</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I had a neighbor give me a 7' 3 pt chisel plow. It has 7 shanks. With my 47 HP, loaded tires, and a bucket full of dirt I can not pull it at a depth of greater than 3 inches or so. I have power, but run out of traction. From what I understand they are typically run at depths of 8 inches. I was going to remove some shanks and see if I can pull it better, but I was just wondering if there was a certain HP recomended for a certain number of shanks. Just guessing by the way it loads up my tractor I am guessing I will only be able to pull 3-4 shanks. I am sure it all depends on soil type but I was wondering if this seems right. )</font>
And if you didn't run out of traction, you'd run out of POWER.....
We chisel farm land at an average depth of maybe 10" to 12".... (Deeper than the "plow pan")
Depending on the style of sweeps, and the type of chisel plow itself, you will need anywhere for a minimum of 10HP to as much as 20HP per shank. (Once again, depending on depth also)
My last chisel plow was an 11 shank DMI, that I pulled with a 130 HP (rated) (Actually dyno-ed 155) 4440 Deere. It was ballested to around 14,500lbs, and it pulled like a BIG boat anchor in our hard clay soils, at around 5 MPH, and a depth around 10"...