Made It Myself Disk "Works Like A $40,000 Tillage Tool"
Spending $40,000 or more for a Great Plains Turbo-Till vertical tillage tool wasn’t in the cards for Robin Miller. Instead, the Indiana farmer modified a 230 Deere disk at a cost of $6,000. While he admits he can’t go as deep in hard ground as the Great Plains unit, it does the jobs he needs.
“Last fall I ran it with rolling baskets on the rear over corn stubble,” says Miller. “That stubble can tear up tires, and it makes it harder to combine beans the next fall. This disk really chopped the stubble up.”
This spring he used his home-built tillage tool again when wet ground kept him from no-till seeding soybeans. He also used it to break a crust on planted soybeans hit by a heavy rain before they could emerge.
“I never run it more than an inch and a half deep, but it dries out the heavy ground,” he says. “I run it about a day and a half before planting, and it dries out the surface just enough.”
Modifying the disk was a trial and error process. Miller admits that he and his brother Tim and father Les tore apart the first gang they worked on about four times before they were satisfied.
“We straightened the gangs out and put straight/wavy coulters on them front and back,” says Miller. “We also had to modify the shanks that connect the outside ends of the gangs to the frame. They were designed to match the original concave disks, not our straight disks.”
Miller left the pivot ends of the gangs in the center of the disk in place. To straighten the gangs, he disconnected the outer ends from the mounts that held them at an angle. He used two steel plates with bolts to clamp the gang end perpendicular to the frame.
“We could have cut the old mount off and moved it, but we weren’t sure it would work,” says Miller. “This way we could change it back or adjust the gangs as needed.”
Adjusting the shanks from the gang beam to the bearings on the gangs turned out to be relatively easy as well. The shanks had a long spool on one side and a short one on the other. By swapping them, the angle shifted enough to provide room for the straight disks.
“We set the gangs so the rear gang disks center on the 9 1/2-in. space between the disks on the front gangs,” says Miller. “That way we are getting vertical tillage every 4 3/4 in.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Robin Miller, 2111 W. Perry Rd., Ligonier, Ind. 46767 (ph 260 894-1573).
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Made It Myself Disk Works Like A $40 000 Tillage Tool DISKS Spending $40 000 or more for a Great Plains Turbo-Till vertical tillage tool wasn’t in the cards for Robin Miller Instead the Indiana farmer modified a 230 Deere disk at a cost of $6 000 While he admits he can’t go as deep in hard ground as the Great Plains unit it does the jobs he needs “Last fall I ran it with rolling baskets on the rear over corn stubble ” says Miller “That stubble can tear up tires and it makes it harder to combine beans the next fall This disk really chopped the stubble up ” This spring he used his home-built tillage tool again when wet ground kept him from no-till seeding soybeans He also used it to break a crust on planted soybeans hit by a heavy rain before they could emerge “I never run it more than an inch and a half deep but it dries out the heavy ground ” he says “I run it about a day and a half before planting and it dries out the surface just enough ” Modifying the disk was a trial and error process Miller admits that he and his brother Tim and father Les tore apart the first gang they worked on about four times before they were satisfied “We straightened the gangs out and put straight/wavy coulters on them front and back ” says Miller “We also had to modify the shanks that connect the outside ends of the gangs to the frame They were designed to match the original concave disks not our straight disks ” Miller left the pivot ends of the gangs in the center of the disk in place To straighten the gangs he disconnected the outer ends from the mounts that held them at an angle He used two steel plates with bolts to clamp the gang end perpendicular to the frame “We could have cut the old mount off and moved it but we weren’t sure it would work ” says Miller “This way we could change it back or adjust the gangs as needed ” Adjusting the shanks from the gang beam to the bearings on the gangs turned out to be relatively easy as well The shanks had a long spool on one side and a short one on the other By swapping them the angle shifted enough to provide room for the straight disks “We set the gangs so the rear gang disks center on the 9 1/2-in space between the disks on the front gangs ” says Miller “That way we are getting vertical tillage every 4 3/4 in ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Robin Miller 2111 W Perry Rd Ligonier Ind 46767 ph 260 894-1573
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