3PH Down pressure?

[rlcowder]

You'll have to excuse my ignorance but I was watching megamachines yesterday and they had a CAT dozer with a ripper tooth that got me thinking. Does my 2210 3ph apply down pressure? Does the down pressure just equal the weight of the implement? My soil is real hard clay and a ripper would come in handy. All I have is the 54" blade and the 47 blower so could your recommend a good ripper or way of breaking up the soil? I checked rental prices of a tiller and it would be $90 a day. Not too bad but if I could buy an implement that I would use again it would be well worth it. Now your really going to laugh, I don't even know how to hook one up anyway. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[dicker]

My JD 4310 does not have down pressure on the 3 pt hitch and my understanding is that most CUT's do not. The implement lowers by weight and gravity.


Richard

 

[Tractors4u]

The majority of tractors do not have down pressure on the 3 point. I know some Belarus tractors do and I once drove and old International from the 1950's that had it. Imagine if you had down pressure what would happen? If your were pulling an implement and went over uneven ground you could potentially lift your rear wheels off the ground. With down pressure you would have to be making constant adjustments to the implement height. One advantage though would be if you had a flat tire on the back, you could lift the rear end without a jack.

 

[beenthere]

You don't have down pressure, only as you mentioned, the weight of the attachment. When engaging the ground, such as the ripper tooth, then the shape and angle of the tooth will dig into the ground and pull it down to the depth that you let it ride (here is where draft control would work nice, but you don't have that either).

One ripper tooth would be about what you could handle, if virgin ground and/or very hard ground or pasture. I have one tooth, and it will go down pretty deep, but limited by how high the 3pt will raise it and still be able to transport it without touching the ground. When engaged, it will take all the pulling traction that the Deere 4300 has to offer.

A box blade with rippers might be a way to go, and then just use as many rippers at a time that the tractor will handle in the ground you are ripping.

 

[rmonio]

Others are right - the 3PT on the JD Cuts is all implement weight-oriented. For ripping, I use my Box blade with it's rippers tipped in and it pulls and digs just fine. In fact it does such a good job that you have to pay attention to how much it's digging because it will continue to pull down if you don't keep it level.

Buying digging implements for your 3-pt will require some research - for example, I have been looking at 3-pt Post Hole Diggers and some people have remarked that without downward pressure you don't get the digging leverage that you need (vs. a loader-mounted PHD). I guess it all depends on your soil because I've heard about 50/50 from the field. So just keep that in mind when you look at implements for digging on the 3-pt.

Good luck!

-Bob

 

[RalphVa]

My 4010 3 pt goes down by gravity. When empty, you have to stand on one arm to get it down.

Here's my soil ripper. They're chisel plows, not sub soil rippers. The 4010 pulls it to plow depth, about 6-8", through previously-plowed soil. Dropping it on grass on a hill is a good way to stop it.

Ralph

 

[RalphVa]

Here it is with 2 16" disc hillers mounted on that same 2x2 bar. They worked fine to make raised rows in the garden. The tractor pulled them fine. The last 10 rows out of 20 got a little "S" wave in them from the discs kicking the 1400# tractor about a little (same weight as the 2210).

Ralph

 

[rmonio]

Ralph -

What did you use to get the soil plowed initially? I'm trying to determine if I need to have someone come in and break things up here or if I can pull a plow/disc with my 4600 (on about 5 acres).

(For my garden it's not an issue as the box blade does a nice job and then I use the little tiller - the 4600 really cruises through there fast otherwise... . )

Thanks!

-Bob

 

[RalphVa]

I have a rotary plow that goes on my Gravely PTO. It's great for turning new ground. That's one of the things that give me reason to keep the Gravely around.

I could probably bolt on one or both of those huge 16" disc hillers at more like twin 30 degree angles instead of the 45 degree opposed angles I used to make the rows on my JD 4010 to break new ground. Think those two discs would give me quite a ride on the 4010 though. I've heard of people using single bottom moldboard or single disc plows on the smaller CUTs and SCUTs. Think they're a tad light for plowing new ground though. Suspect they all will kick around like my Gravely rotary plow does. At least you won't get your hips busted by the handle bars riding on a tractor. Suspect it'll be a thrill ride though.

I've ordered a couple 12" disc hiller blades to bolt onto the axles that the 16" ones are one. I'm hoping with those smaller blades that I can use them for clearing out between the rows and still run 3 or 4 of my chisel plows bolted onto the 2x2 bar to go down the rows. If anyone offers you one of those old implements that "packages" of stuff fit on, take it.

Ralph

 

[chickenman]

heres a lil project i cobbled together