moldboard plow questions

[flusher]

I'm going plow shopping next week (my Christmas present to myself).

Looking for a 2-14 plow for the MF-135 diesel (45 hp engine, 33 hp on the drawbar). New or used (in OK condition).

The soil on my place is has quite a bit of gravel mixed with the dirt and occasional potato-size rocks thrown in.

What kind of trip shank, if any, should I be looking for: shear bolts, spring mechanisms, other?

How important are coulters? A lot of used plows I've seen don't have coulters and some of them look like they never have had them.

 

[scott_vt]

I'm going plow shopping next week (my Christmas present to myself).

Looking for a 2-14 plow for the MF-135 diesel (45 hp engine, 33 hp on the drawbar). New or used (in OK condition).

The soil on my place is has quite a bit of gravel mixed with the dirt and occasional potato-size rocks thrown in.

What kind of trip shank, if any, should I be looking for: shear bolts, spring mechanisms, other?

How important are coulters? A lot of used plows I've seen don't have coulters and some of them look like they never have had them.

Afternoon Ray,
Farmwithjunk is the guy your looking for, he is darn close to an expert on MF plows ! IMO ! I just restored a Dearborn Model 10-8 and it doesnt have any trip mechanism. It does have couters and hopefully next spring I will get a real chance to see how it performs. I would think you would want one with the coulters I believe you will get a neater plowing job with them, cleaner forrow wall etc. Hopefully Bill will jump in here and give you the low down on MF plows !

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Afternoon Ray,
Farmwithjunk is the guy your looking for, he is darn close to an expert on MF plows ! IMO ! I just restored a Dearborn Model 10-8 and it doesnt have any trip mechanism. It does have couters and hopefully next spring I will get a real chance to see how it performs. I would think you would want one with the coulters I believe you will get a neater plowing job with them, cleaner forrow wall etc. Hopefully Bill will jump in here and give you the low down on MF plows !

WOW Scotty! I hope I can live up to the hype! Thanks for the vote of confidence.

OK. There's 3 plows I like for light draft, 2 or 3 bottom plowing. 2 are Massey Ferguson and one Ford model.

Ford 101's (not to be confused with 10-1's) are about as good as it gets. They were made for Ford by Pittsburg Plow Company AND by Oliver(White). They are a simple truss frame plow, available with shear bolt or re-set saftey trip beams. They came in 12", 14", and 16" bottoms.

Massey Ferguson built a couple good plows during the 135 era. The first model was the #66. It's a truss frame plow with all the same options as the Ford 101. That's what I own for my 150. A few years before the end of the 135's day, MF introduced the model #43 plow. It is essentially the same bottoms, but with a box beam frame (the backbone) and much more throat clearance. That is important when plowing in heavy corn stalks, ect.

All 3 of these plows were built for tractors of the physical size and hp range that includes the 135.

At this point, I'll try to stay "simple" and not go into every single part of a plow and what it does. Let's just answer the questions at hand.

Coulters cut the surface to give the plow bottom a clear path. That might include cutting sod or stalks laying on the ground. Coulters can be set deep enough to give a clean furrow wall, but generally, they'll just run a few inches and not as deep as the plow bottom. Personally, I wouldn't own a plow WITHOUT coulters.

Plowing depth is relative to bottom width. The wider the plow, the deeper you can plow and get satisfactory results. I prefer 14" or 16" bottoms. They do a good job at depths ranging from 6" to 9".

Here's a few pictures of my #66 Massey Ferguson 2X14" plow. It has a "landing crank" and trash "cover boards". It has saftey trip reset bottoms, a tail wheel, and all new wear parts.

 

[Doc_Bob]

WOW Scotty! I hope I can live up to the hype! Thanks for the vote of confidence.

OK. There's 3 plows I like for light draft, 2 or 3 bottom plowing. 2 are Massey Ferguson and one Ford model.

Nice work. I want to know how you keep the plow shares looking so clean with no rust? How do you keep them from rusting?
Bob

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Nice work. I want to know how you keep the plow shares looking so clean with no rust? How do you keep them from rusting?
Bob

Rub 'em down with a light coat of grease.

 

[flusher]

WOW Scotty! I hope I can live up to the hype! Thanks for the vote of confidence.

OK. There's 3 plows I like for light draft, 2 or 3 bottom plowing. 2 are Massey Ferguson and one Ford model.

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QUOTE]

FWJ: Thanks once again for excellent info. Hope I'm fortunate enought to find one of those plows you mentioned. If not those, maybe another similar to them.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Auto reset plows are great if you are doing a lot of plowing but since you are looking at a 2-14 I am going to assume you are staying small and doing this for either gardens or food plots. I love my MF 880 as it has hydraulic resets and once you start plowing you make sure the hydraulic pressure is set properly for the ground and don't look back.

I have a couple trip plows and they are nice also but if you get a rough field (do you have a lot of big rocks in your ground) it will trip your plow bottom quite a bit. Then you have to stop and back up to reset the bottom. I plowed an old grape vineyard we cleared with a dozer a few years prior. When we came to each post we used the blade to lift the post out of the ground. However some post were just too bad off at ground level and they broke. Anytime the point of the plow found one of these on the second or third bottom it would trip. I also had a couple huge rocks (much larger then what will ever fit in my 6' bucket on the TN). They would trip the plow also when I found them. Trip plows work great though as they save your tractor from a lot of abuse and for small scale use they are perfect and much cheaper then auto reseting bottoms.

FWJ gave you a good idea what models to look for. If you look at new plows you will be in line for a major sticker shock if you price out high quality brands. These small older plows in the 2 bottom range have started bringing a good rate now though as there is a high demand with the popularity of the compact tractor. Almost everyone with a 30 hp or bigger compact and 5 acres of ground is looking for one so if you find a good one and the price seems fair buy it as it won't sit around long (at least in my area it won't).

I almost forgot, there are some good plows out there still that FWJ didn't mention and you may find them set up as 3 bottom plows but if you look them over the third bottom is removable. Then you have spare parts if something breaks. My International I bought a while back was a 2 bottom but they had the third bottom laying behind the barn so I had that loaded up to and put it back together so I had a 3-14. I also have a MF 82 that is a 4-14 but will break down to a 3-14. There are a lot of options out there if you look them over good. Most of these plows only require 4-6 bolts to remove or add a bottom once your past the main frame and top link supports.

 

[N80]

Let me throw in my extremely limited experience with plows. I also have a 45 hp (4wd) tractor. I found an off brand plow in my B-I-Ls junk pile earlier this year. It appears to be almost identical to the Leinbach 2 bottom plow and very similar to the KK plows you can see at tractor supply stores.

From what I've read these are considered 'hard pulling' plows and not as well designed as the older MFs, Fords, etc. I suspect this is very true, but this plow that I found does the job just fine. It may be 'hard pulling' but I would have no idea since it is the only plow I've ever used. My soil is dense clay and rocks and when I used this plow the ground was dry and hard. All I can say is that it did the job with no problems. I bent the shear bolt on the rear bottom but it never broke and it was also a size too small. Other than that, there were no problems with this plow. I'm only mentioning it to suggest that if you find one of these cheap, you can get by with it and since I have free use of this one I'm no longer looking to buy one. If I was in the market for one, I'd take FWJ's advice and get one of the godd older ones. This place has a bunch of them:

Used Equipment for Sale Pg. 2

Here is what this low end unit looks like:

 

[mimase]

Great info. on plows and nice pics.
Does anyone make a good 2-bottom w/ coulters now?
I have a MX4700 and am looking to plow a few rough acres in NC
Thanks
Mike

 

[WilliamBos]

Very informative thread!!