Near Intersection of I-35 & I-90 Southern Mn. | Some years ago I purchased an STX-450 on a retirement sale. This was much larger than our previous "Big Horse" so I decided we needed a larger field cultivator. I had heard good things about the CIH Tigermate 200 which was really the DMI Tigermate II painted red. I checked with my local CIH dealer. They indicated one of their sister stores had a used 50' model in inventory. I drove to the store and looked it over. It was sitting outside in a snow bank at the time. Later I purchased it. They pulled it to the local store. I drove one of my tractors to the local store and pulled it home.
It seemed fine the first year but I noticed that the various points of movement in the shanks such as the pivot points and the "hole" where the spring is located were showing considerable wear. Turns out the machine was more "worn" than I realized.
I started checking into parts and learned that the original assemblies were built a bit weak. Either DMI or CIH had changed the shank assemblies at some point in time. At a casual glance the "old" style and the "new" style appear identical. However upon closer inspection, it is obvious that various areas had been improved. Various bolt and the pivot bushings had been enlarged etc.
This meant that the new style was a replacement for the original shank assemblies but individual parts were not. The CIH solution was to completely replace each entire shank assembly. With a 50' field cultivator that would have been extremely expensive. It may have been the reason the original owner had traded it.
After disassembling some of my original shank assemblies, I noticed that the shanks had not been pivoting on their bushing. This meant the bolts had been turning in the side pieces and wearing the holes egg shaped. This meant that wear had taken place in the side pieces and the bolts themselves.
I came up with a fix. This fix is not necessarily a complete fix but allowed me to revitalize the original assemblies and continue to use them. For those assemblies that were terribly worn, the entire shank assembly was replaced.
Since there is a fair amount of clearance for the pivot bolts, I made some straps of flat steel that had a hole toward each end. The distance between the holes was the original center to center distance of the original holes which had become egg shaped. I purchased new bolts of the same size but a bit longer than the original bolts. The extra length was needed due to the thickness of the strap on each side. I removed the original bolts and cleaned up the pivot bushings. I reassembled the unit by using one of the flat straps on each side and the longer bolts. The result was that the original center to center distance was reestablished. The side straps were spot welded into place. Some of the holes were the spring rod passes through the rear of the brackets had worn also. It was possible to spot weld in a new washer. I believe the inner sleeve can be flipped end or end so the new wear is in a different place.
This did involve a fair amount of work but has been basically worthwhile. I do need to purchase some complete new shank assemblies from time to time. I put them in the tough areas behind the tracks. I try to keep my repaired shank assemblies in the lighter duty areas.
When checking over this field cultivator just yesterday, the boys found that one of the main carrying wheels had just about fallen off. Upon disassembly they saw that the spindle and hub were ruined. The local dealer had both. The problem then became removing the original spindle from its cast housing. Heat and hammering hasn't moved it yet, so the cast assembly with damaged spindle was removed and will be taken to a machine shop today. Hopefully they can apply adequate heat and pressure to remove the worn spindle.
I am at somewhat over the $1200 point for a new spindle and hub at the moment. Good thing that it was spotted though as it would have failed completely and fallen off soon. This would have been more of a problem out in the field or worse yet while in transport. I suggest checking your bearings if you have one of these.
Edited by tedbear 4/17/2026 06:08
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Tigermate 2 shanks tripping
