[Market-farming] Bed Shaper

Willie McKemie mf at austinfarm.org
Sun Dec 11 12:33:16 EST 2005


On Sun, Dec 11, 2005 at 08:15:51AM -0700, Kelly Saxer wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I am in the market for a bedshaper, however I have a small tractor - 22 HP 
> Kubota B7510.  I've found that Buckeye Tractor Co. in Ohio sells a Jr. 
> Bedshaper for $1,214 that will make a 4" high bed and that the sales 
> associate insists my tractor can handle just fine.  Also, I see that 
> www.marketfarm.com has a Lesche Bed Shaper for $1,610 that is supposedly 
> designed for tractors with approx. 25HP.  Does anyone have experience with 
> either of these bedshapers or could anyone suggest another source for a 
> bedshaper that my small tractor could accomodate?

For years, I've used a disk bed builder to throw up rough beds.  
Earlier this year, thanks to a suggest posted here, I had a bed 
smoother built.  I'm very pleased with the operation of both.  The 
value of the disk is $300-$500 and the smoother, maybe $200.  In loose 
ground, I generally make two passes with the disk.  I use both 
implements mostly on a 25hp tractor (Mitsubishi R2500), which has 
enough power to pull the disk.  The disk is easier to pull on my bigger 
30-35hp IH B210.  I use 5' on bed spacing; the smoother gives a flat 
top of about 26", as I recall.  The beds start off maybe 6-8" high.

Photos:
http://www.austinfarm.org/homegrown/images/images24/index.html

Since I took the photos, I have added a rake in front of the roller on 
the smoother.

On reviewing the above photos, I notice that the smoothed beds shown 
are poorer quality than average, probably due to dry heavy soil.  My 
new beds now look better than those shown.

I also notice that I have photos of two disks.  The orange one I 
spotted in an implement yard last year; I snapped it up at $285.  The 
rusty/yellow one, I bought new about 20 years ago.  $600?  I seem to 
have to change the "sealed" bearings on them every 4-5 years.  I 
generally change some of the disks whenever I have to work on bearings.

-- 
Willie, ONWARD!  Through the fog!
http://counter.li.org Linux registered user #228836 since 1995
Debian3.0/GNU/Linux system uptime  22 days 59 min minutes



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