Moldboard plow help

[jwareing]

Been reading all I can on this site and others and learned alot over this last summer. But, I have come to something I have not been able to read my way out of. My tractor is a MF 175 which has been a good runner so far. One of the first implements I obtained was a White 3242 3 bottom rollover plow. I got what I have heard was a great deal on a plow that had recently installed wear parts on all six locations.

I put it straight to work and quickly became frustrated. Despite reading others stories and hearing that I should have enough tractor, I feel I have more plow than the tractor would normally be comfortable with. It seemed to push me around the field despite diff lock, rise and fall even with trying different draft response and toplink settings and many hours reading and watching vids about proper setup.

I have now located a two bottom JD rollover that might not have as new wear parts but otherwise looks to be in good condition. I'm not sure the deal is as sweet but still fair. I am ok getting the two bottom and turning the three bottom back out for sale if need be.

Is a 3 rollover too much for a MF 175 or do I need to keep trying to adjust? Or should I take the opportunity in front of me, get the 2 rollover and sell my white? Even an awesome deal on a great plow is money wasted if it doesn't perform behind my tractor.

Any input is welcome.

 

[sweettractors]

First set your tractor up for the plow. If it is a 14 " the setting from the center of the tractor drawbar to the inside of your right rear tire needs to be 25" and 27" for a 16 inch plow. If these initial settings are not set, you will always fight with your plow. Ken Sweet

 

[ovrszd]

I'd agree with Ken, sounds like it's not pulling straight behind your tractor. Diff lock certainly should not be needed. If you stop in the middle of plowing and check the front plow it should be cutting a full width. Too narrow would indicate your tire/wheel is set in too far. Too wide of cut would indicate your tire/wheel is set out too far. When properly set the plow should pull straight behind the tractor and the front plow be cutting about an inch less than a full cut, just enough excess shear showing so the second plow isn't having to finish that cut.

The MF175 should pull a 3 bottom plow. I've plowed hundreds of acres with a 3 bottom behind an 861 Ford.

 

[Egon]

Are the plow shares set so they are straight in line with the tractor pull. If they are not pointing staight ahead it may make things difficult.:thumbsup:

 

[jwareing]

Thank you both for the replys. I will recheck those adjustments when I get home from work this evening.
I had heard early on that the 175 should pull the three bottom with no problems. What I had not thought of at the time was the additional weight/mass associated being a rollover vs a regular mounted style. That extra mass being taken into consideration, do I still have enough tractor? I'm still halfway considering going to get that 2 bottom JD this weekend, if nothing else I can give them both another fair shot still this fall and sell the one I don't end up needing..

Also, any quick and easy ways to determine if my draft control is actually doing what it's supposed to? Sometimes I think its doing what it should, other times I'm not so sure.

Thanks again.

 

[cowski]

my neighbor plows with 3 bottoms on his mf 165.post a picture of the tractor and plow.

 

[jwareing]

I have attached some pics I took mid row. I did find I was slightly high on the right side lift arm and adjusted accordingly. As near as I can tell the previous owner handy fairly well set up as far as the stops go. They are 26" long shares which extend past the moldboard some and 14" tall shins if that changes some of the dimensions that have been mentioned.

The furrows in the pics are some of the best looking I have been able to pull off.

I have the toplink set in the middle hole both ends if that makes a difference.

Seems on my draft control it will move itself but I am only moving the lever down about 1" on the quadrant to be in position as compared to 5-6"?? of full draft control lever throw. Maybe this is part of my earlier problems?

Thanks again for the feedback.

On edit: I am guessing this started life as a 16" plow but with those extended share lengths it now sits at 18".

Thanks.

 

[Egon]

To me it looks like the plow is pointing a little to the left of the direction the tractor is going.

Hard to tell from photo.

 

[ovrszd]

I've never used a rollover plow but don't think the extra weight would affect you being able to pull it.

What concerns me is a lack of tail wheel??? Shouldn't it have a small, steel, in furrow depth wheel??

If so, that would explain your problems with draft control. Without a tail wheel the tractor is literally carrying the plow all the time which would cause problems. With a tail wheel all the draft control has to do is control the front end of the plow. Without a tail wheel the draft control has to completely control the depth of the plow. That might cause the tractor to struggle when the plow decides to dive deeper??

Your plow appears to be sitting level front to rear and side to side which is good.

The extended shears shouldn't have any impact since the tail end of the shear is running in the previous cut.

 

[rambler]

Looks to be dry there? Is it?

What was that plot of ground, it looks very barren & - perhaps driven on or packed down a lot?

Dry compacted ground can plow about 2x as hard as normal field dirt. You might have more of a dirt problem than a plow problem.

So, what size is your plow? You measure straight across, one beam to the other, to find out the width of cut your plow is taking. Doesn't matter if they have extra long lays on or whatever. It's straight across, beam to beam, to see what the width is.

A 3-18 plow will pull like crazy hard compared to a 3-14, so it makes a difference.

I have a 4-18 plow on a 140 hp tractor, many times that seems alittle small of a plow, but a dry hard year like this, gonna pull very hard. Any places the ground is compacted - end rows, etc - it will give it all the tractor wants. I have hard yellow clay soil here in southern MN, I typically need to pull one less bottom than the 'experts' suggest. I used to pull a 4-16 plow with a 86 hp tractor, the 'experts' from some areas will say they pull a 5 bottom with that much power. No way, no how, would never happen in this dirt on this farm!

--->Paul

 

[cowski]

always replace the long slide with one like it .it takes the place of a tail wheel .i never thought they worked as good.there is no good way to put a guage wheel on it .you really need water in the rear tires .that plow looks like a 4-18 .a regular 3 bottom 16 plow with a guage wheel will pull easier.your ground looks hard.run a disk over it and wait for a rain .then break it a little wet.after you break it the first time it will be easier next year.you only need to break ground wet in the winter,fall or it will have clods.it needs the freezes to break the clods apart.try to set the plow to plow shallower it will be hard with all the weight of the plow sitting on the hitch .

 

[jwareing]

Thanks again for the feedback. I agree, I think a gauge wheel would help. As has been mentioned though, a little difficult and cost impractical since it'd take two wheels and starting from scratch rather than repairing. It does have the longer tail slide on each. As I mentioned before I measure it to be a 16" beam to beam. As for the dirt, it actually has decent moisture. We had 3" if snow early last week and it hasn't been warm enough to burn all that moisture off. The land is a former pivot corner that hasn't been farmed for years. I had half *** plowed the majority and spent many, many hours discing and using a leveler to correct my attempts. The backfield basically was powder after all the discing then used a JD 290 land shaper to level before rain brought it all back together. These recent pics were bringing final shape to the field near the house and to give the plow another fair shot. I think maybe I was trying to plow to fast of a ground speed before as these were considerably slower than before and ten time prettier.