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Repairing an old set of discs

7K views 39 replies 12 participants last post by  Jamone 
#1 ·
I got a pretty old set of discs last year that were my wife's grandfather's. They are quite rusted, but not rusted away. I've churned the garden up with them a handful of times, and smoothed out some lumpy ground so I can mow it instead of brush hog it. Today I went out and churned up the garden plot with them, to incorporate some old hay. Mostly as an excuse to get some seat time since it's been so wet here... In the last 5' of planned discing one of the discs fell off the shaft. I recovered all the parts, but the shaft's threads are rusting off, so the big axle nut won't stay securely attached any more. This is not the first axle nut to have this issue, some before I got it and some after. So far what has been done is drill a hole through the nut & axel then put a bolt or bent nail in as a pin to prevent the nut from rotating or sliding off. I can do that to this nut as well, but I'm curious about replacing a few parts (axle, bushings). I can't find anywhere where a manufacture/model number is visible on it. My questions are:

1) Does anyone recognize what brand it is?
2) Is it worth trying to buy a few replacement parts for old discs like this, or should you jerry rig it as long as possible, then replace it?
3) How/where would you attempt to buy replacement/generic parts for something like this?

Because it was my wife's grandfather's, and because I don't use it super heavy, maybe 3-4 times a year for a 75'x40' garden. It seems like repairing it is the better option (if possible, at reasonable expense).



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#2 ·



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#3 ·



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#4 ·


The current garden plot.


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#5 ·
It does not look anything like the 8ft Dearborn tandem disk that I have. Can't help you otherwise.

Dave
 
#11 · (Edited)
check an Agri Supply store near you (Petersburg) the seem to have a lot of disc parts , maybe compare parts that came off to ones on their website
good luck , I have one that's 50 rears old and still works fine, its well worth repairing
Just looking online they do seem to have most of what I’d need. Much more so then TSC. Thanks. Guess I need to clean it and flip it in the garage so I can disassemble it in warmth. Seems like <$400 for new axles and bearings. Which is cheeper then new. I think the actual discs are fine. I’m torn on actually painting the whole thing at this point.


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#9 ·
J3 Driver was restoring a disc for his sons cub. Maybe he’ll chime in. It’s worth repairing, what you want to spend is up you.

Sandblast and repaint if you wanted. I’d atleast start at replacing all the hardware and bearings. If can punch out the bearings if they have them? Then take one to a bearing shop.

If it’s old and “in the family” and will work well then put some time and effort into it
 
#10 ·
I think it almost looks like a JD KBA Disk.

Not sure though can you find any numbers on it anywhere of markings.

I wouldn’t trash it. It looks pretty decent yet. And it works.

I did a search for kba disk and thus came up. Looks a lot alike.


If you can find a tag or something I’ll be able to help more.





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#13 ·
I think it almost looks like a JD KBA Disk.

Not sure though can you find any numbers on it anywhere of markings.

I wouldn’t trash it. It looks pretty decent yet. And it works.

I did a search for kba disk and thus came up. Looks a lot alike.


If you can find a tag or something I’ll be able to help more.


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That’s it! Searching for that I found this restoration:


That would be amazing to do.


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#12 ·
Here’s what I started with.


Slowly getting it done. These pieces are red and back together now. It looks so much better painted up.



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#14 ·
You may be surprised. You might still be able to get parts for it at the Deere dealership.


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#15 ·
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#17 ·
Pretty standard parts

Disc gang parts are pretty standard, usually. You need the axle dimensions to get replacement discs and bearings. Some axles are round, some are square and a few are rectangular. Other parts may be more manufacturer specific but usually you can find scrapers that work across more than one line with a little ingenuity. If you can't find a replacement axle, I would think a machine or welding shop could make one pretty easily. They aren't high precision parts.

I'm a little surprised the axle didn't come set up for a cotter key and castle nut. Normally they have either that or for square axles there is a metal locking tab you bend over a square nut. If you want to go the tab route, you can make your own. It's just a piece of flat steel that slides over the axle before the nut and has multiple tabs sticking out. You tighten the nut and then bend tabs over the side of the nut using a punch. It works well on square nuts but they are a mixed blessing when you are taking it apart. Because of the concave on the discs, you need a socket but a square nut makes that a pain.

When reassembling, you want that axle nut very tight. A little wobble in the disc gang will let the blades cut into the axle and vice versa plus the disk won't work as well. On square nuts we used a 3' monkey wrench and a pipe extender. We could tighten the nut as much as possible with the gang dropped off the disk, then reinstall on the disk. Then we would set the disk onto hard ground with all the weight on the gangs, (not pavement) for the final tightening. That worked well for square axles but a round axle can still slip some. That's when an impact wrench would be the tool to have. We didn't have one then so there was a lot of cussing involved.

Treefarmer
 
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#19 ·
Disc gang parts are pretty standard, usually. You need the axle dimensions to get replacement discs and bearings. Some axles are round, some are square and a few are rectangular. Other parts may be more manufacturer specific but usually you can find scrapers that work across more than one line with a little ingenuity. If you can't find a replacement axle, I would think a machine or welding shop could make one pretty easily. They aren't high precision parts.

I'm a little surprised the axle didn't come set up for a cotter key and castle nut. Normally they have either that or for square axles there is a metal locking tab you bend over a square nut. If you want to go the tab route, you can make your own. It's just a piece of flat steel that slides over the axle before the nut and has multiple tabs sticking out. You tighten the nut and then bend tabs over the side of the nut using a punch. It works well on square nuts but they are a mixed blessing when you are taking it apart. Because of the concave on the discs, you need a socket but a square nut makes that a pain.

When reassembling, you want that axle nut very tight. A little wobble in the disc gang will let the blades cut into the axle and vice versa plus the disk won't work as well. On square nuts we used a 3' monkey wrench and a pipe extender. We could tighten the nut as much as possible with the gang dropped off the disk, then reinstall on the disk. Then we would set the disk onto hard ground with all the weight on the gangs, (not pavement) for the final tightening. That worked well for square axles but a round axle can still slip some. That's when an impact wrench would be the tool to have. We didn't have one then so there was a lot of cussing involved.

Treefarmer
It does have a metal locking tab. But that only keeps the nut from spinning. Once the threads give out it can’t keep the nut on anymore. [emoji1]


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#22 · (Edited)
So today is super nice out for a change (70's), so I decided to start disassembling the disks. So far I've gotten the rear two sets of axels and disks off the frame. I've fully disassembled the right rear axel and it looks like it just needs a new axel, axel nut, axel washer, and actual disks. I also plan to replace all the bolts on the whole unit, and the disk scraper wear blades. It wasn't that hard to disassemble, just 4 bolts per axel. So far I have been able to get the bolts to unscrew with just a breaker bar. I was expecting to have to cut the bolts off, given how rusted they were. The left rear axel was the only one who's nut was still super tight. All the others the nut's/axel's threads had rusted away and so were just held on with a through pin/nail. So far I haven't been able to get the nut to loosen, using a big adjustable wrench. Part of the problem is the whole assembly tries to rotate when turning the nut. So even when I use a hammer on the end of the wrench to shock it loose, the whole assembly rotating, absorbs the torque. Taking a water break and I'll try it again.



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#23 ·
Got all the axels off. Had to cut off one of the bolts holding them on. Holy cow those are solid bolts!

Decided to not worry about disassembling that one axel who’s nut was on tight. I can do that another day.




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#24 ·
While you have it this far apart you might as well paint it. Not much more work.




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#25 ·
Yep planning on taking it to a local sand blaster next week then I’ll paint it.


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#26 ·
Any recommendations for the paint/primer to use? Doing JD green on the frame and black on the axel components.

Just acquired the new axles and discs.




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#27 ·
John Deere paint. It’s good quality and doesn’t fade.

And it really isn’t that much more than the cheaper stuff.


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#31 ·


Maybe 1/2 done bead blasting the smaller parts. Gotta wait for a few dry days to get the large parts to a pro since that is done outside.


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#32 ·


The small parts are coming along nicely. Now I just need 3+ days without rain to get the frame sand blasted.


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#33 ·
Repairing Disc

Shoup's has disk parts by measurement -- e.g, get it apart and you have a """28" x 1" square axle with 16" blades with a 1"square hole """

They sell many parts by measurements, disk axles in many common lengths, and can special make one for you. They will have all the end plates in various styles and nuts & washers it will take to do it right.

Blades you would order by diameter x thickness x depth (concave measurement), type & size of center hole

Great people to deal with
 
#34 ·
Well I basically finished the restoration today. The only thing left to do is paint/attach the scrapers. I will do that next week as it's not supposed to rain then. It looks so good.




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#36 ·
That turned out great Jamone :good2:

Thanks for taking us along on your journey.
 
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#37 ·
That looks to good to use.

I gotta get my kids done. His birthday is in a couple weeks.

Any tips for getting old hard dried up grease off parts. The parts cleaner, sand blaster and unites sonic cleaner didn’t touch it.




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#38 ·
Any tips for getting old hard dried up grease off parts. The parts cleaner, sand blaster and unites sonic cleaner didn’t touch it.
Nope, it was slow going with my family's small bead blaster but it did take off the dried grease eventually. I spent probably 15 hours using it on the small parts. So maybe it was my determination that got it off of them. [emoji16]


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