Building a nasty home made harrow

You may want to consider reducing the length. Most 1pt mount attachments I see are usually 38" with some as long as 42". The going will be slower with a smaller length but the forces required to operate the attachment will be reduced all around.

I would also be concerned with the 1pt mount apply even down pressure across the entire attachment. With this type of hookup, you will be applying the downward force to the middle of the attachment and it will decrease as you move to the edges. This is one advantage of a 3pt. Usually, with a 1pt mount, the down pressure is created by weights on the attachment. You can positions these weights much more evenly this way to ensure even downward force.

None the less I am sure you will make it work. Interested to see your progress.

With over a inch of solid steel with all 3 pieces it cant bow. The pressure will be even, but without a float mode it will lift off the ground if I go over a bump. A 3pt is out of the question. I wont put one on this tractor, thats why I'm using my hitch lifter.

To tell the truth, the only reason it is 47'' wide is because the angle iron I found was 94'' long. I just cut it in half with no real reason other then 1 cut is simple. I can always cut it down after I try it out if need be.

I was a little off on how wide this thing is. I just cut the angle iron I had in half and I thought that made it just under 48''. Turns out my outer most teeth are only 42'' wide so it is narrower then I posted.

I got to play with it today and got to mock it up on the old work bench. Nothing is welded yet so If anyone has an idea now would be the time to speak up....lol The teeth are angled forward at 20 degrees in hopes that it will help it dig into the rock hard clay I plan to use this on. I also planed on having the teeth stick down 3-4 inches and since I had some 4x4 wood laying around looks like 3 1/2'' is what I might let i at....unless someone can talk me into changing it. :fing32:

Here is what it looks like from the front.


I was going to use 8 teeth and have them roughly 6'' apart but that just looked like too many. So after trying different number of teeth I decided on 5 and drilled through the 3/8'' angle and dropped them in.

Some other shots.




This is what I was planning to use to hook it up to the trailer lifter.


I will weld the teeth at the bottom and at the top where they rest on the back of the angle iron. I will weld the mount on as well but not till I get to see if I need to bend the plate to get the harrow to sit flat when it's lowered.

Like I said, tis is just the first mock up so any suggestions would be appreciated. :trink40:

Hmmmm, I didn't think of wear. Do these kind of things normally wear fast? The ground is 100% rock free that I'll be using this in but it is HARD. The jack hammer bits are real hard as well, I don't know if that will slow down any wear but it should.

I should also add that I'll only be using this harrow maybe 2 times a year around my MX track. It wont see a ton of hours but it will be used hard when it is used.

It would be easy to make them adjustable and replaceable. You could use bar stock about 3x the diameter of your pins across the corners and about 2" long. Drill hole thru to accept your pins. Cut one end at the angle you want. Drill and tap for a bolt/set screw and weld. Neat idea though - I need one. Den

Adjustable teeth would be nice but I can't drill them. Those jack hammer bits are as hard or harder then tool steel. Once I use it and feel I need less depth I could always add a wheel to each side that adjust up and down like the wheels on a mower deck. Plus I can alway just lift the harow up alittle with the rock bar.

If I could drill the teeth making them adjustable would be a breeze.

dddenden said:

It would be easy to make them adjustable and replaceable. You could use bar stock about 3x the diameter of your pins across the corners and about 2" long. Drill hole thru to accept your pins. Cut one end at the angle you want. Drill and tap for a bolt/set screw and weld. Neat idea though - I need one. Den

Click to expand...

So your suggesting that I use bolts as set screws, thats about the only way I see it able to be done. I could then grind a small indent every inch or so on each tooth for the bolt to rest in so the tooth don't slide up. Lucky for me I have a metal lathe and it would be no problem makeing the thick tubes.

Thanks for the idea!

Maybe just drill a couple holes in the bottom edge of the angle iron and bolt a 2x4 to the bottom edge that would raise your teeth up. Then just adjust the thickness that works best for the task. Just a thought.
Didn't think drilling those would be an easy job. O.O
Nice see you trying something different. Let us know how you make out.

SWIGIN said:

Adjustable teeth would be nice but I can't drill them. Those jack hammer bits are as hard or harder then tool steel. Once I use it and feel I need less depth I could always add a wheel to each side that adjust up and down like the wheels on a mower deck. Plus I can alway just lift the harow up alittle with the rock bar.

If I could drill the teeth making them adjustable would be a breeze.

Click to expand...

Why not just weld the teeth into another piece of angle iron and then pin that piece onto the existing angle iron structure you have. You could use a stack of washers to space the tooth bar from the attachment.

Well, I got to use the harrow today for the first time. I basically just welded it up as I had it on my bench just to see if the 316 would pull it. Today was a work day at my MX track so I had the blade on most of the day cleaning up after the skid loader. Then just to try it out I went up to the trucks and threw on the harrow and went back to the track. Other then needing more weight it works just fine the way it is. I did weigh it before taking it out there and it tips the scale at 110 pounds. With just it's own weight it only scratches maybe 1/2'' into the ground. Then I stood on it and put the 316 into forward with no one on the seat (unsafe I know) and it went to full depth and went like there was nothing hooked onto the back! Now I need to modify it to accept one of those game hauler racks to pile some weight on the harrow.

Sorry, no pics from today. I forgot my camera but I will try to take it out tomorrow.

Turns out I need new batterys or a charger for my camera. I took a pile of pics but only had these three on my card.





Here are some of the jumps I was back dragging with the 316.


No action shots of the harrow survived for whatever reason. On second thought I might just get a new camera.