middle buster use

[teach]

OK guys, I need someone to tell me what I'm doing wrong with my middle buster.
I just purchased a middle buster from TS to use on my Kubota B7500 (21 hsp) to turn over some ground that I just mowed, prior to disking and planting for food plots. I am working in some old fields that don't really have sod persay, but do get mowed with a brushhog yearly.

When I drop the middle buster and start going forward, I can't get it to really "grab" and stay down in the soil. It just keeps popping out on top of the ground after a few feet. I tried an aggressive angle (with the top hitch on my tractor shortened up as much as possible and the one that I was certain would make it really dig in), a straight vertical angle, and a less aggresive angle. What gives???
Thanks.
Teach

 

[gwdixon]

My experience has been that the longer the top link the more it will dig...to a degree. You don't want so much angle that it just slides along the ground.

Also, hanging some form of weight on the top of the middle buster will help the digging. However, concrete-hard soil will be difficult to dig no matter what. Maybe wait until it rains.

Is the TSC middle-buster the one that you can take the shovel off and use the shaft as a sub-soiler (or maybe it is an interchangeable shovel)? You may want to try that to start to loosen the soil and then use the shovel.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/agriculture-farming-ranching/3-point-equipment/3-point-compact-tractor-equipment/countyline-reg-middle-buster-sub-soiler-combo-2122476

 

[gauthier]

Well a tator digger ain't really a plow,it needs softer dirt or a starting place,[like a hill of potatoes],,you seem to have figured out how to adjust top link to get nose [point] of plow headed down,so other than weight on plow[we used to have one of our assistant tator picker upers,ride on tator plow to add weight to it sometimes],you must have some hard ground,,,,,you got your three point on float,to start?

 

[clemsonfor]

if you have a boxblade with rippers you can shorten up your top link and lower it till the teeth dig in they will easily go in even fairly hard dirt, but will dig deeper in moist dirt. The only problem with this is that it fills up with grass and clods and you have to raise it every 20 feet or so to let it out.

 

[schmism]

you cant run a real steep angle on it because it just wants to keep diveing and when it cant it will pop back up.

to shallow and it never gets started


it should be setup to run were it sits just about lvl in the ground when it is in the down postion.

 

[Robert F.]

A middle buster should pull itself deeper into the ground by itself if it is vertical. The shorter the top link, the more aggressive the angle of attack. I don't agree with the poster who says that it will dig more with a longer the top link. The opposite is true in my experience.
I have a middle buster bought from TSC, (county line). I have the cat 1 and not the one XB model that someone linked to in a previous post. I have a JD 2305 tractor with 24 HP. I have an area of very very very hard packed clay. This area has been driven on by cement mixers, excavators, dump trucks and all kinds of construction machinery. In other words, it feels like concrete when dry.
I am able to pull this middle buster in a vertical position, and it self digs into this very vary hard packed clay. If I let it dig in no more than 5 to 6 inches, I can pull it with my 24 HP tractor which has turf tires. If I don't hit a rock, I can pull it without any problem. I stop the descent to the 3 pt at that depth and it just busts up that clay so that I can now till it without being hard on the tiller and tractor.
There has to be something wrong if your middle buster pops up and out of the soil. The shape and angle of the plow blade automatically pull it in deeper as you move forward.
Perhaps you could post a picture of your middle buster attached to your tractor. That would help evaluating what is wrong.

 

[teach]

Thanks guys for the tips. The soil isn't hard pack, though it hasn't been turned over. On the surface it has a mix of grasses, ragweed, some autom olives, weeds, etc. that I mowed down. These "fields" have good rich, dark soil, a little sandy in spots, plenty of stone (this is New England afterall!). Unfortunately I don't have a boxblade to use the rippers. I do have a 42" tiller, but the stones range from baseball size to football size, so its pretty tough on a tiller sometimes.

The middle buster I purchased is the full size implement (yellow) style with the shorter shaft and the pan is NOT interchangeable with a subsoiler shank. I guess I could try some weight, but it wouldn't seem that I should have to do that. My neighbor has one with a longer shaft (like is found on the subsoiler at TSS), and he has his pan turned upside down and bolted on the bottom. He says his works great that way and that's the way he always uses it. I guess I'm just disapointed, but I can't justify $500 for a new one bottom plow for the amount I will use it. Implements are tough to find used in my neck of the woods (RI) and I can't return the middle buster they said once I tried it.

Maybe the food plots are out this year.
Teach

 

[Robert F.]

I have exactly the same one as you do. When it is attached to the tractor and the the up and down shaft is vertical, the plow blade is angled up with the point of the plow blade pointing down. Someone said that it can pull itself down and then pops itself up and out. I don't understand that? How can that be. The angle of the plow blade pulls itself down deeper. The only way for it to come up is for the 3pt hitch lifting it or you hit some ledge or some other up sloping solid surface.
I'm telling you, the ground that I plow through with that same middle buster is so hard that my loader will not dig into it. If not for the middle buster I would have to break it up with the backhoe. And, the middle buster never ever pops out bi itself. It is self feeding deeper into the ground until I stop lock the 3pt from going down any further.
A picture would really help to see what is the problem. This implement is a great simple tool and works extraordinarily well.
There has to be something wrong.

 

[bp fick]

One can only guess that there must be a really solid, hard pan or rock layer down there. Normally, the middle buster digs so deep, so easily that it can bring your tractor to a halt. At least that is my experience.

My small, (by large agricultural standards) 60 x150 garden does not justify a more conventional plow either. The MB has more than done the job on my soil, none of which had ever been tilled before.

A little mystified, frankly.

 

[ChuckinNH]

I also have the same yellow middlebuster, and it has worked fine in my NH soil. I'm assuming you don't have something going on with the tractor like draft control? Are you sure that you aren't at the downward limit of your 3pt? ( I have to use a different set of holes in the lift links on mine to get as deep as I want) How about the "flow control valve" under the front of the seat, is it open enough that the middlebuster can pull the 3pt down? I also agree that vertical, or a slightly shorter top link should pull it in the best.

 

[bp fick]

I also have the same yellow middlebuster, and it has worked fine in my NH soil. I'm assuming you don't have something going on with the tractor like draft control? Are you sure that you aren't at the downward limit of your 3pt? ( I have to use a different set of holes in the lift links on mine to get as deep as I want) How about the "flow control valve" under the front of the seat, is it open enough that the middlebuster can pull the 3pt down? I also agree that vertical, or a slightly shorter top link should pull it in the best.

Chuck, I think perhaps you've described it the best. The plow isn't the issue. It is far too simple a device. Either that soil, 4" down, is some kind of hard or rocky, or, as you say, there is an issue with the 3 pt. in some way.

 

[teach]

Well...anyone interested in a brand new middle buster, cheap?
I give up. I spent two hours this morning trying to apply everyone's advice to no avail.
The lower 3 pt arms will drop to within 2" of touching the ground and it floats (I also changed the pin holes as suggested), I played with different angles again, the soil has no ledge, it is not "concrete" hard or hard pan even. The point just won't stay down for more than a few feet. It keeps riding back to the surface and once it does that it won't dig in again unless I go back to the same rut I started in. I even tried different locations in different fields.
Oh well, thanks for your tips everyone just the same.
Teach

 

[Robert F.]

Teach,

Any possibility of you posting a picture of your setup? Is this the MB that you have? CountyLine Middle Buster - 2128228 | Tractor Supply Company

If this is the what you have, I would have to think there is an issue with your tractor raising the 3PT hitch. With your 3pt arms 2 inches from the ground like you said, the plow blade would be 18" in the ground. Is the plow blade attached to the implement the same as the photo from TSC? The angle of the plow blade automatically pulls it deeper into the ground. The only way to get it to come out of the ground is to raise it with the 3pt hitch.

I have to think there is something very simple here that we are all missing since this potato plow is a very simple implement. Not too many ways of adjusting it.
In my opinion, if the plow blade is attached to the MB frame like in the TSC picture and there is nothing hard such as ledge or large rocks or anything like that angling up to the surface, and your plow blade comes up and out of the ground by itself, then some is up with the tractor because the geometry of the blade is such that it buries itself deeper and deeper as you move forward unless you stop it from further digging with the 3pt control.
This little plow which is the same one that I use all the time works really really well so don't give up.
A few side view pictures of the tractor with the MB attached in the fully raised position and then still attached but with the MB blade on the ground so the we can see the angle of the blade relative to the ground and the height of the 3pt arms above the ground would go a LONG LONG way in helping you with this issue.

 

[teach]

Robert,
Thanks for the words of encouragement. It will take a few days to some pics up, as the tractor is not here at my house. And YES, this is the exact same implement that posted the link to. Finally, I'm quite sure the 3pt isn't lifting the plow up. But I'll try to get some pics up in the next couple of days.
Thanks again.
Teach

 

[crusty 1]

Robert,
Thanks for the words of encouragement. It will take a few days to some pics up, as the tractor is not here at my house. And YES, this is the exact same implement that posted the link to. Finally, I'm quite sure the 3pt isn't lifting the plow up. But I'll try to get some pics up in the next couple of days.
Thanks again.
Teach

don,t get too discouaged yet,the middle buster is one great tool!I,v used them to dig water channels for drainage,plow in electric cable and just to bust up hard ground:thumbsupave

 

[gpflepsen]

Just one suggestion, check the geometry you are working with in the top link angle. Just as an implement will rotate "up" as you raise it high, or can be set to raise in a more level fashion, you could be rotating the leading edge point up as it digs deeper. The lift arms should be level with the top link angled up to some extent.

 

[radioman]

one silly question- once the middle buster touches the ground, do you still lean on the lowering the 3 pt until it starts to dig? did you open the flow all the way?

 

[ChuckinNH]

One other possibility is a defective middlebuster, one that has the wrong shape, is mounted, or welded wrong. Perhaps it would be worth taking yours back to TSC, and comparing it with another one they have in stock.

 

[Robert F.]

Teach,
If you have not already done so, go to the Everything Attachments post at the top of the attachments category. Click on their web site link on the first post. Once there, look on the left side of the page, there is a column with all kinds of attachments for skid steers and tractors. Below that, there is a box, I think it is yellow in color, there you will find "Video Library" (fourth button from the bottom). On the next window, go to the first column sixth row down, Potato plow demo. This is a Middle buster. Watch the video and see how this plow just wants to bury itself if left to do what it wants to do.

 

[bullbreaker]

Teach,
If you have not already done so, go to the Everything Attachments post at the top of the attachments category. Click on their web site link on the first post. Once there, look on the left side of the page, there is a column with all kinds of attachments for skid steers and tractors. Below that, there is a box, I think it is yellow in color, there you will find "Video Library" (fourth button from the bottom). On the next window, go to the first column sixth row down, Potato plow demo. This is a Middle buster. Watch the video and see how this plow just wants to bury itself if left to do what it wants to do.

Potato Plow Video - Everything Attachments.com

Boone