Turned my first ever furrow!- wid a plough I made!

Mith · May 30, 2005

Title kinda gives it away, got a few questions tho, on wid the story.
This morning I spotted a old horse drawn single furow plough in a friends woods, swapped it for a bit of strimming. Carried it home, yes thats 1/4 mile carrying a plough that i could just lift standing still, then had a long rest.
Took about 3 hours to convert to the Mith hitch (kinda like 3pt, but only one arm at the bottom and a piece of rope to lift) with the welder and hammer.
Found some dirt and ploughed 3 furrows till I hit a root and ripped it off the back of the tractor. But overall success!!

Now some questions, having never turned a furrow until an hour ago
1. How are you supposed to get it into the ground at the start of the furrow, had to get my brother to sit on it?
2. How fast should i go?
3. Any tips for ploughing? I dunno what im doing... /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

so when Ive rebuild the back end of my tractor and the hitch the lawn better watch out /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

JoshJ · May 31, 2005

Mith- most plows will pull themselves into the ground. Maybe you can adjust yours in some way to get it to pull down. BTW what is a Mith hitch?? (I'm guessing its home-made as well) sounds interesting, got any pics?

Mith · May 31, 2005

Josh, been doing it today. Welded my tractor back together and fabricated a mini 3ph for my tractor. (a Mith hitch is kinda a 3ph with only one arm at the bottom in the middle)
Anyway, I used sophisticated methods (eyesight and welder) to get the plough to pull in as you said. I thought about it at night and realised that the piviot had to be under the tractor and a long way infront of the plough so made a 3ph to allow for this. So when the plough is at operating depth it is level and until it gets down to there the front edge is pionting down pulling it in. This is right yea?
Welded it all up and headed down to the test area. First run hoit a root at it bent it all up, weve got some serois forces here. But the point is, up till the point it broke it had pulled itself into the ground /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
Tomorrow im gunna weld it up again stronger and add a lever to lift the 3ph thing the hopefully it should work
Dude, ill get some pics tomorrow, but I need to sit down for a bit now, mayube with a cold one, yea

now for some more noobish questions
Do i nedd to have the plough surface shined up, it seems to stick to the dirt (rusty)?
Is it normal to have grass clog around the face?
Do i need a depth stop or will it stop pulling down when it dets to the right depth?

Thanks for any answers, ill get some pics of my bodging soon..
Cheers!

Holzster · May 31, 2005

Mith

Is the plow you welded on pointed downward a little? That should driveit downward into the soil.

Tracy

KentT · May 31, 2005

( Jnow for some more noobish questions
Do i nedd to have the plough surface shined up, it seems to stick to the dirt (rusty)?
Is it normal to have grass clog around the face?
Do i need a depth stop or will it stop pulling down when it dets to the right depth? )

1. Yes, you need the surface shined up for it to dig in and "bottom out" correctly. Otherwise, there's too much friction for it to go all the way down.

2. It is normal for grass to clog the face. That's why many/most have a rolling disc coulter wheel in front of the edge of the plow. It slices through the sod, and the cutting edge of the plow follows that incision.

3. The easiest way to get the correct angle setting on a smaller tractor (is this your B6000?) is to jack up the side of the tractor to the depth you want your plow to go, then adjust the plow so that it sits absolutely flat behind the tractor. Then, when you're pulling the plow, it will naturally run at that depth...

Mith · May 31, 2005

Holzster, yea, its pointed downwards, set it up so it pulled level when at the correct depth
Kent, thanks for the advice, soundes like its gunna be a bit o ginder work to shine it up.
When i took it apart there was a static knife just infront of the share, guess that was to cut the sod, ill weld that in place then. I set it up by driving the tractor up on some pallets so it was about 4 inches above the ground, is one side supposed to be higher than the other?
great pic btw, wish i had o seen it before i welded it all up, bummer /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

nope not the B6000, sold it a couple manth ago, foolish mistake, loadsa work for it that i lost /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif, ah well made some money on it.
the tractor pulling this, well think 1/2 the size of the B6000, garden tractor size /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
on a side note, got any seat time on the B6000 yet? hows it all going...
thakyou very much
cheers

KentT · May 31, 2005

Some tractors used a "knife" type coulter, instead of the rolling disc like the one above. Sharpen the leading edge of it, and reinstall it so that it reaches down to about 2" below ground level. That should cut most sod, and help prevent grass from building up on the front edge. If you set it deeper it could also prevent the plow from going down in the ground.

One side should be higher than the other when you adjust it. That is typically the left side, if the tractor is made similar to the picture I showed before. Jack that side up (front and rear) to between 6" and 8" (whatever depth you want to plow) and put something under the tires, such as a cinder block (for a garden tractor which doesn't weigh too much). Then adjust the plow so that the bottom of it sits flat on the ground.... it will look a bit strange when you let the tractor down to ground level, appearing twisted, but when you're plowing (after the first furrow) one wheel will be down at that level, in the furrow, and the plow will be sitting flat when below the surface that amount....

I've finally gotten the B6000 completely serviced, and everything checked out... changed all the oils, tightened the front pivot pin, adjusted brakes, etc. Just a general going over... I found a stress crack in a loader brace that I hope to get welded this weekend so I can do some real work with it. There were two loose and one broken mounting bolt, and the ongoing stress had cracked the brace.... Also purchased a 48" boxblade and mounted it for "ballast." I'm interested to see how it does!

Mith · Jun 1, 2005

Kent, i got it all welded up right now, slightly angled and on a linkage that pulls it angled down till it gets to the correct depth then it pulls level. Welded up good and strong so next time it breaks its gunna be big /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
towed it round a bit more but it was raining so tractoin was poor.
welded on the knife thing but it broke off after 2 feet, i guess it was a bit old /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
what kinda speed should i be pulling this baby? (6mph max)

Glad yer B6000 is all good, i took a look at yer website, very nice, i think ive seen my next project on there too, johnny bucket for the rear!
(did i see you on gardenweb forum?)
have fun
thanks

KentT · Jun 1, 2005

( Kent, i got it all welded up right now, slightly angled and on a linkage that pulls it angled down till it gets to the correct depth then it pulls level. Welded up good and strong so next time it breaks its gunna be big /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
towed it round a bit more but it was raining so tractoin was poor.
welded on the knife thing but it broke off after 2 feet, i guess it was a bit old /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
what kinda speed should i be pulling this baby? (6mph max)

Glad yer B6000 is all good, i took a look at yer website, very nice, i think ive seen my next project on there too, johnny bucket for the rear!
(did i see you on gardenweb forum?)
have fun
thanks )

I just stumbled across these instructions on setting up a Brinly brand plow on a garden tractor -- they may be useful...

http://www.weekendfreedommachines.org/techinfo/plowsetup.php

I visit GardenWeb also, but don't post a lot there, since they talk mostly "lawn mowers" and newer ones at that...

I still haven't gotten the ROPS for the B6000 (still on backorder), but when I do, I'll post some more pics...