I think a Fred Cain cultivator for deep aeration/breaking hard ground and a tiller are the ideal combination. It’s what I’ve settled on after years of also owning a turning plow and disc.Glad this popped up. Thinking hard about changing this order from disc’s to a 74” tiller.
Thanks bird dogger that picture of your mower belt is ingrained in my head. I do plan on mowing it down first so it's good to know that a tiller will take care of it from there. I was still afraid that even small chunks of corn stalk would clog that up.Have had two to three acres of sweet corn for the past 20 years. The first year I tried discing the stalks down for fall prep after all the picking was done. The weight of the disc I had wasn't enough to cut/chop the discs up even in a couple of passes. It took forever to finally get the residue buried and small enough to decide to leave it for next spring.
Thereafter, we mowed the stalks down with the 3 point brush mower before rototilling. That was a huge improvement over the discing.
A couple years ago we bought a flail mower and now use that to mow the stalks down first before tilling. Again, a huge improvement over the regular mower! You need to keep watch on the flail's belt tension during first use until the "stretch" is out of them.
If you leave your corn/food plot standing til spring......you should mow it first before tilling. Trying to unclog wound up corn stalks from the roto tiller aint fun!!
Here's what first happened and then after new belts were installed the Flail Success in Corn.
I'm clearly no disc expert and EA and Dirt Dog discs only have notched discs so they're no help. I've looked at lots of photos online and any models that have notched and smooth discs do seem to put the notched discs up front. I'm going to weld on end caps on the box sections to keep wasps, rain and dirt out and will look into switching the gangs around.Usually, the notched discs are on the front for chopping and the smooth ones are on the rear for finishing. Wonder what someone’s thoughts were putting them on like they are. Great looking disc though.
Thanks very much for sharing your experiences. I did realize that the angle of the gangs can be changed. There are six position holes for the front and rear gangs. I also realized that the jack/screw up front changes the fore/aft weight distribution of the gangs.If you don’t know, your harrow has the ability to adjust the angle of each gang. That’s what the pins and holes are on the main beam in the middle. Making the gangs more angled, increases the aggressiveness of their cutting ability. To chop up virgin ground, you want it more aggressive. To finish it off, you want to straighten out the gangs for a smoother finish. Keep it level from front to back for best finish. Being able to adjust the angle is one of the things that sets apart a good quality disc harrow, from cheap poor quality one. Also, a tow behind one will give you a much better finish than a 3 pt hitch one because it follows the contour of the land better. Make sure you keep the bearings greased and be prepared to replace them if you use it much. They do wear out. Spent thousands of hours pulling disc harrows and changed countless numbers of bearings.
Finally heard back from dealer.I am gonna contact a local dealer, that I’ve dealt with for work, and see if he has any 84’s on the lot. Maybe we can work a deal, and I’ll cancel my set of discs.
I'd go with the heavier duty UH if I were buying, even if it meant waiting for a few months. Buy once, cry once and all that.Finally heard back from dealer.
UH-84 is $3,880 with no idea on lead time. UM-72 is $2,999 with one or two on the lot.
I’m into the EA disc for $3400.
Decisions, decisions.
My thoughts too.I'd go with the heavier duty UH if I were buying, even if it meant waiting for a few months. Buy once, cry once and all that.
I wonder if your tiller will come with Titan or Iron Craft stickers on it. Has the dealer in your area changed any signage or similar to reflect the new name?Canceled my harrows.... that hurt. Told titan dealer to get a UH-84 tiller. 9-12 week lead time. Will buy some second hand harrows and maybe a tiller after deer season.
I’ll guess iron craft. He has a few titan on the lot. He said his guy at titan said they have hard stopped shipping till the IC sticker is on everything. Hence the 9-12 week lead, but really who knows?!I wonder if your tiller will come with Titan or Iron Craft stickers on it. Has the dealer in your area changed any signage or similar to reflect the new name?
Must be one heck of a stickerI’ll guess iron craft. He has a few titan on the lot. He said his guy at titan said they have hard stopped shipping till the IC sticker is on everything. Hence the 9-12 week lead, but really who knows?!
Lol. Yep. From what he said, the titan brand was made overseas, India and the like, where the gearboxes for literally everything comes from. Titan has always outsourced stuff, figured they’d stop that and build, to their specs, in house. He’s just a dealer so, who knows.Must be one heck of a sticker
Maybe your dealer is confusing Titan Implements with Titan Attachments! Many companies will use gearboxes from overseas. The gearbox on my Del Morino flail is made in Italy along with the rest of the machine but most if not all of the gearboxes on my Land Pride implements are made in China.Lol. Yep. From what he said, the titan brand was made overseas, India and the like, where the gearboxes for literally everything comes from. Titan has always outsourced stuff, figured they’d stop that and build, to their specs, in house. He’s just a dealer so, who knows.
I looked at a UM-72 and it was beefy. And could offset with the lower 3 point connections. Figured the “heavy duty” is that much better’r. We’ll see in 2 months or so.
No, we talked about that, figured that was the reason for the name change.Maybe your dealer is confusing Titan Implements with Titan Attachments! Many companies will use gearboxes from overseas. The gearbox on my Del Morino flail is made in Italy along with the rest of the machine but most if not all of the gearboxes on my Land Pride implements are made in China.
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