HP Required for a disc?

[Bud in FLA]

I sold my D17nf when we moved to the mountains. I've got a 23 hp wide front tractor now (not US but priced right). Anyone know what size disc 23 HP 4x4 tractor should pull?

Any rule of thumb like how many HP per foot of width out there? Thanks!

 

[old]

Many factors come into play on that. Soil type. Hills or flat ground. Etc. Use the common 8N ford it is around 23HP and on flat ground here in Missouri it will pull a 6 foot disk if it is not to heavy. Last time I did that with the 8N I had at the time I had to remove one of the wheel weights I had on it

 

[David G]

I would think an 8'

 

[rrlund]

No personal experience,but if it was me I'd be shooting for a 6 foot 3 point.

 

[Anonymous-0]

The weight and make/model of your tractor would really help, but since you only gave us HP, and did not state if PTO HP or Engine HP, etc. My best suggestion is to measure the overall tire print width of the rear tires, and buy just enough disk to cover the tire prints. Tom

 

[RodinNS]

Depends on how heavy the disc is... For medium weight tandem discs we usually figure around 5 hp per foot as a minimum. That's as measured in PTO hp. If you've got a 23 engine hp tractor you might have 20 pto hp. If the tractor is a hydro model.... then the available drawbar hp just dropped significantly from that of a gear drive...
Simply put... I think something in the 4-6' range will probably work for you as discs in that range aren't as heavy as I'm talking about anyway. Forget about an 8'. You likely won't lift it if it's a three point model and you couldn't pull it anyway. I've seen an 8' work the snot out of a 45 hp tractor if the disc got cutting good.

Rod

 

[Massey farmer]

If its a compact your not going to be able to pull what you might think. We had a 27hp compact ford 4x4 and tried pulling what a farmall h would pull and it wouldn't so knowing what tractor you have will make a big difference.

 

[RandyB(MI)]

I agree 100% with Massey in that if the tractor is what I think it is then it is NOT going to pull what an "old" farm tractor with 23-25 hp would pull. A 6' disc on 3 pt hitch will be plenty.

 

[IAtractorKid]

Good rule of thumb in Iowa"s black dirt is 7hp/ft minimum.

 

[Deere Scotty]

The faster You can disk; the better job it will do. I would go a little wider than the tires, & that's it!

 

[maxwell99]

I pull this disc ok with my Ferguson TO-35, I do not know its hp, but not too much.

it is a 6ft Altas 300 with grease bearings, 18" disc blades.
I understand you can pull a wider disc if it has seal bearings.
so I would think you could pull a 6 ft disc, light to med weight, if it has seal bearings.

do not even look at a Tufline 6ft as they are heavy duty disc and weigh twice what my disc weighs.

I have been satisfied with the Altas disc.

one problem: most all of these cheap disc do not come with scraper to keep the disc blades clean, (cost savings) without scrapers the dirt, if its a little heavy will build up between the disc blades.

Altas company officials told me to put a small chain in between each set of blades and this would keep the dirt from building up. Its a little redneck, but it works, I am a redneck so I had no problem adding the chains.
but a higher quality disc should have the scrapers.

 

[Graham from New Zealand]

In New Zealand we bought a Sunshine (Australian Massey Harris) set of tandem discs to use behind a 1947 Case DEX (35 HP) on undulating heavy clay country. They were 7 blades on each gang, making 24 x 18" blades in 4 gangs and cut 7' wide. That was enough for the DEX but it did handle it quite ok bearing that for the most part they work best if you can go at a fairly fast pace.(Say faster than you might walk) But those were big bore, long stroke, low revving (1100 RPM) engines and not easy to stall like the modern ones do if the revs drop a little. No wonder modern tractors need gearboxes with a zillion gears in them. With only 4 gears the DEX just opened the governor a whisker, and PULLED!

 

[Bud in FLA]

What I have now is a Yanmar 1610d 4x4 - sounds like it's too light to handle a disc I saw on CraigsList.

When I bought it I did some research and it looked like the 1610d was 23 HP but just now while checking the PTO hp I saw that a more realistic figure for the engine is engine 20 hp with about 16 hp at the PTO. WAY to light to pull a 7ft disc I saw!

Thanks for all the info!

 

[Brendon-KS]

I used to have a lightweight 5 ft disk (16" blades) that I pulled with my Deere M which is around 20 PTO hp. Just for curiosity I once put it on my 23 engine hp Massey sub-compact to see what would happen and it wasn't pretty. Granted, a sub-compact has garden tractor sized tires but even with 4WD it struggled a lot. With its bigger tires your tractor would do a lot better but I still wouldn't go past 5 foot, especially if it has 16" or larger blades. The 5 ft disks made for sub-compacts only have 14" blades, I believe.

 

[wolfman]

Need at least 5 hp per foot. Lot of factors involved - hills, type of soil, etc.

 

[Bud in FLA]

I forgot to add that last winter convinced us - the land here in Fla is nice and flat! Kinda sandy but few rocks and NO snow!

Guess if I start seriously looking for a disc, it'll be the cat 1 Keulavator Frame that Agri-Supply sells - be better than trashing my tractor.

I still miss that old D17 at times! Thanks for all the info!

 

[David G]

I would probably back off to 6', recanting my earlier statement.

The 5-6 HP per foot would work very well. I work the SNOT out of Farmall H with 10' disk, same disk on Ford 6610 do not know it is back there. The 15' disk works the snot out of 4020, would not want any more on it.

 

[Massey farmer]

Hey Graham, are there a lot of Massey Harris and sunshine equipment in NZ? Were they popular over there when they were being made?

 

[DeltaRed]

It really depends on soil 'condition'.A 15' disk just works the 'liveing snot' out of a 96 hp tractor(3rd gear) the first pass after the plow.At other times,disking cornstalks;smoothing 'water marks'/beds,the same tractor easily pulls in 4th or even 5th.In your case,6 ft. would do the job.

 

[DoubleR]

Hugh McKay use to say 2.5 hp per blade in most conditions. I have found that to be accurate in my ground and conditions.
What you are discing makes a big difference.
Discing plowed ground is alot harder than say discing corn stubble or something such as that.

 

[RalphWD45]

I pull a 6' Howse 3 pt mounted disc, with my Allis B tractor, and it is 19 to 20 hp. I have fluid in the front and rears, and 200 lbs on the nose. That little tractor talks loudly, but doesent hesitate in plowed ground.{t is light on the front when turning.

 

[C. Amick]

Where in WV are you?

 

[tim(in)]

I havnt been following the forums for a while? How is old Hugh doing? Still alive i hope?