Disc suggestions please... - Transfered from QDMA forum

[yoderjac]

Well, I was surprised a few days after I ordered, the credit card was charged for the full amount of the disc. He told me they are backed up for 6 weeks on production. I sent him an email questioning the charge. Most places don't charge a credit card until they are ready to ship a product. He replied that they are now required to collect the sales tax at the time of sale. I certainly understand them charging the tax amount when you place the order. Personally, I would have considered my phone call order as an order, not a sale and made the date of sale and charged the card when they were ready to ship. However, I don't know the tax laws in NC, so who knows.

I just wanted to make sure others knew to expect their cards to be charged at the time you place an order with Everything Attachments, regardless of how backed up they are in production.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[yoderjac]

I picked up the disc earlier this week. It is very well built. Hookup is a bit difficult as you need to get the lift arms between the plates for hookup. My first test was on a short firebreak that had not been touched since 2015 when it was created. I had it set at the most aggressive setting. There were saplings growing 3'-4' tall and several years of pine needles collected on top. After about 4 passes, I had chewed up all I could. It exposed plenty of dirt, but there were so many pine needles that fire could have easily jumped the break. We will clearly need to bushhog or blow pine needles off of the breaks that go through pines before discing. Next I tried it on another short break that had been kept bushhogged and had several passes from a very light angle iron disc this spring. A single pass exposed plenty of soil to stop fire in a controlled burn.

Next, I tested it on an old field that had not been planted for several years. It had been bushhogged from time to time but it was full of blackberries and weeds. A single pass exposed more dirt than I would like for min-till planting. It will be interesting to see how it does with a less aggressive setting. I plan to test that this fall when I plant. Like any 3pt disc, it suffers from the issue of only one set of disks contacting when you go over knolls and dips. I think it will benefit from a floating connection to my hydraulic toplink, so I made one. It is the same as the one I put on the large mower but shorter shown in this thread: http://www.habitat-talk.com/index.php?threads/hydraluic-toplink-transfered-from-qdma-forum.5539/

I lost about an inch of lift height when I added this. Most of my equipment I keep on dollies in the barn so I can maneuver it for hookup. I simply tie a couple harbor freight dollies together with some 2x4 for them. I can't lift this disk quite high enough for that. I plan to build a custom dolly for it. I plan to put casters on hardwood to reduce to dolly height.

The guy I talked to at EverythingAttachments steered me away from the larger frame disc. He was concerned the 45 hp Kioti could not handle it. The Kioti pulls this disc in its most aggressive setting like it was nothing. I'm now thinking it could have handled the large frame. Given the connection points, I probably could not have lifted the larger frame disc as high. I may have not been able to dolly it making for harder hook-up.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[yoderjac]

The dolly I built worked great. I bought a dozen 100 lb 2" casters. I cut some 2x6s to match the size of each leg of discs. I then mounted 3 casters on each 2x6. Since we will primarily use this as a fire disc in its most aggressive setting, I decided to make the doll for that setting. I laid each 2x6 on top of each leg of the disc with the wheels up blocked on sections of 2x4 so they were all level. I then tied the 2x6 legs together with 2x4s. I then flipped it over and placed a 2x4 across the center of the other 2x4s and tied them together. The result is a dolly that is 4" tall off the floor. With the float fully retracted, I get about 5" of lift; just enough to slide the dolly under it. I tested the dolly and it worked great. The disc is too heavy for me to wheel it around for storage like smaller implements, but I can easily move it a few inches here and there for connecting it. I plan to keep it in the middle of the barn where I can back directly up to it.

Well, I did more testing with the disc. First, the float connection was a complete failure. It works great for the mower and seed drill, but the disc is not balanced for it. The front wants to dig in and the rear lifts up. So, I removed it and went back to the direct connect.

It performs very well on clear-cut firebreaks where vegetation is low around the outside. Internal firebreaks that get good sunlight are a different story. They had about foot high grasses. It took extra passes and even then, the vegetation is distributed across the break. When green, during the growing season, this is probably not an issue, but I can see where broomsedge would be an issue after it dies. Even disced, it could carry fire across. Also, when I tried to make extras passes, clods of grass and dirt can clog the disc. This was not an issue with the first pass. So I don't think it would be an issue with food plots if I can get the disc to cut shallow enough for min-till. I have not experimented with less aggressive gang angles on fields yet.

I think the kill will be keeping the internal firebreak lanes bushhogged to keep vegetation at a minimum. I think discing every year or two will be sufficient to keep them in a state where a single pass on each side will stop fire.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Dukslayr]

The dolly I built worked great. I bought a dozen 100 lb 2" casters. I cut some 2x6s to match the size of each leg of discs. I then mounted 3 casters on each 2x6. Since we will primarily use this as a fire disc in its most aggressive setting, I decided to make the doll for that setting. I laid each 2x6 on top of each leg of the disc with the wheels up blocked on sections of 2x4 so they were all level. I then tied the 2x6 legs together with 2x4s. I then flipped it over and placed a 2x4 across the center of the other 2x4s and tied them together. The result is a dolly that is 4" tall off the floor. With the float fully retracted, I get about 5" of lift; just enough to slide the dolly under it. I tested the dolly and it worked great. The disc is too heavy for me to wheel it around for storage like smaller implements, but I can easily move it a few inches here and there for connecting it. I plan to keep it in the middle of the barn where I can back directly up to it.

Well, I did more testing with the disc. First, the float connection was a complete failure. It works great for the mower and seed drill, but the disc is not balanced for it. The front wants to dig in and the rear lifts up. So, I removed it and went back to the direct connect.

It performs very well on clear-cut firebreaks where vegetation is low around the outside. Internal firebreaks that get good sunlight are a different story. They had about foot high grasses. It took extra passes and even then, the vegetation is distributed across the break. When green, during the growing season, this is probably not an issue, but I can see where broomsedge would be an issue after it dies. Even disced, it could carry fire across. Also, when I tried to make extras passes, clods of grass and dirt can clog the disc. This was not an issue with the first pass. So I don't think it would be an issue with food plots if I can get the disc to cut shallow enough for min-till. I have not experimented with less aggressive gang angles on fields yet.

I think the kill will be keeping the internal firebreak lanes bushhogged to keep vegetation at a minimum. I think discing every year or two will be sufficient to keep them in a state where a single pass on each side will stop fire.

Thanks,

Jack

I have been looking at their discs for a while as I’d like to have a heavy 3pt disc for fire breaks and a few other privacy’s that my 10’ pull disc doesn’t fit the bill for. I purchased their largest wicked grapple and have been impressed with the service and build quality of it so I was thinking it would be the same for the disc.

 

[yoderjac]

I have been looking at their discs for a while as I’d like to have a heavy 3pt disc for fire breaks and a few other privacy’s that my 10’ pull disc doesn’t fit the bill for. I purchased their largest wicked grapple and have been impressed with the service and build quality of it so I was thinking it would be the same for the disc.

They talked me out of the larger frame because they thought my Kioti would not handle it. I now think I would have been better off with the larger frame which is a few hundred pounds heavier.

 

[Dukslayr]

They talked me out of the larger frame because they thought my Kioti would not handle it. I now think I would have been better off with the larger frame which is a few hundred pounds heavier.

I would be after the largest large frame disc they make. Outside of wishing you had the heavier disc is there anything else you haven’t been happy about?

 

[yoderjac]

I would be after the largest large frame disc they make. Outside of wishing you had the heavier disc is there anything else you haven’t been happy about?

Not yet. I did get some clogging on third passes, but I'd expect that with any disc at the most aggressive settig. I used it pretty hard with no durability issues so far. On my frame, they use two plates with a pin going through a plate, the lift arm, and then the second plate. This is a heavier duty kind of hookup compared to pins, but it is a harder hookup. You need to keep your arms the correct distance apart when you back up to the disc. I ended up making a jig to hold them at the correct distance apart while hooking up. This is a trade between convenience and durability and I went with durability. I have cat 2 arms on my tractor and the holes are for cat 1 pins, so I have to use adapters. The larger frame comes with both cat 2 and cat 1 holes.

I was a little concerned when they charged my credit card when I ordered rather than when it was shipped. I just found that an odd policy that surprised me. There were no problems with the transaction.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Dukslayr]

Not yet. I did get some clogging on third passes, but I'd expect that with any disc at the most aggressive settig. I used it pretty hard with no durability issues so far. On my frame, they use two plates with a pin going through a plate, the lift arm, and then the second plate. This is a heavier duty kind of hookup compared to pins, but it is a harder hookup. You need to keep your arms the correct distance apart when you back up to the disc. I ended up making a jig to hold them at the correct distance apart while hooking up. This is a trade between convenience and durability and I went with durability. I have cat 2 arms on my tractor and the holes are for cat 1 pins, so I have to use adapters. The larger frame comes with both cat 2 and cat 1 holes.

I was a little concerned when they charged my credit card when I ordered rather than when it was shipped. I just found that an odd policy that surprised me. There were no problems with the transaction.

Thanks,

Jack

Thanks Jack. I need to check into the quick hitch compatibility. I have a CAT quick hitch and I don’t remove it. I will only operate implements that I can hook up to my quick hitch with hydraulic top link.

 

[yoderjac]

Well, I have a bit more to report. First, here is a picture of the dolly I made. It worked great!

It is low to the floor and I can easily set the disc on it. I can move it enough for easy hookup.

Now for the issue. I tried it on a small food plot this week. I lifted the disc and cranked the gang adjustment handles clockwise. It made the gang angle less acute and the disc less aggressive as I expected. It was very easy to do.

It cut deeper than I would like for min-till but I expected that as the primary purpose is firebreak maintenance.

The issue occurred when I was done. As you can see from the picture above, the dolly is designed for the gangs to be set at the most aggressive angle since that is how we will normally use it. I expected to simply turn the cranks counter clockwise to move the gangs into the more aggressive position. Well, it did not do what I expected. Instead, the screw wanted to come out of the frame. Here are a couple pics of the setup:

This is the rear gang crank screw. The nut on the screw outside the frame is welded in place. The two nuts inside are in the position they came from the factory. In this picture, the handle is in the correct position with the welded nut against the frame.

The above is a picture of the front gang adjustment. Note the welded nut is moving away from the frame as the crank is turned counter clockwise. Note the nuts inside the frame are in different positions than on the rear screw adjustment.

No manual came with the disc and I could not find one on the web site. I emailed these pictures to the company asking for guidance. I'm sure there is simply something I don't understand about how it operates. I'll report back when I hear back from EverythingsAttachments.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Dukslayr]

Well, I have a bit more to report. First, here is a picture of the dolly I made. It worked great!

It is low to the floor and I can easily set the disc on it. I can move it enough for easy hookup.

Now for the issue. I tried it on a small food plot this week. I lifted the disc and cranked the gang adjustment handles clockwise. It made the gang angle less acute and the disc less aggressive as I expected. It was very easy to do.

It cut deeper than I would like for min-till but I expected that as the primary purpose is firebreak maintenance.

The issue occurred when I was done. As you can see from the picture above, the dolly is designed for the gangs to be set at the most aggressive angle since that is how we will normally use it. I expected to simply turn the cranks counter clockwise to move the gangs into the more aggressive position. Well, it did not do what I expected. Instead, the screw wanted to come out of the frame. Here are a couple pics of the setup:

This is the rear gang crank screw. The nut on the screw outside the frame is welded in place. The two nuts inside are in the position they came from the factory. In this picture, the handle is in the correct position with the welded nut against the frame.

The above is a picture of the front gang adjustment. Note the welded nut is moving away from the frame as the crank is turned counter clockwise. Note the nuts inside the frame are in different positions than on the rear screw adjustment.

No manual came with the disc and I could not find one on the web site. I emailed these pictures to the company asking for guidance. I'm sure there is simply something I don't understand about how it operates. I'll report back when I hear back from EverythingsAttachments.

Thanks,

Jack

Curious what you hear back Jack. They’ve been very responsive to my questions and seem to stand behind their gear in an unequivocal fashion. Let us know. Thanks.

 

[rocksnstumps]

Jack
I expect your frame has a thru hole and the two thinner nuts in middle are actually jam nuts and should be positioned like the ones from the rear setup. Move them so they allow the crank to turn but not have a lot of play on either side of your frame. At that point turn the two jam nuts in opposite direction to lock them together. They are just there to create a shoulder to push against but can be still taken apart later if your crank threads get "boogered" up.

My 0.02

 

[yoderjac]

Jack
I expect your frame has a thru hole and the two thinner nuts in middle are actually jam nuts and should be positioned like the ones from the rear setup. Move them so they allow the crank to turn but not have a lot of play on either side of your frame. At that point turn the two jam nuts in opposite direction to lock them together. They are just there to create a shoulder to push against but can be still taken apart later if your crank threads get "boogered" up.

My 0.02

Thanks, I'll try that.

 

[yoderjac]

Curious what you hear back Jack. They’ve been very responsive to my questions and seem to stand behind their gear in an unequivocal fashion. Let us know. Thanks.

Jack
I expect your frame has a thru hole and the two thinner nuts in middle are actually jam nuts and should be positioned like the ones from the rear setup. Move them so they allow the crank to turn but not have a lot of play on either side of your frame. At that point turn the two jam nuts in opposite direction to lock them together. They are just there to create a shoulder to push against but can be still taken apart later if your crank threads get "boogered" up.

My 0.02

Well, I finally got connected with them. They evidently don't like to talk through email. They responded to my email by trying to call the house and leaving messages. I don't have phone access during business hours and it took me sending multiple emails to get them to finally respond by email. The response was quite short and not very descriptive and I understand it. They really need to provide some simple manual or something with it.

Here was their reply:

OK, the jam nuts are not correct. That is why you are threading it out the disc.
Nuts should be jammed for the direction you need the disc to move.

I wasn't quite sure what that meant so I replied with this:

So do I move the jam nuts to each end of the screw depending on direction before cranking the screw or should they always be jammed near the frame on the crank handle side?

With the jam nuts near the frame on the crank handle side, cranking clockwise reduced the gang angle fine. When I then turned the crank handle counter clockwise to return them, it just unscrewed from the frame and jam nuts. Should have I moved them?

Their response was:

Yes Si.

I would think that when I was cranking clockwise to reduce the gang angle, the welded nut on the crank-screw outside the frame prevented the crank from screwing into the frame causing the screw to pull the center of the gangs back reducing the angle. That worked. The nuts were near the frame at the crank handle and I'm not sure they had any impact on that operation.

When I then turned the crank counter clockwise to reverse the process is when I had the problem. How would have moving the nuts to the opposite end of the shaft helped? Seems backwards mechanically to me. I think Rocksnstumps answer makes more sense to me. I wonder if the nuts simply were not jammed together tight enough so the shaft just unscrewed through both nuts.

It would also seem very inconvenient having to screw the jam nuts to each end of the screw before reversing direction. I think the guy just didn't like email and wanted to get rid of me or make me call.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Jack

 

[TreeDaddy]

Trying to get rid of YOU?

Please say it aint so!!!!!!!

bill

 

[yoderjac]

Trying to get rid of YOU?

Please say it aint so!!!!!!!

bill

Sale is done. They have their money.... I don't know if this is representative of the company or just one employee that hates email. I will say that most of the time I emailed the company, they called and left a message for me to call them.

When I did my research into the company, I recall there were charges against the owner and some dispute between him and the local sheriff's office. I decided to give them a shot anyway because I liked what I saw and heard about the product and they had been in business for several years after the issue. That is why I was concerned when they charged my credit card immediately rather than when the unit was built and ready to ship since not charging for backorders until they are shipped seems to be the standard. But the disc was delivered with no issues and it is well built so that turned out not to be a big issue.

I wonder if the owner is just gun shy of putting things in writing after his legal troubles.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Dukslayr]

Sale is done. They have their money.... I don't know if this is representative of the company or just one employee that hates email. I will say that most of the time I emailed the company, they called and left a message for me to call them.

When I did my research into the company, I recall there were charges against the owner and some dispute between him and the local sheriff's office. I decided to give them a shot anyway because I liked what I saw and heard about the product and they had been in business for several years after the issue. That is why I was concerned when they charged my credit card immediately rather than when the unit was built and ready to ship since not charging for backorders until they are shipped seems to be the standard. But the disc was delivered with no issues and it is well built so that turned out not to be a big issue.

I wonder if the owner is just gun shy of putting things in writing after his legal troubles.

Thanks,

Jack

Interesting. I had no challenges communicating with them via email. When I got my grapple I ordered it with the wrong fittings (my fault) for my front hydraulics. They were quick to help me via email and offered to send the replacement fitting at no charge. Odd these days to see a company that actually wants to talk to you on the phone...seems like everyone is trying to drive things to digital communicating.

 

[yoderjac]

Interesting. I had no challenges communicating with them via email. When I got my grapple I ordered it with the wrong fittings (my fault) for my front hydraulics. They were quick to help me via email and offered to send the replacement fitting at no charge. Odd these days to see a company that actually wants to talk to you on the phone...seems like everyone is trying to drive things to digital communicating.

As I said, it is possible it is just one employee.

His first email: Give me a call please. I Have left you several messages.

After I explained I didn't have phone access during business hours.

His second email: It will be rather to difficult communicate via email what has happened when a simple 2 minute call would be so much easier.

After explaining I didn't have phone access during business hour a second time:

His third email: What time do you leave work?

After telling him I don't get back to late, I got the 2 sentence email I posted previously.

I realize a disc is pretty simple, but it seems odd to me they did not provide a manual with at least a part break-out diagram so one could order broken parts. This is the first crank-screw time gang adjustment disc I've used. The others were all pins. Perhaps they normally jam the nuts in the the right place at the factory (if RocksandStumps is correct and the guy from Everything Attachments full of it) and they just missed it on mine.

It almost seems like his answer by email was intentionally unclear and terse to prove his point that a phone call would be easier... Easier for him!

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Dukslayr]

As I said, it is possible it is just one employee.

His first email: Give me a call please. I Have left you several messages.

After I explained I didn't have phone access during business hours.

His second email: It will be rather to difficult communicate via email what has happened when a simple 2 minute call would be so much easier.

After explaining I didn't have phone access during business hour a second time:

His third email: What time do you leave work?

After telling him I don't get back to late, I got the 2 sentence email I posted previously.

I realize a disc is pretty simple, but it seems odd to me they did not provide a manual with at least a part break-out diagram so one could order broken parts. This is the first crank-screw time gang adjustment disc I've used. The others were all pins. Perhaps they normally jam the nuts in the the right place at the factory (if RocksandStumps is correct and the guy from Everything Attachments full of it) and they just missed it on mine.

It almost seems like his answer by email was intentionally unclear and terse to prove his point that a phone call would be easier... Easier for him!

Thanks,

Jack

I also didn’t get a manual with my grapple.

 

[yoderjac]

I've been mowing the sunn hemp for the last few days. I finally got a chance to pull the mower and hook up the disc today. Rocksnstumps was spot on and the guy from EverythigAttachments was full of it. The jam nuts stay in one place next to the frame. They either forgot to jam them before they shipped or they cam loose in shipping. I jammed them together next to the frame. When I lifted the disc, I could easily turn the crank each direction and move the gang angles accordingly.

Thank for the help. Other than the lack of documentation and poor communication, the disc seems to be well built.

Thanks,

Jack