Matching Impletments to tractor

[nckennedy]

Hi Guys,
I am looking for a mounted JD plow to be pulled by a JD 5425 4X4 which is about 80 HP or 65 PTO HP. Looking at a JD 416 14" four bottom. Is that about the right size?. I will be plowing uphill also.
Any suggestions?
nckennedy

 

[cowski]

soil type and depth of plow has a lot to do with it.for my soil 3 bottom is what i would use. get it and try it in your soil it may work.you can always take a bottom off.spare parts.

 

[nckennedy]

Oh really!. Never though about taking off a plow. So you could remove the last plow?
I was orginally thinking of a 3 bottom 16". Our soil has a good bit of clay in it.
nckennedy

 

[cowski]

yes last plow. you also need a guage wheel.

 

[nckennedy]

Ok great. Thanks
nckennedy

 

[Verticaltrx]

We pull a JD model 1600 moldboard plow (3-16" bottoms) with a 2wd 2550 JD, which is 65PTO hp. It's the row crop variation and fully ballasted weighs about 10,000lbs, so it might be a little bit bigger than your tractor. It handles the plow well in most any condition, but breaking virgin ground, especially clay, really gives the tractor a workout. If you have proper ballast and 4wd I think a 3-16 would work fine for you.

One thing about JD plows, look for a plow with the new metric bottoms, which started sometime in the early 80's IIRC. They pull a lot easier than the early JD plows.

 

[Barry Bowen]

General rule for plow bottom size. You plow half as deep as the plow is wide. That is a 14" plow is only ment to plow 7" deep, 16" goes 8" deep.

Yes you can take a 4 bottom and make a 3 out of it no problem.

To do a 4 bottom though, maybe consider looking at a semi-mount plow. Once you learn how to run it, they do a much nicer job IMO.

 

[nckennedy]

Wow thats helpful. Does your 1600 plow have the metric bottoms?
We do not have ballast yet in the tires. I guess most folks use weights now. have to work on that.

Thanks so much,
nckennedy

 

[nckennedy]

Wow, never knew that about depth
so we will probably just go with 3 16 plow.
Thanks so much,
nckennedy

 

[Farmwithjunk]

The rule of thumb (1/2 the depth of plow width) is a starting point. Certain soil conditions will dictate actual depth. You can figure + or - 1" from that starting point in most cases. Some "newer" plows (ie , plows designed and built late 60's on) can be "deep draft" plows. I'm more familiar with Deere plows of that era. As an example, Deere "NU" 16" bottoms typically will do their best at depths of 9" to 10" in most soils.

IMHO. any plow with 4 or more bottoms and you're way ahead by using a semi-mounted plow. Fully mounted plows of 4 bottoms and larger are hard to keep consistent depth front to rear. As well, they require a BUNCH of extra front end weights. With what you're using as a tractor, based on what we use behind a 65hp tractor here, I'd stay with 3X16"'s. 4 bottoms would be a bit much in most cases. (I'm "old school" and speak mostly in terms of PTO hp....)

Deere 416A is what Deere referred to as a "light draft" plow. They were built for lighter tractors and NORMALLY were limited to 3 bottoms or less. You might find one where someone added a 4th bottom, but the truss frame of a 416A would be a bit light for a 4th bottom. I used a 415A (in 3 bottom config) for year to do the bulk of my plowing. A common complaint with that series of Deere plow is they don't have a lot of throat clearance. They do NOT like plowing in heavy crop residue (is corn stalks, weeds and grass sod, ect) I used my 415A, 3X14" plow behind a 61HP JD2440. It would cruise along at 5 to 5-1/2mph in all but the toughest of conditions.