2 Wheel Tractors - Buying & Using

RalphVa · Oct 8, 2004

I think my 5665 with 12 hp engine is heavier than some old Ls that I've seen. On hills, it was too much for me to handle without the aid of the steering brakes.

With steering brakes and all, turing it 180 degrees at the end of a row isn't too bad, long as it's a left hand turn (as steering brake arm is on the left). Gotta do it in 1st gear for the maneuvering. Also, the plow throws dirt too far in 2nd gear.

With the steering brake and sulky, you can pretty much one hand steer it, with just a gentle touch on the handle. Gotta always watch out for stuff a tire can hit that'll cause it to make a sharp turn on its own.

Ralph

julichris · Oct 8, 2004

JEH, thanks for the reply.

I do use Joel's barbell wheel weights whenever I use the Berta rotary plow. His barbell wheel weights are nice and inexpensive (my only complaint with the setup is that the pin he provides to use at the end of the barbell vibrates loose easily and I had a few incidents with all the weights sliding off the barbell until I replaced his pin with something more substantial).

I also recognize that the furrow is inevitable while plowing, at least under some circumstances. A pass with rototiller does work fairly well to fill in the furrow.

I have had my 850 for a little over one year, since last September. My wife and I run a small market garden and use the BCS extensively; it is our only non-human power source. The tractor itself seems reliable and well built. The controls are easy to use. With experience I am able to switch implements very easily - experience is key there - the first few attempts were frustrating! The only maintainence I have needed to do on the tractor is some fairly simple adjustment on the tension in some of the cables, which tend to get slack with use. I had one highly annoying incident with the Kohler engine - the oil drain plug was overtightened at the factory and the threads stripped.

Also a universal joint in the drive train for my brush mower recently tore in half, apparently because it was simply faulty. The replacement is covered by warranty.

My attachments are the Berta rotary plow, a five tine cultivator with 30" toolbar, potato digger, brush mower, and rototiller. Potato digger, rotary plow, and cultivator are not standard BCS implements, but all are avilable from Earth Tools.

It would be great to have an inexpensive grain drill for the walking tractor. I have no good way of planting cover crop seed (small grains, clover, buckwheat, etc.) except broadcast and then rototill or cultivate. The cultivator doesn't do a wonderful job of covering seeds and it binds it up if there is any long, viney residue in the soil, and it is hard to steer in soft soil. I would rather avoid rototilling to incorporate the seed because excessive rototilling is damaging to soil structure. Ferrari in CA sells a grain drill for walking tractor but it is very expensive (I believe $3000 or so). By contrast I suspect I could buy an old 5'-8' grain drill for 4-wheel tractor at auction for $100 or so. Sometime a 2 wheel tractor is not that economical...

Also I find that the 2-wheel tractor is not useful for interrow cultivation of vegetables. Most of my rows are too close to allow interrow cultivation with rototiller (and even if I could use the rototiller, I would rather avoid it because it of the damage to soil structure). I do have the 5-tine cultivator which would be okay for cultivating except (1) the tractor has very low clearance so it is hard to drive it over plants while cultivating, and (2) when going across slope the cultivator has a tendency to slip downhill, and that's unacceptable when doing precise interrow cultivation.

JRobyn · Oct 8, 2004

JEH,

I have so far only had a chance to make a few sample passes, and don't yet have my new adjustable hold-downs fine-tuned, but it seems to cut heavy fescue amazingly well.

- Jay

JRobyn · Oct 8, 2004

ZJ,

It is only slightly harder to steer with the duals. It does have a diff. The only steering problems I usually have is ruts and bumps (roots, rocks) under one tire. The duals help with the ruts. Mine is a 10HP Kohler.

bobodu · Oct 8, 2004

Here's a photo of my Gravelys.
I think I'd rather use my Gravely plow than do nearly anything else out there in the back.We currently have two gardens at 70x70 feet.I do this with a '63 LI and mow the two acres with a "51 L and pull a couple of wheeless mowers mounted to a frame with casters.This gives me a 66 inch cut width.The whole key to plowing large areas is to start with a smaller oval and letting the plow "walk" itself round the ends.Keeping the dirt shield high will lessen the furrows a great deal.Can't say that I've ever had to plow on a hill...gotta go twenty miles south to even see one.Fella on the west end of the county had one in the fifties and he used to charge 5 cents admission for the kids to play on it.Got his house burned down when folks found out it was nothing more than 60 years of manure /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Libertine · Oct 9, 2004

RalphVa:

With steering brakes and all, turing it 180 degrees at the end of a row isn't too bad, long as it's a left hand turn (as steering brake arm is on the left). Gotta do it in 1st gear for the maneuvering. Also, the plow throws dirt too far in 2nd gear. 

I always found it impossible to 180 with the plow-the thing pivots on the end of the PTO, so when you lift it (push down on the handle bars) to swing it around it always rotated. Re throwing dirt, does yours have an adjustable metal plate on the port side? You should be able to adjust that to direct the dirt down as you require. Anyway, the thing sure produces a good bed.

JEH

PS all the pics & discussion on the Gravelies kinda makes me wonder if I shouldn't have just kept what I had & did a complete restoration on everything - like JRobyn did with his sickle bar mower. Looks like he did a nice job and will end up working just like new. Sure would have been cheaper. On the other hand, the BCS is much better designed.

Libertine · Oct 9, 2004

julichris:

It would be great to have an inexpensive grain drill for the walking tractor. 

Don't know how much area you are talking about, but you could pin/bolt a series of hand seeders together (such as the earthway seeders). Elliot Coleman has sketches in one of his books. Also, Johnnys selected seeds sells a "high density seeder" (link below-although you are probably familiar with them). As you mentioned, an old grain drill would also work. It should be easy enough to hook up to the BCS using the same system as attaching a cart, etc. (the curved coupler bar inserted in a iron pipe bolted to the implement). Even better, an old horse drawn drill would already have the seat attached-just bolt a 1 1/4" iron pipe to the tounge and you're ready to go. These 2 wheelers are really a mechanical "horse."

Johnny's selected seeds

My attachments are the Berta rotary plow, a five tine cultivator with 30" toolbar, potato digger, brush mower, and rototiller. 

How does the potato/root digger work? I had planned to buy one but Joel didn't have any in stock when I got my tractor. Does it bring them up nicely and leave them on the surface? Have you used it for other root crops?

the tractor has very low clearance so it is hard to drive it over plants while cultivating 

Are you using the standard 10" tires, or the 12"? One of the things I disliked about my old gravelies was those 8" tires. 15" would be even better (but affect ground speed of course). Of course, even if bigger tires helped clearance, they wouldn't do much for slipping cultivator on hill.

With experience I am able to switch implements very easily - experience is key there - the first few attempts were frustrating! 

Are you using the quick hitch system? If not, and if you switch implements very often, it is worth the money. Just be sure to looki at the positioning of the PTO lugs on tractor & implement before trying to slide them together so they are not dead on (i.e. one set of lugs at say 12:00, the other at say 10:00 or 2:00). One afternoon a couple weeks ago I used the chipper, finish mower and tiller-only took about 5 minutes total time in changing implements. Much easier than a 3 point hook up/switch.

JEH

Libertine · Oct 9, 2004

Jay:

it seems to cut heavy fescue amazingly well. 

Yeah, sickle mowers go through about anything. I didn't get one (yet) for the BCS, but I will. Had one for the Gravely though.

JEH

ZJ_HR · Oct 9, 2004

julichris,
Sorry, I haven't any experience with rotary plow. I saw turnable (left/right turning) rotary plow, so maybe this is answer for your slope problem. Look here just for info.

BTW, you gave me idea about buy one (used, cheap, of course) for plow mum's garden, instead of hoeing /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

julichris · Oct 11, 2004

JEH:

Regarding a grain drill for the 2-wheeled tractor - I find a single Earthway seeder difficult enough to push, and I think 4 or 5 bolted together would be very straining, at least in our soil, which is silt to clay and fairly compacted. An old grain drill, horsedrawn or not, might work as you describe. I can't make a judgement on it right now but I might think about doing it in the future.

Unfortunately I have not used the root digger so I cannot comment on it. I have used all the other implements I own, most of them extensively, but because of some difficulties (not with the root digger itself) I did not have an opportunity to use it this year. Next year I plan to.

I use the quick hitch and agree it is invaluable.