plowing - what's wrong?

[lcorrell]

I'm totaly new to this, so keep that in mind. I have a 27hp 2wd Satoh with a FEL. My wife and I decided to turn part of our yard into a garden this year, so I borrowed an 2 bottom plow from a friend with a 9N. My Satoh is about the same size as his ford. I don't know if I have the plow adjustment wrong, if the ground is too wet, or if my tractor is just too small, but I can't plow a darn thing! Maybe it's the sod making it too hard to plow? I can't even go deep enough to scrape the sod off the top of the ground before my tractor just starts spinning the tires and digging in! The Satoh has loaded agg tires and a diff lock, but not enough traction. I can start with the plow just low enough to start digging in and go about 4 feet before the tractor starts spinning and stops in its tracks. Then I can lift the plow and get going again, but it just repeats this over and over. I guess if I was a farmer, my family would starve.

Can anyone give any advise to someone so new to this that I have no clue what I am doing?

[js5020]

Probably to much plow for the tractor,,, I have 26 hp fwd but the tires are not loaded and 2x14 are to much in sod, I could load the tires but then it's heavy for mowing,,, better to run 1x14, easier on the machine.

[Farmwithjunk]

Not enough tractor or too much plow. You MIGHT have enough horsepower, but that tractor is a little on the light side for a 2-bottom plow, especially in sod. With enough ballast added, you'll still be right on the fine line with HP for breaking sod.

[randy41]

try it with just one of them engaged.....you may be able to flip up and secure the furthest back one so you are just pulling one. i have a similar HP tractor but its fwd (like js said) and sometimes the sod will stop me or twist the tractor around. wet as long as its not muddy is easier than dry.

[schmism]

my TC33 will barely pull my 2x14 bottom. If turning virgin sod it works much better if i adjust things so only 1 plow is cutting.

when i turned last years garden for a second time, i was able to pull both, but it wasnt easy and i could tell having the plow setup correctly makes a big difference.

[Barneyhunts]

Ihad difficulty last year plowing sod with a 2 bottom 12" behind a 30 Hp 4WD (Kubota B7800). I removed 1 bottom and it went much easier. Soon I'll try it with 2 bottoms in ground which was plowed last year. Removing one bottom might help.

[slipshot77]

It's not the engine HP that is important in ground engaging, It's the HP that you can put on the ground by the tires. The old Oil pulls and steam tractors done well to develop 10 HP and could slip 4 or 5 plows in the ground and walk off with them. They were heavy and made a big footprint. With your tractor a tiller would be a better option for breaking ground. If your set on plowing get a single 12 or 14 inch plow. Find someone who knows how to setup a plow on a tractor to help you the first time. Even big tractors struggle if the point of draft and angle are not set right.

[lcorrell]

Thanks for the input. I really looked this plow over last night and there aren't many adjustment provisions on it. There is no way to remove one bottom from this plow, so that option won't work. I tried "polishing" and oiling the plow surfaces to see if that would help. I tried several top link adjustments for the angle of the plow. I also tried adjusting the side to side tilt from one extreme all the way to the other to try to get only one bottom to engage. Nothing seemed to help one bit.

The whole idea behind starting the garden this year was to try to save a little money, so buying or renting any equipment is out - there is no budget for this project. Besides, they want $200 to rent a 50" 3pt tiller for 24 hrs! The plow and a small disc were free to borrow from a friend who hasn't used them in 10+ years, so it was worth a try. I don't know anyone with a tractor mount tiller that I can borrow. I have now made a mess of about 100ft x 30ft of our yard that I guess I will have to try to till with a little 18" hand opperated tiller that I can borrow. I am very dissappointed with my tractor at this point since this was one of the main purposes of the purchase! Maybe in the years to come I can find the budget to buy a one bottom plow and try again.

[js5020]

Well if you can find someone with a boxblade, they are pretty good at ripping things up,,, just adjust the toplink short and set the scarrifers low, and keep the blade out of the dirt. I have a plow but don't use it anymore,, I use the boxblade to rip things up, works good as long as you don't have much trash to cover.

[yellowandbeige]

Maybe you could loosen the ground enough with your loader to make tilling with a small walk behind a little easier. Tilt your bucket to take a deep bite in the soil and then even if you can only sink it 6 inches curl your bucket and rip out a chunk. Back up a little and do it again. Works better with a tooth bar but even if you don't have one it will help when you go to use the tiller.
Basically thats way to much plow for your tractor.
four wheel drive in a small tractor is an immense advantage.
Y&B