Middle Buster Problem

[bp fick]

OK, that is what I'd call a shank spade. Other places have other names.

The middle buster has a vertical shaft that is the "teeter totter" effect of lengthening or shortening the top link to tilt the plow blade to ride upward or to dig downward. There is no similar function I can see with your setup.

It looks more like someone cut this off a field ripper or field cultivator, perhaps, and made a single spade out of it. Hmmmmm.......

 

[petes]

That doesn't appear to be much of a plow. It looks like it's for making furrows for planting seeds in, therefore designed to run shallow, which it seems to be doing quite nicely.

Construction appears much too light to be buried more than a few inches in soft earth.

 

[Haywire]

Yep, that's not a middle buster. I guess you'll have to go buy one. See how the spade on this one is angled forward?

 

[Baby Grand]

Okay - so your 3pt looks like it's adjusted right: you've got plenty of depth range and the vertical shank that the blade bolts to doesn't lean as it goes up & down.

The blade is set at a very steep angle compared to my middle buster. mine's set at about 30 degrees off the horizontal, where your's is at what looks like 70 degrees. I think this may be the root cause of the plow not "sucking" down into the soil.

The force of the soil sliding over the plow resolves into 3 components:

The first component is really 2 forces, one to either side of the plow, one left and one right. They push the soil out of the furrow & to either side. In terms of "suck" they cancel each other out.

The second force is pushing the plow aft. That's the component that is fighting your tractor & using your HP. That's also the force that trips your trip mechanism, if it gets too large. It doesn't contribute anything to the suck.

The third force component is pulling the plow straight down (creates suck) and it is directly related to the angle above horizontal. Increasing this angle, increases the second force and reduces the third force. Increasing this angle also decreases the force acting upwards on the soil, which helps to pitch it up & out of the furrow.

So see if there's some way to adjust that blade to a shallower angle - that will give you more downward force. I had to do the opposite on my subsoiler to use the middle buster blade. On my implement, the shank that the blades bolt to is at too shallow an angle for the middle buster, so it wouldn't pitch the soil up & out of the furrow.

Hope this helps,
Jim

 

[Depmandog]

Since no one has ventured to offer any suggestions on modifying your unit....let me be the first. I don't know if this will work, but if this was my setup, I think
I would give it a try.

The top section of your buster...the piece that connects to your top link....it appears this piece could be unbolted, rotated and re-installed. From the pictures, it looks like the bolt holes should align.

The result of doing this - the lowest point of the plow will be several inches closer to the tractor, improving the angle of attack.

Will it work....ehh, shrug, ??, but won't cost a penny to do, plus it will be closer to what you need than the current setup.

Other than that, I don't see any other non-modification adjustments to be made.

Good luck.

 

[Bud Soda]

Not a middle buster

 

[psdx]

I think the problem is that the shovel is almost vertical - different from the middle busters I've seen. Normally, shovel point on a middle buster is almost horizontal with a flare going back from the point that makes the shovel naturally get pulled deeper. I'm not adding much to whats already been said, except for showing the contrast between this implement and a middle buster. Take a look at these two pictures side by side.