Ford 3 Bottom plow help

[muddbutt]

I have what I believe is a Ford 101 3 bottom plow. I plowed fresh ground with it yesterday which is the first time its seen dirt in 20 years.

I hit a small stump and the middle plow tripped just like i think it's supposed to. Now i cannot get it to reset.

I eased it back against a tree and it would swing up close to latching but would not latch. My small sledge would not finish the job either. It looks like the spring latch is preventing it from seating fully.

Sorry no pics but any advise on how to get it back together?

 

[Ford850]

There are grease fittings fore and aft on the trip mechanism. Mine was crusted up somewhat when I bought it. A good greasing and some oil sprayed on the inner trip parts helped smooth out the tripping and resetting. To reset, I stop the tractor and reverse it backing over the plowed ground a few feet with the plow lowered. Sometimes I have to raise and lower the lift to get the share back on the ground first. The share gives you the leverage needed to reset it to plow.

 

[gwdixon]

It is not too difficult to remove the trip mechanism cover plate and see what is going on. An impact wrench makes it a lot easier. Don't both removing the large pivot bolt at the bottom. It can just be loosened.

Since it is the middle plow the bolts have to be backed out just until they clear the plate. Then the plate rotates out of the way. Spread the frame a bit with a crow bar to give more room.

My guess would be that the trip arm has reset without the plow in the correct position. Try to rotate the trip arm to the "tripped" position and then the plow should reset itself.

Lifting the plow off of the ground with the 3 PH or a bucket should allow it to be reset by hand if the trip arm is out of the way.

I just took my three spring resets apart, cleaned them out, and re-lubed it all. The old grease had solidified. Maybe the old grease or a rock is getting in the way of the trip lever function.

See attached image of the manual page.

 

[gwdixon]

Oh...and here is the next page of the manual that shows how to adjust the spring tension.

You could use the method to release the pressure on the trip arm to make it easier to put it into the "tripped" position as the first step to get it to reset. This can be done without taking off the cover plate.

You can tell when the arm is tripped because the grease fitting will be pointing to about 1 o'clock rather than 3 o'clock. The fitting may be so gunked up that it is hard to see.

 

[muddbutt]

GWdixon! Thanks so much. Having a schematic makes all the difference. Any idea where I could get a copy of that manual online?

 

[gwdixon]

GWdixon! Thanks so much. Having a schematic makes all the difference. Any idea where I could get a copy of that manual online?

Yep - here it is (look down the list):

Index of Manuals

 

[gwdixon]

One last thing.

Another way to check if the trip arm is in the "tripped" position is that the spring adjustment lever in the back of the housing will be slightly extended from the mount pins that go through holes in the the side plates. Look at the other two plow spring levers that are untripped to compare.

 

[muddbutt]

Thanks for the link!

The pin is farther out on the tripped plow than the other two so it looks like it is working properly.

Now I just need so time to work on it

The only info I cannot find is the size of the nut on that pivot bolt. I need to buy a socket to fit it so I can employ my cheater bar...

 

[gwdixon]

The nut is 1 1/4" and the bolt head is 1 5/16". Must be from the days when folks had only one size of each wrench.

It took all my 400 ft-lb impact wrench could handle to get the nut to budge. Good luck.