3PH Tiller or Disc Harrow?

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loboloco said:

I did it once with a pto driven tiller. Went back to harrows after that.

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OT, but what size tractor do you need to run harrows? They are cheaper than a PTO tiller I suspect. What is the down side to harrows? Do they make 6' harrows?

Re: Did not Expect this today

Doc said:

OT, but what size tractor do you need to run harrows? They are cheaper than a PTO tiller I suspect. What is the down side to harrows? Do they make 6' harrows?

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Tractor size depends on harrow size. Harrows range from 4' to 32' gang harrows. same with plows.
Was pulling a 6' tiller with a 3020 JD when I tangled with wire. Went back to harrows for safety reasons. Tillers can and do throw the wire. Harrows may wrap up, but don't throw it. Usually they just cut it up.

I have a 30HP tractor.
What would be advantages and disadvantages of harrows?

Advantages I can think of:
No 3ph hook up required.

Disadvantages:
bigger footprint (more space needed to store harrow)


What others are there?

What are your goals? For smaller areas a tiller will be easier. A harrow would be great for a large field.

I'd like to be able to do medium to large, large being an acre or two.

The way I see it is the tiller will chew things up more in a single slow pass. The disc is going to take multiple passes at a higher speed. I've tilled up an acre at a time and it takes a while. I've never owned a disc but if I had to do more than an acre at once then I would buy a small disc.

How about the price difference in them. I think my 30hp tractor could handle a 6' disc harrow or a 6' tiller. Which would be cheaper?

Doc said:

How about the price difference in them. I think my 30hp tractor could handle a 6' disc harrow or a 6' tiller. Which would be cheaper?

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Its been awhile since I checked Doc but I,d say the 6 foot disc harrow should be not much more then half the cost of the tiller , Depends on where you buy it on how heavy duty it is .

Also I think you could go wider if you wanted to with 30 HP , depending on the soil conditions , since it doesn,t depend on the PTO to drive it . I,m looking for at least a 7 footer for mine but I think I could handle 8 foot wide my new ones also 30 HP . Mines fairlly sandy soil though . Dont know if that helps or not .

That helps Cowboy, thanks.
And it brings up another point I intended to mention. I have R4's on my tractor. I'm thinking tires play are more important role when disc harrowing vs a tiller that tills it all up for you. Plus my soil is clay. Tough stuff. Would I have to upgrade to Ag's to do the job with a disc harrow?

Heres the ones i,ve been looking at . Not much price difference for the extra foot width .

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...s&cm_ite=256099?ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=256099


http://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...s&cm_ite=256101?ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=256101

Doc said:

That helps Cowboy, thanks.
And it brings up another point I intended to mention. I have R4's on my tractor. I'm thinking tires play are more important role when disc harrowing vs a tiller that tills it all up for you. Plus my soil is clay. Tough stuff. Would I have to upgrade to Ag's to do the job with a disc harrow?

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Doc I thought about that as I thought thats what you had on yours . Ags darn sure make a difference but its hard for me to say about the clay & how it would pull . I,m actually taking a chance wanting to go wider on mine . But they are adjustable & could allways be made to have less drag . Its been awhile since I,ve used one to be honest .

doc, for less than an acre I would go with a tiller. For acre or more, go with a harrow, 6' would not be a strain for a 30 hp I think. 3pt hitch is really nice on a harrow. The 6' I use is four harrow sets each independently swiveling. When set right and with abt 200 lbs weight cuts thru carolina clay to appr 5 inches. Usually beat to make 2 passes as a minimum, but still goes faster than a tiller.

Thanks guys.
Still undecided, but at least now I know more about them.

Doc, I have both and rarely use the disc anymore. The tiller I have is 5ft. same as the disc. The tiller does a great job for yards and gardens but if you are just working up a field for planting a disc is faster. I have heavy clay soil also. My tiller does a super job on the garden but I do wish I had got a 6ft. to cover the rear tire tracks. As for tires if you have liquid in the R4's you should be able to pull a disc if it is not wet ground.

Like some of the other guys I have both. I use the tiller mainly around the house and the discs are kept at the farm. I have brought the tiller over to the farm for getting the vegetable garden ready etc., but usually I just use one of the discs. As a general rule I would use the tiller for an acre or maybe two at the very most. At the farm I'm usually trying to smooth out more than that after the hogs have torn it up. I prefer to use the tiller on the little B2400 as I think it makes a much better one pass job. The discs go on bigger tractors and for me, I have to make at least four passes from different directions to make an acceptable job whereas one slow pass with the tiller is usually acceptable. Speedwise, the disc will probably be a lot faster especially as you get up to around two acres.

I don't think the R4's will be a handicap with a disc unless it's really wet and slippy and you probably shouldn't be out there with it anyway.

Cowboy has it right. The cost of a good, heavy duty disc is about half the cost of a good, heavy duty tiller.

I don't know if that will be any help but it's all I've got as I've never used a harrow. I did use a section of chain link fence once just to smooth out after the disc.

Thanks for all the input guys. It does help. For now the tiller is probably the way I should go .... but the disc option is interesting to me.