[mustachio85]

Just wondering what peoples thoughts are on one or the other. Looking at putting a morris rangler (P30s and 5 bar harrows) behind my air tank (TBH) so I can leave a nice smooth finish after cultivating/banding in urea. Then this way all our tillage is done in one pass vs buying something like a 60-70ft harrow packer and having it all done in two passes. But I just feel like a harrow packer would do a better job at leveling but wanna have it done in one pass. Just wanna see what peoples experiences are with one or the other or both.

Just need things level and packed so its ready for our box/hoe drill to put seed in the ground.

P.S. - I 've heard some organic guys say they like the rangler for the fact that it packs and tickles the tops off the soil killing the weeds. Opinions on this as we would be banding ahead of the drill by about 4-7 days.

 

[skgrain]

Have had both. The difference in job is negligible. I would lean towards the wrangler since those flexicoil packer arms are more trouble.

Another option would be to upgrade your harrows on the air seeder. We use to use boaurgault 3 bar heavy. I just have a sneaking suspicion that you may get sick of trailing those harrows.

 

[tswanson]

Pulled a Morris Rangler behind our cultivator for years. Thought it did a decent job. Thought it would be better if you could put some down pressure on the harrows but they work ok. Ours is only 43' so it folds up and transports easy. Changing bearings on the packers was a pain, need to pay attention to them. If I was in the market for a harrow pulled behind a cultivator, I wouldn't hesitate in buying one. As for skgrains suspicion that you might get sick of pulling them, I sure never did, but I pulled co-op crazy harrows before we bought the Rangler so it was a huge improvement, especially when transporting.

 

[9795wire]

We did the same for years, it worked well . I have a 50 ft Morris wrangler 2 for sale if you are interested .

 

[wmoebis]

Just wondering what peoples thoughts are on one or the other. Looking at putting a morris rangler (P30s and 5 bar harrows) behind my air tank (TBH) so I can leave a nice smooth finish after cultivating/banding in urea. Then this way all our tillage is done in one pass vs buying something like a 60-70ft harrow packer and having it all done in two passes. But I just feel like a harrow packer would do a better job at leveling but wanna have it done in one pass. Just wanna see what peoples experiences are with one or the other or both.

Just need things level and packed so its ready for our box/hoe drill to put seed in the ground.

P.S. - I 've heard some organic guys say they like the rangler for the fact that it packs and tickles the tops off the soil killing the weeds. Opinions on this as we would be banding ahead of the drill by about 4-7 days.

I have a 70 ft Blanchard Hydra lift with harrows and heavy cast crowfoot packers That is all I use to level peas never had any trouble. Seems to do nice job and packs down rocks in rolling hills with lots of small rocks.

Not sure where you live but it is for sale if your interested. 70 ft covers alot of ground in short order. I'm also WC Sask. Beechy.

 

[albertabuck]

Whether or not you have rocks should play a large part in your decision IMO. If you do have them, a packer/harrow will end up pulling the smaller to medium sized rocks up on top, whereas a harrow/packer leaves them pressed in the ground, except for the odd one that gets wedged in the coils and ends up on top.

 

[mustachio85]

Another option would be to upgrade your harrows on the air seeder. We use to use boaurgault 3 bar heavy. I just have a sneaking suspicion that you may get sick of trailing those harrows.

It would be an option only if I didn't have a TBH tank, I need something that also eliminates the deep tracks the air tank can sometimes leave behind in the loose dirt. Also the packer/harrow wouldn't bother me at all since the last few years I have been pulling a set of P20 flexicoil packers (non folding type), so having something that wings up would be nice.

As for rocks, we have none, except for one field in a small 2 acre patch on a hill, so it shouldn't matter. But the same thing that pulls up rocks should also pull up weeds so they can't regrow right?

 

[Old Farmer]

The Morris pulls easier and the Flexi Coil leaves a better pattern to prevent soil erosion.

 

[skgrain]

It would be an option only if I didn't have a TBH tank

I meant mounted heavy harrows which would work fine with the TBH but would not do the job of your trailing unit.

 

[9795wire]

Packer / harrows do not 'pull' up rocks.
In heavy soils the finish of the harrows behind the packers is less likely to crust over

 

[tswanson]

Occurred to me that if you are looking at a used Rangler, check for cracks in the front corners of the harrows. Had to repair and reinforce all of mine over time, especially the outside ones.

 

[mustachio85]

Well we decided to go for the rangler and found a pretty decent looking one at 36ft wide so perfect match for our air seeder. no cracks or welds anywhere still good on the paint and near new harrows, but it does not have the updates for the packer bearings (dust caps & seals). But we will still be on the lookout for a cheap harrow packer as it would also have its place from time to time. Just hope the rangler does what I need it to. thanks for all the info