"
718 7-1/8" 7' 7'-6" 24 18"
816 7-1/8" 8' 8'-8" 28 16"
818 7-1/8" 8' 8'-8" 28 18"
916 7'-1/8" 9' 9'-10" 32 16"
918 7'-1/8" 9' 9'-10" 32 18"
1016 7-1/8" 10' 11' 36 16"
1018 7-1/8" 10' 11' 36 18"
1216 7-1/8" 12' 12'-2" 40 16"
1218 7-1/8" 12' 12'-2" 40 18"
1416 7-1/8" 14' 14'-6" 48 16"
1418 7-1/8" 14' 14'-6" 48 18"

Hope this helps.
Rick
 

[Rick Kaufmann]

Forgot to mention in previous post, my disc did not have scrapers. You should have 6 grease zerks on the front gangs and 6 on the rear gangs, along with 4 on the the wheel frame cross bar.
Rick
 

[torwood9]

Bought a RWA for a $100 with cylinder and excellent paint 4 years ago. It got us started out and now we use it for food plots. It does the job.
 

[carterbeauford]

can I change from 16" to 18" blades? I'll probably replace all the blades as part of the restoration. it isn't digging real deep since my 1941 John Deere B can pull it in 3rd gear. struggles but still pulls it. I'll get some pictures tomorrow.
 

[Tx Jim]

According to the parts catalog #452(16'',18" or 20") disks could be ordered on a RW & RWA with the same frame components.
 

[Leroy]

A 16" blade is equivlent to a wore out ready to throw away blade. 18" will pull easier and do better work. With the larger size figuring the angle it will cot most of the soil between the blades instead of just cutting a grove like the smaller blade will do. Now with that Deere disk thw angle is not adjustable so this does not afect it but on an adjustable angle disk you can run one or two settings straighter with the 18" blades and do as good a job as full angle on the 16" blade. That is why the Deere disks have no resale value around here. I would have trouble giving away a Deere in a 6 or 7 blade size here and McCormick with angle adjustment would sell for guessing $800 but have found none avaible. Larger size Deeres just when they come up for auction get bought by scrapers. And for that tractor with a good cutting disk you would never pull a 6 blade on a side in over second gear and most likely low gear. Mine was a 46 B, 6 blade, low gear, would travel at same speed in that as the 49 B in third.
 

[carterbeauford]

[carterbeauford]

when I install the new blades, do the blades on the rear axle have to be installed with the concavity facing inwards? this is how they were when I got it, and every RW I've seen is like this. got the axles off, bearings cleaned up, all the old discs off.
 

[Tx Jim]

[carterbeauford]

forgot to disclaim dumb question.