isappointed with Middle Buster

[Anonymous Poster]

Hi,

I wrote:

<font color=blue>I bought a KK middle buster at TSC, but have not tried it yet and won't until spring...I expected it to do better than six inches...</font color=blue>

Now I know why that did not feel right when I wrote it last night! <font color=red>I didn't buy a middle buster at all! </font color=red>It is a sub soiler.../w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

Still hope it goes down at least a foot when I use it...

Bill /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif in Pgh, PA

 

[JimMc]

Typically, the shank on a sub soiler is 10" to 18" longer on a sub-soiler than a middle buster, depending on the brand. Of course, the middle buster has many uses, but my understanding is that it was developed for that first trip across the field when moldboard plowing to eliminate the strip of unplowed ground left from reversing direction of the plow travel. That probably doesn't make sense if you haven't spent some time plowing. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[trailertrash]

Alan,
here's a thought for you :when there is nothing hooked to your 3pt will it drop almost to the ground? If so it's not the arms by themselves holding you up,what happened on mine was the angle of the point changed depending on the height due to the 3rd link which made it quit trying to cut and it just rode paralell to the bottom of the trench once it was down so far .What you may want to consider is dropping your 3rd link connecting point down so that you can in effect shorten your third link more allowing you to keep digging lower down.If you remember you had to shorten it to get it to dig at all.You can always adjust your toplink out to compensate for the different mount if needed. I hope this makes sense, one way to check this before changing would be to drive the tractor up on blocks or jack it up whatever so the tail is in the air and then let the plow down and check your plow angle at different points on the way down .

 

[gerard]

This may seem simple but for you welders out there why couldn't someone make a subsoiler where the shank slides in a sleeve the way the rippers on a box blade are adjustable? Long as everything was heavy duty enough you could make the first pass shallow and then drop it deeper on sucessive passes. It seems like the limiting factor with a fixed shank is how high/low the 3 pt goes. You can only lift it so high so if the shanks too long it'll never clear the ground for transport. A short shank won't go deep enough. You listening First Choice?? Oh and BYTW - weld a fitting on the back of the shank to attach a 90 deg sweep elbow to use for laying wire, cable, or water pipe.

 

[TerryinMD]

Alan,

When you say you tightened the upper link "as tight as it could go", do you mean that you have it at it's shortest length? If that is the case, then I would think that you are limiting the depth due to the angle of the blade. You may be preventing the blade from being pulled downward. When I use mine on my JD4100, I try to angle the tip of the blade forward so that the forward motion of the tractor pulls the blade into the soil. That means that the top link is lengthened.

I have a Middle Buster that was purchased from QFC or whatever it was called back then for around a $100 and have had it dig a trench a little deeper than a foot. It took three or four passes but it worked.

Hope this helps.

Terry

 

[cisco]

Middle busters aren't perfect for trenching, as in soft soil the stuff falls back into the trench and multiple passes may be needed (and you may still need to touch up spots with a shovel). Anyhow, I've a subsoiler/middle buster combination (blades attach to vertical shaft with 2 bolts - just choose the blade you want to use that day). The subsoiler extends 3-4 inches below the deepest depth of the middle buster, but that's secondary to blade shape. I use the subsoiler for the first pass at a trench, as it penetrates the ground easier (about 3 inches wide when compared to over 12 inches for the middle buster or potato plow), and is more solidly built (hence, rips out roots, rocks, etc.). The next pass is with the middle buster, whose tip can drop into the trench of the subsoiler. With my 3pt fully lowered, I get about 15 inches penetration with the soiler, and about 12 with the middle buster. With the 3pt fully raised, the blade tips easily clear the ground surface. I've a L3410 (Kubota), and the plow unit is a Howse.

 

[Alan L.]

I'm still not with my tractor to check this out today, but there is the possibility that the plow angle is still such that it doesn't want to go down and get a bite. I hope thats the case. I made about 10 passes and netted about 6" out of that, but the last few didn't net anything to speak of.

When you look at the rig from the side, I would expect that the bottom of the plow should be further back than the top, causing the tip of the plow to be pointing slightly downward. I made the top link as short as it would go to maximize the this angle, and it dug fine for about 2 passes. Could be that I need more angle yet.

The top link is in the top position. I have never put it in the lower position before. Would that shorten the length in effect? It would seem to be the wrong thing to do just thinking about it.

Maybe I need to try to find a shorter top link to use with the middle buster. Obviously there is a point where too short a link on top could cause the plow to be angled down too much and neither cut right nor go deep enough, but hopefully I'm not near there yet.

If you look from the side, what kind of angle of the perpendicular shaft would you expect to see for best results?

 

[beenthere]

Re: Disappointed with Middle Buster

<font color=blue>If you look from the side, what kind of angle of the perpendicular shaft would you expect to see for best results? <font color=black>

I would look at the angle the plow makes with the trench at the depth you want to go, rather than the angle the shaft makes. It is the plow that does the cutting.

One thing I did with my sub-soiler to get it deeper, was to take the top link off, and hook a chain between the perpendicular shaft and the drawbar. The chain would allow the adjustment you are looking for, which changes as the depth (you want to dig) changes. Just a thought of how I solved the problem.

Now, I am not sure how a middle buster plow share will function at a depth below 6", because there is no place for the dirt it loosens to go. Maybe it will just force the dirt to the surface, but I expect it will spill off back into the trench. However, it will be loose, and easier to remove by hand.

 

[looch]

Are you using the "B" holes to connect the lift arms to the 3ph arms? I need to do that to one arm only when using my mold-board.

 

[Alan L.]

pbenven, I think you might have come up with a crucial part of the answer. I now think I recall the different holes and I have never changed it before. I don't have the tractor here at home tonight, so I can't check it, but since you have the same tractor I would assume its the same.

It makes sense that if you use the front hole the lower links would be allowed to go lower. Might cause transport problems, but could be set that way temporarily for the job. I hope I'm currently in the rear hole the way your picture shows, that is, if I'm looking at it correctly.

Thanks!!