Update On Huge Self-Propelled Offset Disk
I'd like to update your readers on the huge self-propelled offset disk that I built 17 years ago (Vol. 3, No. 6). After it was featured in FARM SHOW we had tremendous response from your readers. The disk was designed to virtually eliminate soil compaction, particularly in heavy, gumbo soils. The 36-ft. wide, 4-WD disk has an engine, cab, and controls mounted right on the frame. It "walks" itself through fields, propelled by its own powered gangs of 32-in. dia. discs. Wheels carry the machine in transport but in the field they float, acting as gauge wheels.
I don't use the disk any more but I still power up the engine every once in a while just to make sure it's still in working condition. I custom built it for a local farmer, but soon after I built it he went bankrupt due to the farm crisis in the early 1980's. People from all over the U.S. and some foreign countries came to watch me demonstrate it. Several people even said they wanted to buy one, and one Florida corporation wanted me to build them a dozen models. They grew 30,000 acres of sugar cane and thought that a self-propelled disk could do a better job of killing the cane after harvest than a pull-type disk, because my self-propelled disk can cut it up better and work the soil 10 in. deep. Pitch of the discs, which is adjusted hydraulically, controls the depth at which the discs operate.
I used it in demonstrations to pull a 30-ft. harrow and hardly even knew it was there. I'm sure it could be used to pull a 12-row planter or up to a 30-ft. grain drill, but I've never tried it. As soon as the farm crisis hit, interest in my disk dried up as if it had never existed. I'm amazed that people who wanted the machine so bad when it was built never bothered to come back. However, people still occasionally stop by my farm to see it. (Kermit DeHaai, Kermco-DeHaai, Inc., 741 Carpenter St., Monroe, Iowa 50170 ph 515 259-3043).
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Update On Huge Self-Propelled Offset Disk TILLAGE EUIPMENT Disks (18) 21-5-38 I'd like to update your readers on the huge self-propelled offset disk that I built 17 years ago (Vol. 3, No. 6). After it was featured in FARM SHOW we had tremendous response from your readers. The disk was designed to virtually eliminate soil compaction, particularly in heavy, gumbo soils. The 36-ft. wide, 4-WD disk has an engine, cab, and controls mounted right on the frame. It "walks" itself through fields, propelled by its own powered gangs of 32-in. dia. discs. Wheels carry the machine in transport but in the field they float, acting as gauge wheels.
I don't use the disk any more but I still power up the engine every once in a while just to make sure it's still in working condition. I custom built it for a local farmer, but soon after I built it he went bankrupt due to the farm crisis in the early 1980's. People from all over the U.S. and some foreign countries came to watch me demonstrate it. Several people even said they wanted to buy one, and one Florida corporation wanted me to build them a dozen models. They grew 30,000 acres of sugar cane and thought that a self-propelled disk could do a better job of killing the cane after harvest than a pull-type disk, because my self-propelled disk can cut it up better and work the soil 10 in. deep. Pitch of the discs, which is adjusted hydraulically, controls the depth at which the discs operate.
I used it in demonstrations to pull a 30-ft. harrow and hardly even knew it was there. I'm sure it could be used to pull a 12-row planter or up to a 30-ft. grain drill, but I've never tried it. As soon as the farm crisis hit, interest in my disk dried up as if it had never existed. I'm amazed that people who wanted the machine so bad when it was built never bothered to come back. However, people still occasionally stop by my farm to see it. (Kermit DeHaai, Kermco-DeHaai, Inc., 741 Carpenter St., Monroe, Iowa 50170 ph 515 259-3043).
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