Will it pull a plow?

[DrDan]

I have a BX2200 and would like to plow my garden to get to the deeper soil (have a Troy built tiller). Right now there are all kinds of 2 bottom 3-pt hitch plows in the paper for sale, but can't find any single bottom. Will this little "Bota" pull a two bottom 12" or 14" plow?

Thanks
DrDan

 

[Charliebrn]

According to the manual, it'll only pull a single bottom, however, I think it might do it if you have the right soil conditions and the right tires (BAR). If your soil is easily workable, it might be worth a try. I'd make pretty sure you can get your money back out of a two bottom though...I have my doubts.

Let us know if you try it....

 

[wichiwichi]

You can try it. If not you can always remove 1 bottom.

 

[Old_Wanker]

DrDan - if youre plowing a garden thats already been tilled then you wont be cutting sod for a start. Youll also only be getting down maybe another 6-9 inches. Because of this you should be alright with a 2 bottom. Your concern will be the hitch on the plow. A lot of these old plows advertised dont have the 3 point - and are a real bugger to move around and get mounted on the tractor. I have seen it where a big dolly has been made so that the plow is easier to move around. Hope this helps.

 

[Bird]

<font color=blue>Will this little "Bota" pull a two bottom 12" or 14" plow?</font color=blue>

Like the other guys said, if you have the right soil conditions, it might, but my guess is that it's highly unlikely.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

<font color=blue>… Will this little "Bota" pull a two bottom 12" or 14" plow?…</font color=blue>

Hi Dan,

A good test is take a box blade and drop down “1 ½-2” rip shanks per moldboard plow you wish to try (varies depending on width/size of shanks)… so you want to see if the ‘Bota can pull 2 moldboards, you will drop 3 to 4 rip shanks down into the ground approximately 6-8” deep and attempt to pull it through your soil for a sustained time…

Since they don’t rate subcompact tractors for drawbar hp, I’ll only guesstimate your BX2200 is about ~10-12…?

My Father has a Troy-bilt, and I think it tills about 6-8” depth… you won’t get that much more from a moldboard plow… a sub-soiler plow will do about 18” depth @ ~ 50 DBHP… /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif

I’ve said it before… Plowing is certainly not for the faint-at-heart tractor… your two main ingredients for best results are 1) Drawbar HP and 2) Bulk weight… (unfortunately- this favors utility/farm tractors more than most compact tractors on the market today)

Rule of Thumb for Moldboard Plowing is ~15 DBHP min. (avg. ~20+) per moldboard @~ 5mph @ ~8-10” deep with appropriate ballast…

 

[skipperbrown]

I had a MF1225 (25hp) 2 wd w/ ag tires and it would pull a single 14" plow running 90% of WOT on soil that had never been tilled. While it did a good job, there was no way it could have pulled a 2 bottom plow. The single plow was pushing the tractor to close to its limits at a slow walking pace. I think you have the hp to use a single plow, but I'm not sure you will have the traction necessary w/ those small tires. However, soil conditions will dictate what you can or can't do. In any event, I'd stay away from a double.

mark

 

[cisco]

2 bottom plow on your rig - only for real, real soft soil. Check around for a used or rental subsoiler, or better yet a subsoiler/potato plow combo (blades interchange on same shaft). You should be able to pull the subsoiler (about 7-8 inches wide), especially if you take a few runs at it, starting shallow, and then you can change blades, and put on the larger potato plow. It'll take a while, but you'll get there. Then you'll have broken up soil at least 10" deep, and if you till or disc it up or similar yearly, won't need a plow again. Good luck.

 

[Old_Wanker]

I pull a WorkSaver sub-soiler or a WorkSaver middlebuster (potato plow) on my BX with no problems - and thats running turf tires with a rocky clay soil. I dont know what all the fuss is about, the tires rarely spin and even then it just takes a quick lift of an inch or so on the subsoiler and away we go again.

 

[BrianR]

I realize this thread is an old one, but for those of you who are asking the same question and find this thread..............

I pull a 14" single bottom plow made by Howse Implements with a 2004 Kubota BX2200 with bar tires, no ballast of any kind in Ohio clay soil. I have plowed as deep as 10" before, but with the narrow width of the tractor and relatively low ground clearance, putting the right side tires in the furrow can lead to a roll-over or bottoming out the tractor on the furrow. So I set my gauge wheel to go down around 8" or so.

You could use a sub-soiler such as the XB from King Kutter, to loosen up compacted soil, the BX will pull that easily. Subsoil in the fall then disc in the spring.

I fall plow, then rip up the soil in the spring (using solid shank cultivators adapted from an old Sears set for the SS16 tractor) after mellowing out all winter, disc smooth and plant with a J.D. 290 corn planter.

Soil composition makes a big difference in how much plow these sub-compact machines can pull. Generally horsepower isn't the problem with these tractors......it is weight and machine wheelbase/width that is more problematic.

Brian