CraigM
Silver Member
For anyone debating tire types, maybe this will help. My B2150 is primarily a mowing machine, and came with turf tires. I also wanted to be able to pull a plow and disc through the garden, and to be able to renovate the rattier patches in our pasture. The folks at the local Kubota dealer told me that I would be able to work the garden in 4WD with turfs, but had doubts about sod bustin' in the pasture.
My experience shows that it is possible to pull a 2 bottom plow through a heavily weed overgrown garden if you work within the tractor's limitations. This was the first time I ever plowed anything, so I was learning as I went. The plow is an old Dearborn 3 point mounted unit with either 12 or 14 inch bottoms. No one has given me a definitive answer on exactly what to measure to detrmine this, so if anyone knows, please pass it along. I can't just drop the plow and drive off like the farmer down the road with his 100 HP JD, but by being careful not to take too big a bite, and using the diff lock, I could pull the plow through the garden. There was a fair amount of wheel slip, enough to cause me to price chains, but not enough to make me buy them, and certainly no where enough to justify the price of changing to bar turfs. I got deep enough to turn the weeds over. I had hoped to give them a few weeks to die and then disc, but we had a rainy spell that melted the soil back into a pretty solid surface and the disc wouldn't bite, so I plowed again. This time, with no real sod to contend with, I could let the plow go down to full depth and still keep it moving. When it stuck, a little tug on the lift lever would pull up a huge chunk of soil and get things moving again. This time, I couldn't resist the fun of turning over a 20 foot wide strip of established sod and dandelions (mostly dandelions) next to the garden. This time, I had a better idea of how to control things, and managed to get the depth set up so that both bottoms were turning soil about 4 inches deep and flipping the dandeions over quite nicely. I went over it again a week later with the plow set deeper and it pulled pretty well. All the plowing was done with the diff lock on. It quickly became obvious that engaging the lock at the begining of each pass was the way to go. I made minor course corrections with the lock engaged on the reasoning that the limited traction in the dirt would keep me from damaging anything. So far, that logic has worked, but do this at your own risk.
The disc is a 20 blade JD model KBA, about 6.5 feeet wide (One foot wider than manual recommendations). Had no trouble pulling it through plowed ground even at the most agressive gang angle. You could hear the engine load up, but the tractor rarely broke traction after the first pass. Even the first pass was not a problem if I used the diff lock.
The only ballast on the machine is one of those suitcases on the front. Naturally I removed the belly mower. It is simple to tie up the lifting linkages so that they don't drop into the dirt when the plow is lowered. All of this work was done in second gear at about 2000 rpm. The soil is heavy clay loam and was springtime soft. I don't know how it will work in late summer when it has dried out and gotten hard.
So, anyone out there who needs their tractor for mowing, but still wants to play farmer every now and then, it can be done with turf tires.
Craig
Hershey, PA
My experience shows that it is possible to pull a 2 bottom plow through a heavily weed overgrown garden if you work within the tractor's limitations. This was the first time I ever plowed anything, so I was learning as I went. The plow is an old Dearborn 3 point mounted unit with either 12 or 14 inch bottoms. No one has given me a definitive answer on exactly what to measure to detrmine this, so if anyone knows, please pass it along. I can't just drop the plow and drive off like the farmer down the road with his 100 HP JD, but by being careful not to take too big a bite, and using the diff lock, I could pull the plow through the garden. There was a fair amount of wheel slip, enough to cause me to price chains, but not enough to make me buy them, and certainly no where enough to justify the price of changing to bar turfs. I got deep enough to turn the weeds over. I had hoped to give them a few weeks to die and then disc, but we had a rainy spell that melted the soil back into a pretty solid surface and the disc wouldn't bite, so I plowed again. This time, with no real sod to contend with, I could let the plow go down to full depth and still keep it moving. When it stuck, a little tug on the lift lever would pull up a huge chunk of soil and get things moving again. This time, I couldn't resist the fun of turning over a 20 foot wide strip of established sod and dandelions (mostly dandelions) next to the garden. This time, I had a better idea of how to control things, and managed to get the depth set up so that both bottoms were turning soil about 4 inches deep and flipping the dandeions over quite nicely. I went over it again a week later with the plow set deeper and it pulled pretty well. All the plowing was done with the diff lock on. It quickly became obvious that engaging the lock at the begining of each pass was the way to go. I made minor course corrections with the lock engaged on the reasoning that the limited traction in the dirt would keep me from damaging anything. So far, that logic has worked, but do this at your own risk.
The disc is a 20 blade JD model KBA, about 6.5 feeet wide (One foot wider than manual recommendations). Had no trouble pulling it through plowed ground even at the most agressive gang angle. You could hear the engine load up, but the tractor rarely broke traction after the first pass. Even the first pass was not a problem if I used the diff lock.
The only ballast on the machine is one of those suitcases on the front. Naturally I removed the belly mower. It is simple to tie up the lifting linkages so that they don't drop into the dirt when the plow is lowered. All of this work was done in second gear at about 2000 rpm. The soil is heavy clay loam and was springtime soft. I don't know how it will work in late summer when it has dried out and gotten hard.
So, anyone out there who needs their tractor for mowing, but still wants to play farmer every now and then, it can be done with turf tires.
Craig
Hershey, PA
