DaleC Posted November 2, 2003 Posted November 2, 2003 quote:From years of plowing with the old big stuff (Farmalls, and Johns) where you are limited in HP and are trying to get all you can out of the equipment, I learned that it is important to "fool" with the adjustments till you get it set right. The plow will enter the groung at an angle and when at the plowing depth you want, should be level. The plow at that point is self requlating for depth and will pull easy because it is cutting the groud with the plow point and the sole plate and not just tearing the ground. With a colter, you should have a smooth cut on the side of the furrow and on the bottom the plow sheer will be cutting smooth. I have seen fellows with lots of HP just drag the plows though the ground and then complain about worn parts and what a cruddy job the plow was doing. If it wants to go too deep it is not set up right. If the plow wants to not go into the ground, it is not set up right, it it wants to jump out of the ground, it is not set up right. If it pulls hard, it is not set up right. They hadn't taken the time to "set it up". Pull it straight and level in the furrow and it will pull easy and you will do a good job of turning the ground over and the vegetation under. Happy plowing Now I get to put all my "expertise" to work -). I had to free up A and B. The hitch pin was frozen in. Blaster, heat, and a hammer got that apart. I tried to plow late yesterday and it was doing a terrible job. I turned B over to raise the beam and I turned A to try to adjust the debth. The Beam was not level at all. I have since printed out the Manuel for the 204 and the 464 plows, plus a section on plow adjustment from UCD. I now get to go give it a try. I will keep you posted on what I do. I really believe that the Big Ten should plow without additional weight, even though I know that it would help tremendously. We shall see ?
Dutch Posted November 2, 2003 Posted November 2, 2003 Reading the quote reminded me of the problems I was having with my first attempt to use a plow a few years ago. These guys explained how to jack up one side of the tractor to set up the plow correctly. It worked out great. Kent recommended polishing the share, and that made an incredible difference. [img]/club2/attach/dutch/plow-setup.jpg[/img]
Agricola Posted November 2, 2003 Posted November 2, 2003 I have been procrastinating when it comes to using the plow. The idea of lifting up the side and getting it set right before you even enter the ground is a great idea. Do you really think it could be pulled without weight?
MPH Posted November 2, 2003 Posted November 2, 2003 I wonder about pulling the plow without wt also. Notice in the pic, there are double wts on that one. Seem to recall when I was kid plowing with a Farmall 'H' we always had an extra wt on the non furrow wheel. Them turf tires really don't look right pulling a plow. MPH
Brent_Baumer Posted November 2, 2003 Posted November 2, 2003 Hmmmmm. That plow looks familiar. Good luck Dale. I know you'll get it set right soon. Brent
rokon2813 Posted November 2, 2003 Posted November 2, 2003 My David Bradley tractor weighs less than 300 pounds and hac 6 inch wide Ags on it with tire chains only, no weight and it pulls a 6 inch plow without much trouble. A 600 pound A/C should do it without weight.
Ronald Hribar Posted November 2, 2003 Posted November 2, 2003 It should not be necessary to put weight on plow. The weight that was referred to on the drive wheel was used to keep wheel from slipping when raising plow. The setup being used here is more like the 3point setup used on Fergunson and Ford tractors. I plowed many acres with 23 and 35 hp tractors. using 2 14's and 3 14's bottom plows. The general rule was to plow no deeper than 1/2 the width of the bottom. Harry Fergunson patented using the pull of theplow to add trction to the tractor. Yes the moldboard and plow share have to be shiny. Also the point on the share was often sharpened or in later years replaced. This is the are in which you should be looking to in order to have plow work properly
MPH Posted November 2, 2003 Posted November 2, 2003 Glad you brought the sharping thing Ron. When I was cleaning mine before greese it up for winter storage I noticed the dullness of it, about like my mower blade. Had me tring to recall how to sharpen one, best I could do was recall dad taking them into a local blacksmith shop for hard surfacing. The point is reaaly a sharp point is it? Isn't it kinda squared off, but with a sharp edge??MPH
Ronald Hribar Posted November 2, 2003 Posted November 2, 2003 It is not sharp like a knife but like a maetal chiesel and similiar to a correctly sharpened mow blade. The blacksmith actually heated up the point in his forge and hammered an edge on to it. Until they got throwaway shares , He was very busy during plowing season. My father ried welding parts on the tip but usually caused more problems than it was worth. Being the plow was fully mounted, it usually gave me a good angle to enter the ground. I can remember plowing at night and the exhaust manifold of the tractor glowing red. We had 250 acres under plow, and the land had its fiels contoured around the hills. The fields were 3 80s long and I would encounter several types of soil conditions from one end of the field to the other. My father would not let anyone else plow,because of my finess with the tractor and the plow. You do not have the same feeling driving the new 100+ hp tractors and 6 or 7 bottom plows. The hydraulics,horsepower and traction control took all the fun away from it.
roma3112 Posted November 2, 2003 Posted November 2, 2003 Guys What is one of these things worth? I have one in my uncles shed that hasn't seen the light of day as long as i can rember, he got it new with his 3112h. I dont have an immediate use for it.
DaleC Posted November 2, 2003 Author Posted November 2, 2003 I am so tired and I cannot get the pictures to upload right but I did get the plow to work even though most of the afternoon I was riding a bucking allis. I was too light. In front and in the rear. I was plowing ground that had not been plowed for 20 years. It was fescue sod with lots of weeds and it was hard. I kept adjusting, put chains on the land wheel, and turned the hitch over like it is supposed to be, changed the colter and. . .(I can not get the pictures to upload, so till I get that figured out)I finally got it going and could pull in second gear half throttle. The old Ten just purred. It was the first really hard work pulling I have ever done with any of my tractors. It was sweet once I got everything level and adjusted. One big adjustment that helped a bunch was the little sole plate on the back of the plow. I moved it down and after that every thing worked great. I will show you guys pictures soon I hope. My wife had gone to the big sale at Penny's this afternoon and when she got home she EXCLAIMED, "What have you done to my yard." She still has two acres and I have the rest! HEHEHE
MPH Posted November 2, 2003 Posted November 2, 2003 Glad you got it plowin good Dale. The sound of these old Briggs under a good steady load is about as sweet as a farmall super H with a Tractor Supply 'M' muffler, and two 16's in old sweet clover field. I plan on planting some clover next spring just to plow it under with the 725. Looking forward to your pics Dale..MPH
DaleC Posted November 2, 2003 Author Posted November 2, 2003 Notice the chains on land wheel Notice the ragged furrow edge. I do not have the colter set to the outside of the moldboard far enough. Should be two inchs. The next picture is the wrong setting. This is where you set the colter up at. It does make a difference which screw is how tight. Loosen right and tighten left to swing colter to the right and visa versa. This is the right position for the hitch with the long part up. Ten horses are plenty to plow with. I just need to get my new ag lugs on full of fluid, hang a little weight on the front ( It wanted to rear up some and was so light it made steering difficult) and possibly a little weight on the plow. If the plow is set up right your beam should be fairly level and the standard the moldboard is mounted to at close to 350 to 360 degrees. Thanks for your encouragment and interest. I hope this will help you have fun:D
MPH Posted November 2, 2003 Posted November 2, 2003 I'm surprized it rolled over that good as rusty as the plow is. Some prety solid looking red clay. How'd you get yourself to stop, think I would have gone for the corn stalks..Good Pics Dale..MPH
RonRobinson Posted November 3, 2003 Posted November 3, 2003 DaleC, Consider me a novice, but what is the specs on that tractor in the photos? How many acres to you plow with it? Thanks..... Ron Robinson
DaleC Posted November 3, 2003 Author Posted November 3, 2003 Ron, That is a Big Ten. Weights about 680 lbs according to the spec. sheet. Here is the link for the specs. http://www.simpletractors.com/models/b_series/big_ten_specs.htm To summerize it is 10 hp. three speed. Original condition. Used Continuously for 35 years on a large estate mowing the grounds and an orchard. I gave 225 for it three years ago. It has hydraulic lift and I could never have handled the plow with out it. It is very strong even after all this time. I am plowing in 2nd gear at half throttle. I figure about 2 mph. That is as fast as the plow would effectively turn the sod over. I actually took off in third once at half throttle by mistake. It was pulling but I couldn't keep the front wheels on the ground at that speed. I had to start the plow into the ground for a while in first gear till I god the rust scoured off. I have never plowed with it before. I am going to have about 1 ac. plowed when it is all said and done. It started out with carlisle turf tread when I started plowing, but I couldn't get the traction needed so I went to the original goodyear that is thirty-seven years old with the chains on it for the land wheel and then it would plow with out me having to set on left finder. I was very pleased with the way the plow turned the sod over. I was turning about 5 to 6 inches of sod and it did a really good job. This is a sandy clay based loam. Where I was plowing the soil survey says its 60 ft. (Yes, sixty feet) deep. It is discribed as water laid silt. The stand of corn in the distance is going to produce about 180 bu. to the acre. About the rust. I large part of the original problem of plowing was the fact that the plow was so rusty. After about 45 minutes of plowing in the sandy soil it is rusty no more! I will drag the plowed ground down when I am done plowing and that will lay down any sod not completely turned over and will help the green manure, that is what you call any cover turned under, to decompose by spring. If it did not have the winter to do that, I would never get it worked down with the Big Ten. I have a generic light weight diskharrow that I got when I purchased the Big Ten. The folks just said, "here, Take this." I want to raise about three acres of sugar corn eventually. It sales for around 6 bucks a dozen around here. It should gross about 1600 dollars. That is going to support my little girls horse habit and my tractor habit:D
DaleC Posted November 3, 2003 Author Posted November 3, 2003 One more note. The stack muffler did a nice job of not putting me deaf. I as tempted to try plowing without it but I already know that as hard as it was pulling that my ears would still be ringing. I have a set up for a plymouth reliant muffler to be hung across the front. I had it on till I got the AC1 from Tractor Supply. It was very quiet but backfired everytime I shut it down. The large volume of the system traped to much raw gas after shut down and would ignite it. It was quite a POP.
Chris727 Posted November 3, 2003 Posted November 3, 2003 Great pictures, looks like a lot of fun! I am hoping to get my B110 to pull a brinly plow this fall. Bottom is rusty so I'll clean it up and make adjustments. I'm surprised you could pull it without weights. I tried to pull the plow with chains but it wouldn't pull in sod.
DaleC Posted November 4, 2003 Author Posted November 4, 2003 I'm a big fellow. About 275. That is a lot of balast. Dr. Adkins and I are trying to reduce my image. HEHE. Here is a picture I forgot. Notice that the beam is almost level and the upright almost at 90 degrees to the ground.
DaveM Posted November 4, 2003 Posted November 4, 2003 You may want to try running the coulter a bit deeper. The coulter is what cuts the side of the furrow for you. Running it deeper should leave you with a straighter, smoother furrow and less crumbling. May also make the plow pull easier. DaveM
DaleC Posted November 5, 2003 Author Posted November 5, 2003 I had to take the colter off and take it to the anvil and take a slight bend out of the standard that the colter is mounted to. I was then able to keep it adjusted so it ran two inches to the outside of the edge of the plow. I ran it about two to two and 1/2 inches deep in the sod. It did a much nicer job.. The longer that I plowed the easier it pulled and the better job the plow did. I had a very hard time trying to keep the plow in the ground till the rust all got scoured off. I finally had to start scraping the point and moldboard after every furrow. The rust scoured off rapidly then. I literally had to ride the left finder till I got the rust removed. I am going to put a coat of axle grease on all the areas that come in contact with the soil when I am done for the fall. This is what we used to do when I was a kid and interestingly enough, the simplicty operators manual says to do the same thing. I thought I might put clear lacquer on part of it to see how it would protect and how easy it will come off the next time I use the plow.
UCD Posted November 5, 2003 Posted November 5, 2003 Spray the shiny parts with a good coat of PAM cooking spray. It will stay on until your first pass with the plow. Pam also works real good to protect Chrome wheels in the winter.
Agricola Posted November 5, 2003 Posted November 5, 2003 My gosh, I hope I can get my Landlord to do that kind of job this spring. I want to get a decent garden in but have been a bit nervous about taking the plow to the soil. You have given me inspiration, thanks.
DaleC Posted November 5, 2003 Author Posted November 5, 2003 Maynard, I would never have thought of that. That is an excellent Idea. It would be easy to recoate if it starts to bleed through rust. John, just be patient. The first several furrows looks like someone tried to spade it. the plow spent so much time jumping out ot the ground. The little sole plate on the back of the furrow board is a big key to getting the plow to go into the ground and stay there.
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