Spring is here!

For many of us, disking weeds is a spring ritual.

I got one of my tailseat D4s ready ( thanks to Mr. Steve) I had him do some heavier internal work on this one that came from a local auction. It is a great runner. No leaks, no weird noises. Good old direct start. I will run it some more and most likely have my painter give it a makeover this winter.

I was in no rush, and ran it in 2nd and 3rd. I broke my own rule and put her in 4th just to see if it grunts. My own brother of all people insisted that I be careful with it, being a tailseat machine and all. Yes, I held onto the railing just like I did when I was a 12 year old. Fun!

Is that a D4E or a D5?

That is a D4E. Does a good job pulling the 15’ Killefer 1100 series disk.

Nice pictures of spring with the Rome toolbar as extra ballast. We had the exact same disc when I was a kid sitting in the junk pile. When the center tube bearings wore out it was parked for a new 10’ or there abouts L disc. It was scrapped about 30 years ago now. That D4 is definitely a great representation of the tractors that were in the area at that time, might not be how it left the factory but that’s history of how they worked in the trees.

Yes CR. It annoys some folks that I use CAT or Rome toolbar beams for ballast, but that one fit perfectly on the 10' Goble. On my little 6 footer, I torched one to fit, which is a no no, but then again, I have extras in the pile.

The old Gobles or Gobels depending on proper spelling, do a fantastic job inside an orchard after the initial disking. Seems like back in the day, we never got inside an orchard soon enough with a wheel tractor to disk. My brother bit the bullet one year and used the D4c and an IH wheel disk, but he added 2000#. Too much compaction/ruts from old school farm methods back then. Nowadays most everyone mows. JM

JM, what's the benefit of discing vs. mowing? Would one only mow if there was no plan to plant (or as a quick in-between tidy-up)?