Weld a harrow disc??

[4wdtom]

Another vote that it's a fools errand to weld it - for two reasons:
1) it WILL BREAK.
2) It would ruin your day to find the broken piece or pieces in one of your tires.

I think I knew this when I asked the question and after reading all the responses now I am pretty sure I will be looking for a new disc.

 

[teddy52food]

I welded one many years ago & bought a new blade the next time in town. Never did replace it. I sold the disk & the new blade went with it. If I remember right, I used a 10018 on on it. 308 stainless should work also.

 

[Ultradog MN]

I welded one many years ago & bought a new blade the next time in town. Never did replace it. I sold the disk & the new blade went with it. If I remember right, I used a 10018 on on it. 308 stainless should work also.

10018 is just a stronger variant of the low hydrogen series.
Most people are familiar with 7018. 10018 just has a higher tensile strength - 100,000 lbs per squ inch vs 7018 which has 70,000.
But it is not the lack of tensile strength of your rod that'll cause the blade to crack if you weld it. It is the alloy/properties of the blade itself. It will harden along the weld line and crack next to the weld. I do agree that a stainless or nickel rod would do better but I still would not weld one. Risking an $800 tire for a $50? blade doesn't sound like good odds to me.

 

[Non-farmer]

Up here in the north we have a disk. Circular blades that cut and throw the ground a bit.

I too am in the north. Pretty sure Michigan is not considered the south by anyone except Canadians

The gentleman who sold me a unit for lawn art, who had farmed all his life and also once owned this property, called it a disk harrow. It has plain round blades. I was curious when I saw this topic posted and had read the first few posts, so I did some research. Plenty of credible sources confirm what Jim.ME said.

 

[caterpillar guy]

I'd pre heat it then weld with 7018 and let cool slowly. Once cool so it would not require it to all have to come apart again if it broke. I would put it behind the nut . I would also probably cut an old disc blade a bit bigger and put one on each side . Then may or may not weld them to it .Would spread the stress and reinforce the break.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Actually broke it 3 or 4 more times before i finished.

If you broke the same blade 3 or 4 times, that's the opposite of "fine."

 

[caterpillar guy]

Barnyard IF you worked the ground along the line of Ridge road across the Shiawassee county MI you will find they have a section of very stoney dirt all the way across the state form Lake MI to Lake Huron. It's about a half or mile wide or something like that. You can almost walk across the field and not touch the dirt. And I'm sure they have been picking stone from the beginning of time. So if I was going to be working dirt that stoney I would weld it and think if it only broke a few times it was fine also.

 

[wh]

If you broke the same blade 3 or 4 times, that's the opposite of "fine."

Why break 4 or 5 new blades cleaning up a 5 acre spot when i could put it together enough to finish the job. It was the outside end blade so it was easy to take off and weld. Was on an old 5 ft drag disk. Was just using it to clean up a new cleared ground for pasture.

 

[showcrop]

It might depend on the rod you use; the rod has to match the steel being welded. If you use 611 it will probably break right away. And, why are you calling it a harrow? if it has discs, its a disc, a harrow is a totally different implement, either spike-tooth or spring-tooth!

4wdtom is not incorrect. A disc is one of various types of harrows. It has become more common to refer to it as a disc instead of a disc harrow.

 

[4wdtom]

Both the Allis Chalmers OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS manual and "dealer parts catalog DISC HARROWS" I have from the 1950s refer to "disc harrows". Norm Swinford in his book ALLIS CHALMERS FARM EQUIPMENT 1914-1985 refers to "disc harrows". So, can we settle on that term for a harrow with discs?

 

[Non-farmer]

So, can we settle on that term for a harrow with discs?

Some of us can

 

[DanielW]

10018 is just a stronger variant of the low hydrogen series.
Most people are familiar with 7018. 10018 just has a higher tensile strength - 100,000 lbs per squ inch vs 7018 which has 70,000.
But it is not the lack of tensile strength of your rod that'll cause the blade to crack if you weld it. It is the alloy/properties of the blade itself. It will harden along the weld line and crack next to the weld. I do agree that a stainless or nickel rod would do better but I still would not weld one. Risking an $800 tire for a $50? blade doesn't sound like good odds to me.

I'd tend to agree. But some if its weldability may depend (indirectly) on how old the disc is: If it's an old horse-drawn implement or something like the old Massey drag-type discs you see sitting in fence rows everywhere, the original discs probably didn't get too crazy with their alloying components - they were likely just a higher carbon steel. If it's a disc on a newer, heavy-duty offset disc or tillage implement that's designed to really cut deep and tear up the ground, the alloying elements are probably a lot different (and less weldable).

Any dealer should have an aftermarket supplier they can order generic disc blades from. The dealers I go to order from CFS, Sparex, and A&I. All have a decent listing disc sizes/bore options:

Welcome to SMA!

www.cfsorder.com

https://ca.sparex.com/loader-machinery-parts/cultivation/harrow-coulter-discs.html

 

[ss55]

Barnyard IF you worked the ground along the line of Ridge road across the Shiawassee county MI you will find they have a section of very stoney dirt all the way across the state form Lake MI to Lake Huron. It's about a half or mile wide or something like that. You can almost walk across the field and not touch the dirt. And I'm sure they have been picking stone from the beginning of time. So if I was going to be working dirt that stoney I would weld it and think if it only broke a few times it was fine also.

With the current Ag crisis should ground that stoney really continue be tilled for row crops? If it is low yielding ground it might be better suited to other uses like hay, pasture, woodland, or hunting.

With recent loss of foreign markets US farmers are now facing 25 percent over production of both corn and soybeans, rising input costs, high carryovers and falling commodity prices. 2026 might be the year to concentrate on lowest cost production to eek out a profit rather than striving for maximum yields and maximum acres. That could be a tough challenge that US farmers have not faced in the last forty years.