The art of plowing

[N80]

Do you have to get off the tractor to flip the plow over? I see a spring but I don't see any hydraulics.

 

[Carlos_Silva]

Nop, it reverses automatically,

The chain you see on the picture connects to the draw-bar,

as soon as you lift the hidraulics, the plow automatically turns !!

Very cool system, and very common here in Europe !!

Greets Carlos Silva

 

[N80]

Wow, very nifty. Cannot imagine why we don't have those here.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Wow, very nifty. Cannot imagine why we don't have those here.

"We" do, just not common. (As an example, Deere still offers a reversable plow. It's tailored to high horsepower tractors) Since plows in general aren't big sellers in the US, there aren't many new 2-way plows. Back in the day when the were used, generally speaking, they weren't popular in areas where they weren't NEEDED. I'd suspect that was due to cost as much as any single factor. Also to be considered, reversable plows are heavy. In most cases, a tractor can handle an additional bottom or two with a cnventional "one way" plow, making it more practical for large scale farming combined with accepted methods of the day.


http://www.deere.com/servlet/com.de...iew.servlets.ProdCatProduct?tM=FR&pNbr=0975XP

 

[Opti-Mist]

The two-way plows were initially developed in Europe where field size is small compared to here. It made for greater efficiency as large headlands weren't needed. Think about it, smaller fields, less dead time.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

The two-way plows were initially developed in Europe where field size is small compared to here. It made for greater efficiency as large headlands weren't needed. Think about it, smaller fields, less dead time.

Reversable plows have been in the US since the days BEFORE internal combustion powered tractors. They were common in flood irrigated farming areas. Deere had a horse drawn 2-way sulky plow as early as 1899.

 

[jake98]

So, for those of us that don't know anything about plowing, how do you do it without a reversable plow, run all the way back to the other end of the field? Jake

 

[flusher]

Wow, very nifty. Cannot imagine why we don't have those here.

Similar mechanical ideas have been around for a long time. My old 7-ft Ferguson Model 60 BO-21 tandem disc is connected to the 3pt hitch and is rigged to move to neutral position (disc blades parallel) during a turn by just raising the 3pt hitch. When the turn is completed, lowering the 3pt causes the disc to return to its aggressive plowing configuration as the tractor pulls it forward. These discs were used a lot on Ford 8N tractors.

Nowadays, of course, hydraulics are used to handle this operational detail.

 

[Egon]

There was another form of two way plough.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

So, for those of us that don't know anything about plowing, how do you do it without a reversable plow, run all the way back to the other end of the field? Jake

Back furrow....Plow going both directions, rolling dirt towards the middle.