Vegetable cultivators

[sweetcorn70]

I have been looking for a vegetable cultivator for any model of farmall for a while now and I am coming up dry, and I am not sure I could afford it if I found one. I am growing vegetables for sale and expanding. Looking at some pictures online, it looks like the 252 and the like are pretty simple and so I am considering trying to build a reasonable copy of one. I have some questions:

Are the round mounting rods grooved or notched in any way where the diamond toolbar attaches? In my mind it seems like the round stock would need to be grooved or have a cast piece to hold it on edge, otherwise it seems like it would want to twist.

Are the keyholes where the brackets attach to the universal mounting frame different widths from a Super A to a CUB? I know the universal mounting frame is different but I didn't know if the widths were different.

I would like to attach 5/8 x 2" rectangle standards to the 1 1/4" diamond bar but I can't even find one original IH clamp to use to copy it. Anybody have one laying around for sale? I know agri supply sells the one for a round standard but the rectangle are a little less common. There is a foundry close and I would like to find out how much they would have to have to cast some.

Would anyone be interested in buying one if I could get enough stuff together to build a few? They wouldn't be cheap but it would be a lot cheaper for everyone if I could sell a few others. Setup time for the casting and any machine work is the expensive part.

Thanks
Mike

[bob in CT]

This parts book has detailed diagrams of all the parts in a 252. They are not easy to find. I would suggest you use Agri Supply as much as possible because I don't think there will be much of a market for parts. I have only heard of a handful of veg cultivators here on the forum.

Here is that parts book: http://www.farmallcub.com/[ Sorry, direct links to manual section is not allowed. ]/download.php?fname=./files/Implement%20Parts%20manuals/CBI-1A%20Rev%203%20%2012-52%20rev1r.pdf

You may want to put a wanted ad on the vine. Never know what will turn up and welcome to the forum.

[jdeere86]

check out www.wengers.com and also burch store on ebay - he has lot of cultivating parts. if you lived in Massachusetts I have an extra set up for a cub

[jdeere86]

I got cultivators on 140 and cub - let me know if you need any specific photos

[Super A]

Does anyone still make the duckfeet, knife weeders, etc?

Al

[Jim Becker]

Here are a couple old threads that may be helpful.

http://www.farmallcub.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=149&t=90024

http://www.farmallcub.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=87372

[SONNY]

To cultivate veggies and delicate crops, a large heavy tractor cultivator will NOT work!!! ( don't ask how I know!!! )---You need a small SLOW ,well shielded unit to do the job! I use walk-behind units, with VERY small sweeps, along with roto-tiller! thanks; sonny

[jdeere86]

for delicate crops in my opinion a basket weeder is the best tool for the job as it does not throw soil as do sweeps - works great for lettuce, carrots, beets ...etc

[jdeere86]

i can cultivate a 300 ft bed with 3 rows of veggies in under a minute ...you can nurse one side down and then the other on way back up if you want to get very precise

[sweetcorn70]

I am going to answer all the posts in one, I hope that is ok.

Bob,

Thank you for your help. I have been looking at the 252 parts books and that is part of what put this idea in my head. It really doesn't seem like there are that many parts involved, meaning it should be fairly easy to build a good copy of the 252. I've talked to several people who said they didn't like the fact that they had to basically put together their own toolbar setup for cultivating with an offset farmall due to the fact there just aren't many for sale. Agrisupply does have some pieces that could be used, and other places do too. I guess I am trying to combine my "CSA Vegetable farmer" brain with my "I bleed red and love IH tractors and equipment" brain and make the cultivator "correct".


Jdeere86,

I have never been to wengers but I have heard they don't have much in the way of what I am looking for, mostly 144 and the like cultivator parts. I do need to get up there sometime and see the place for myself, though. Burch Store was the same story when I emailed him looking for the clamps to attach rectangular standards to the diamond 1 1/4" or 1 3/8" toolbars. If I was looking to cultivate 1 row of tobacco he could help me though.

I got cultivators on 140 and cub - let me know if you need any specific photos

Do you have a 252 or similar for sale? If so I am interested. 144's are all over Ohio, in fact I have one in my garage I forgot about while writing this reply!!

I actually have a basket weeder that I intend to get working this year if I can.

Does anyone still make the duckfeet, knife weeders, etc?

Al

Al, there are suppliers for Beet knives and a similar product called tender plant hoes. You can also buy "modern" clamps to adapt about any standard to any toolbar and I believe you can buy Duckfeet also but I haven't had a need for them so I am not sure. I bought a set of Tender plant hoes this year and tried using them on my A cultivating a single row and it didn't work as well as I hoped. If I had the rectangular standards I think it would work better. I ended up buying some old Yetter things that are similar but attach to a regular cultivator foot(?). I should get pictures of what I have now.

Jim Becker,

Thank you for the links you provided. They are very helpful, as are other posts you have made on the subject. In one picture that you have posted, you use some parts from a planter to build a double toolbar setup. THat would probably be the cheapest option for me, I would just need toolbars and tooling then but the only planter pieces similar to your picture aren't as long and that kind of worries me. Do you know what model planter they are from?

Sonny,

You need to tell the thousands of people out there who farm vegetables with tractors that, they don't know what they are missing.

[Jim Becker]

Jim Becker,

Thank you for the links you provided. They are very helpful, as are other posts you have made on the subject. In one picture that you have posted, you use some parts from a planter to build a double toolbar setup. THat would probably be the cheapest option for me, I would just need toolbars and tooling then but the only planter pieces similar to your picture aren't as long and that kind of worries me. Do you know what model planter they are from?

Sorry I didn't get back quicker on this, but I needed to do some measuring and didn't get out to do it.
I believe the tool bar supports that I used are from the Super A planters A-171 or A-172 (both use the same). They give a distance between the tool bars of 15". The ones I have on a Cub-172 planter would give 7-1/2". There may be similar supports of other lengths on other planters. If there is a scrap yard of this stuff you could visit, you might find some to choose from. The main advantage of more distance between the tool bars is that more space between tools reduces the chance of plugging, which could wipe out part of a row. The spacing between the tool bars on my A-452 is 12" (should be the same as a Cub-252). The front tool bar on the A-452 is about 9" behind the position it would be in if using the planter tool bar supports. Keep in mind that you gain some flexibility in placement by clamping the standard either in front or behind the tool bar.

The location the tool bar support clamps on the tool bar kills about 2 inches of tool bar for clamping a standard. With the planter support, those places are about 25-1/2 inches apart. The 452/252 supports have a built in 6" offset. So if they interfere you can swap sides to reposition the unclampable areas. If that really caused a problem using the planter supports, you could probably offset the whole unit to one side to work around them. The other drawback to the planter support method is that the front tool bar ends up about 2" lower than the rear one. On the 452/252 both bars are about the level of the rear one. In other words, the front bar on the planter support costs you about 2" of vertical crop clearance. Depends on what you are raising and how tall if might be at last cultivation for that to matter.