Single bottom plow, breaking shear pins like it's my job

[jeff9366]

Yes, I'm using draft control, and it works great pulling the plow up when I hit something, but it's just not fast enough, when I hit something hard at any speed above 1MPH, the pin shears before the draft control can react and reduce the pressure on the plow.

Do you know how to adjust Draft Control sensitivity by moving inboard end of Top Link among several vertically stacked hole pairs on the tractor?

Have you read about Draft Control in your Operator's Manual?

 

[Gary Fowler]

I think I would have first went with a larger bolt (one size up from current) then if that still sheared, go to a harder bolt of the larger size. I would have kept working up in bolt size till I got no more shears in normal conditions which would still shear if hitting a big rock or stump. Welding would have been a last resort.

 

[Overtaxed]

Do you know how to adjust Draft Control sensitivity by moving inboard end of Top Link among several vertically stacked hole pairs on the tractor?

Have you read about Draft Control in your Operator's Manual?

Yes, I was in the middle hole, I can't get the clearance to get into the bottom hole because of the way my top link connects to the plow, there's just not enough room there. Frankly, I just don't think it could be fast enough no matter how fast it was for hitting a rock; I'd hit and the pin would break so fast I didn't even have time to get off the throttle, let alone wait for the 3pt to respond. But it does help a lot when plowing, it just didn't fix the problem of breaking the bolts.

I thought about upsizing the bolts, but, the thought of trying to drill that metal with a hand drill (because I can't get it up on my press) makes my head hurt. I'd rather buy another plow, frankly, than try to rig a way to drill out those holes though what has to be 1.5" of hardened iron. If I had a tool that would have done it, I would have gone that way first, but I don't have (and don't know of) a tool that would have made drilling that easy.

Just out of curiosity, why is the idea of a "solid" plow so dangerous when things like subsoilers and tater plows are often solid (no shear bolts). My subsoiler doesn't have a bolt, and I've stuck that thing hard, no tractor flips, no broken/bent stuff. And, in my estimation, the EA plow is built a LOT heavier than my crappy subsoiler. I get that you're taking a much bigger bite with a plow, and have more likelyhood of a hard stick, but didn't plows used to be "solid" (no shear pins)? I'm pretty sure I've seen some that are, and I don't think that they are built that much different than what we buy today, were they?

 

[countrybumpkin]

Draft control is not for lifting the implement when hitting a obstruction.

 

[LouNY]

Yes, I was in the middle hole, I can't get the clearance to get into the bottom hole because of the way my top link connects to the plow, there's just not enough room there. Frankly, I just don't think it could be fast enough no matter how fast it was for hitting a rock; I'd hit and the pin would break so fast I didn't even have time to get off the throttle, let alone wait for the 3pt to respond. But it does help a lot when plowing, it just didn't fix the problem of breaking the bolts.

I thought about upsizing the bolts, but, the thought of trying to drill that metal with a hand drill (because I can't get it up on my press) makes my head hurt. I'd rather buy another plow, frankly, than try to rig a way to drill out those holes though what has to be 1.5" of hardened iron. If I had a tool that would have done it, I would have gone that way first, but I don't have (and don't know of) a tool that would have made drilling that easy.

Just out of curiosity, why is the idea of a "solid" plow so dangerous when things like subsoilers and tater plows are often solid (no shear bolts). My subsoiler doesn't have a bolt, and I've stuck that thing hard, no tractor flips, no broken/bent stuff. And, in my estimation, the EA plow is built a LOT heavier than my crappy subsoiler. I get that you're taking a much bigger bite with a plow, and have more likelyhood of a hard stick, but didn't plows used to be "solid" (no shear pins)? I'm pretty sure I've seen some that are, and I don't think that they are built that much different than what we buy today, were they?

Plows where and still are available in several configurations,
Solid no trip or shear pin, for sandy soil no rocks,
Trip plows, requiring stopping and reversing to reset,
Spring resets which reset under spring tension
Auto reset using hydraulics with nitrogen charged accumulators to provide the reset force.
In the northeast most areas have rock and or ledge rock which will destroy ground breaking implements without trip protection.

Plows can be used for many things other then just primary tillage, we have dug shallow drain ditches, buried wiring and other similar projects.
Depending on the size of a field and how much head land traveling you wanted to do and especially with roll over plows we would cast the soil uphill,
starting at the top of a side hill and plowing across the field. When you see fields with a stone wall almost buried on the uphill side and quite exposed on the downhill
you can see why it would make a difference in hilly ground.

Many of the heavier subsoilers are available with shear pins, cultivators and potato and beet diggers will usually not have them as they are designed to be used in soil that has been tilled and loosened.

 

[MHarryE]

If I gather from what you say, the shear bolts are breaking due to load, not from hitting a large rock or other obstruction that would damage the plow. I have 3 small plows, 1 and 2 bottom Fergusons and a 2 bottom King Kutter. None of these have trip mechanisms. I once hit a buried stump with the 2 bottom Ferguson - it broke the tip off the share that hit the stump but the obstruction was enough to spin all 4 tires on my Kubota L5740 without damaging the frame.

For most of my work I have a 5 bottom International auto reset. My soil is very hard pulling. I can get too many trips and resets from driving too fast. I also have a 4 bottom International with a spring trip that requires backing to reset. It will also trip from pulling too fast, rarely from hitting an obstruction.

When watching Everything Attachments videos, I always wish I had soil as mellow as theirs. Something I recommend is comparing soil texture seen in their videos vs your own soil. Your welding solution might be fine if you don't have rocky soil. If its not uncommon to hit a rock drilling it out and using a larger shear bolt might be the preferred solution.

 

[Overtaxed]

If I gather from what you say, the shear bolts are breaking due to load, not from hitting a large rock or other obstruction that would damage the plow. I have 3 small plows, 1 and 2 bottom Fergusons and a 2 bottom King Kutter. None of these have trip mechanisms. I once hit a buried stump with the 2 bottom Ferguson - it broke the tip off the share that hit the stump but the obstruction was enough to spin all 4 tires on my Kubota L5740 without damaging the frame.

For most of my work I have a 5 bottom International auto reset. My soil is very hard pulling. I can get too many trips and resets from driving too fast. I also have a 4 bottom International with a spring trip that requires backing to reset. It will also trip from pulling too fast, rarely from hitting an obstruction.

When watching Everything Attachments videos, I always wish I had soil as mellow as theirs. Something I recommend is comparing soil texture seen in their videos vs your own soil. Your welding solution might be fine if you don't have rocky soil. If its not uncommon to hit a rock drilling it out and using a larger shear bolt might be the preferred solution.

To be fair, this soil would be the opposite of "mellow". It's virgin soil that is heavy clay, about the worst possible situation for pulling a plow. The only good news, there aren't a ton of tree stumps in there, I only found 2-3 that were big enough to be of any concern (the rest just flipped over with the plow).

My soil is rocky, but not big rocks, little (up to basketball sized at the absolute largest) that flip up pretty easy with a plow. Now, I suppose if I caught just the tip of a plow on a basketball sized rock that was buried entirely below it, something bad would happen, probably the same thing you described, break the tip off the plow or maybe stop the tractor dead, depending on how much of the plow was engaged? I always plow in 2wd because of the size of my tractor vs the plow, I want the tractor to spin because, even 2wd was way more than enough to break the pin, I was hoping that the tractor would give out first, but it never did.

Well, the field is plowed, I'm not dead, the plow still appears to be straight, and I've stopped keeping Tractor Supply in business buying shear pins like I was attempting to corner the market. So, I'm happy with the results, took me about 1/4 the time to do the 2nd half of the field than the first half took (because I wasn't breaking pins non-stop and could go faster), so I'm calling it a win. One more patch of land to flip this year, and then I set the plow up for a few months. With the welded area, and the fear of flipping the tractor over, this plow will now be known as the "widowmaker".

 

[Ford850]

The easiest solution would have been to get a harder grade bolt (same diameter) as the shear pin, so you're still protected but it won't break free as often. The biggest risk of plowing with a cat1 plow that is welded tight, on a cat2 tractor, is when you hit a solid object and maintain traction. You'll likely tweak the plow beam. Most other ground engaging implements are centered on the 3ph frame and the force distributed evenly. Plows put the force from each bottom to it's dedicated beam. So all the tractor's energy is forced to that one off center beam if you hit an immoveable object, and the beam bends or twists. That's why plows trip individually, since each beam is the weakest link.

 

[Overtaxed]

The easiest solution would have been to get a harder grade bolt (same diameter) as the shear pin, so you're still protected but it won't break free as often. The biggest risk of plowing with a cat1 plow that is welded tight, on a cat2 tractor, is when you hit a solid object and maintain traction. You'll likely tweak the plow beam. Most other ground engaging implements are centered on the 3ph frame and the force distributed evenly. Plows put the force from each bottom to it's dedicated beam. So all the tractor's energy is forced to that one off center beam if you hit an immoveable object, and the beam bends or twists. That's why plows trip individually, since each beam is the weakest link.

Which is what I was going to do, but the store was closed and I needed to get the plowing finished before the rain came. But, yes, I do agree, I think that the "right" answer (of which none of these are right because we're rigging it beyond what was intended, even if, IMHO, the intended load is FAR below the actual ability of the implement) was get a harder bolt.

I welded about 1" on each side of the shank to the frame; I didn't weld the entire thing because I figured, if I really get it into it, maybe the weld will break before the entire plow bends or blows apart. Wondering how strong 1" of weld is compared to the bolt. Have no idea, but I'd be curious if anyone has an estimation. I've tacked metal together before with just a spot weld and that's darn strong by itself!

 

[Ford850]

Which is what I was going to do, but the store was closed and I needed to get the plowing finished before the rain came. But, yes, I do agree, I think that the "right" answer (of which none of these are right because we're rigging it beyond what was intended, even if, IMHO, the intended load is FAR below the actual ability of the implement) was get a harder bolt.

I welded about 1" on each side of the shank to the frame; I didn't weld the entire thing because I figured, if I really get it into it, maybe the weld will break before the entire plow bends or blows apart. Wondering how strong 1" of weld is compared to the bolt. Have no idea, but I'd be curious if anyone has an estimation. I've tacked metal together before with just a spot weld and that's darn strong by itself!

Also, you may never hit anything that would bend the frame of the plow. You might be fine as is. If it were me, I would cut the welds and try a harder bolt, maybe even two grades up if one grade up still breaks. Worse case, you might have to resort to tacking some welds on there again. I once had a plow with a tweaked frame. It was so slight it was difficult to see, but I never could get that plow adjusted to plow easily. That makes me more conservative in these decisions, but it's your plow and as long as you're turning soil all is good.