plowing depth

[farmeratheart]

I am ready to tap into our huge knowledge base here again. I have a single bottom 3pt land plow that I pull behing my JD2305 to turn over the garden in the fall. Since the 2305 does not have draft control on the 3pt I find it difficult to maintain a constant depth of my furrows. Have any of you ever attached a gauge wheel or skid shoe to the left side of the plow somehow to control depth? Would this work? Thanks in advance for any help!

Frank

 

[Opti-Mist]

In the absense of draft control the variability you mention should be the consequense of fore/aft adjustment (top link length). A properly adjusted plow should track very well. A slightly nose down attitude should produce "suck" which would result in the plow constantly seeking a lower level which should thus tend to keep the depth from decreasing. A slightly nose up attitude could cause a loss of depth. Review the adjustment procedures in your operator's manual.

 

[sweettractors]

I am ready to tap into our huge knowledge base here again. I have a single bottom 3pt land plow that I pull behing my JD2305 to turn over the garden in the fall. Since the 2305 does not have draft control on the 3pt I find it difficult to maintain a constant depth of my furrows. Have any of you ever attached a gauge wheel or skid shoe to the left side of the plow somehow to control depth? Would this work? Thanks in advance for any help!

Frank

Some old timers would run a chain from the toplink (tractor end) to the lift arm pin of the plow. You can adjust it link by link until you get the max depth you want. Ken Sweet

 

[allen in texas]

Here's my two cents.
Draft control does not control the depth of your plow. It controls the amount of pull (draft) felt by the tractor.
Depth is set by your three point lift hydraulics.
I know it is not that simple but an example would be something like this.
Say your tractor can pull the plow 8 inches deep through the majority of your soil so you set that depth with your 3 pt hydraulics. Now you are plowing merrily along and you hit hard soil that overloads your tractor. Draft control, when set properly, will lift the plow to maintain the same amount of pull on your tractor and you keep on going.
When the soil gets softer, draft will lower the plow back down to the preset depth but not lower.
If you try to use only draft control and lower the three point all the way down, the plow will go up and down depending on the soil and you will be back to what you have now, inconsistant depth.
Draft and depth control mixture is a fine balance of both features.

If you can pull the plow at the depth you want, the chain idea is as good as it gets, as long as your ground is smooth. Otherwise, the plow will go up and down with the tractor.

Is this clear as mud?

Ps EDIT.
Yes, some plows have gauge wheels

 

[Rockin' G Ranch]

Some old timers would run a chain from the toplink (tractor end) to the lift arm pin of the plow. You can adjust it link by link until you get the max depth you want. Ken Sweet

I'm not visualizing this setup and how it works. Can you give a better description or post a picture? Thanks.

 

[sweettractors]

I'm not visualizing this setup and how it works. Can you give a better description or post a picture? Thanks.

Sure, they would put one end of the chain on the (tractor end) toplink pin and the other end on the lift arm pin of the implement. As the implement moves down it gets father away from the tractor and the chain eventually stops the implement. Ken Sweet

 

[oldnslo]

Have any of you ever attached a gauge wheel or skid shoe to the left side of the plow somehow to control depth? Would this work? Thanks in advance for any help!

Frank

Yes, gauge wheels where common on semi-mounted plows. I suspect these could be added to a fully mounted also. NOTE: The gauge wheel also follows the contour of the ground so you may need a combination of depth control on the 3PH and gauge wheel. If your front end is lifting i.e. star gazing, that will also cause the plow to vary it's depth.

Roy

 

[farmeratheart]

Some old timers would run a chain from the toplink (tractor end) to the lift arm pin of the plow. You can adjust it link by link until you get the max depth you want. Ken Sweet

I got a chance to try Ken's suggestion in a friend's cornfield yesterday. It worked great. By limiting the depth to which the plow would "sink" initially we were able to effect some other adjustments that made the chain mostly unnecessary! I probably only turned over about 3/4 acre of the ~80 that he will put into corn this year, but it sure was fun! There really is something very satisfying about turning the earth ...

Frank

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Gauge wheels on MOUNTED plows tends to unload weight from the tractors hitch onto the gauge wheel. Harry Ferguson's "theory" when he invented the 3-point hitch was to use the implements weight AND the plows "suck" to replicate ballasted weight on the tractor. That's how a smaller tractor could pull a bigger plow with 3-point as opposed to a tractor/plow without 3-point.

If you have enough "grunt" (ie weight, hp, ect) with your tractor to be able to "manhandle" the plow, that unloading of weight won't be an issue. However....If you're really close on power, weight (traction) ect, a gauge wheel could be detrimental to your goal.

Kens "chain" depth control will help keep the plow at a constant depth, but it does upset the geometry of the 3-point hitch (in regards to draft control working properly) If you don't have draft control, the chain is an excellent way to solve the problem.

Also, in regards to an above comment. You DO NOT set a plow with a slight "nose down attitude". Shares in good (un-worn) condition create the "suck". Nose down plows tend to porpoise, (riding up and down) and if that plow should happen to have multiple bottoms (ie more than one) you'll end up with the rear bottom riding shallower than the front bottom. (Which is NOT a good thing) Plows need to set LEVEL when operating.....front to rear and side to side.

Best way to a consistent, accurate plow depth? Get a tractor like the one in my avatar photo! Still enough of Ol' Harry's influences in that line of tractors so that his invention works like it should!