Snow Blade Turning plow won't track properly

[BrokenTrack]

Pulling to the side and not tracking right is one thing,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,that's another story. Broken Track you better caaalllllll somebody! :ambulance:

I would like to say that it happened fast, but that would be a lie. I felt the tractor start to go over and just stepped off it like it was in slow motion, funniest thing I ever seen on a tractor. Of course this is the first time I ever flopped over a tractor before. I have been operating tractors, bulldozers, skidders, log loaders and excavators for 40 years and never put one rubber side up.

It was kind of funny how it happened. This is on a pretty good hill that is not apparent in the photo, and I was closer to the fence then it looks too. I had the bucket up so when I rounded the corner I would not mash it. Then the front tire popped out of the furrow, so I cut it back and when the front wheel dropped back in, she just kept going over; like I said, in the slowest way imaginable.

It was not a big deal. I had the skidder right there to put it on its wheels again.

Now off all the machines I have had in hard spots, I would have thought I would have rolled the skidder by now. More than once I have thought, "Now how am I going to get out of this?"

 

[bindian]

FARMWITHJUNK: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...oard-plow-wisdom-farmwithjunk.html?highlight=

Thanks Jeff.
hugs, Brandi

 

[Egon]

Not all 3-pt plows have pins or crossarm that can be rotated. A lot of Dearborn plows all you can do is slide the crossarm left/right.

Right.

I would assume that the mention of an adjustment would alert the OP to his problem and look at where it can be alleviated.
1-16
[video]https://www.google.ca/search?q=dearborn+1-16+plow&client=safari&hl=en-ca&prmd=msivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwigku-J3N_YAhVm9IMKHZLRBJwQ_AUIEygD&biw=1024&bih=681#imgrc=hG1On-leqjGInM:[/video]

Many of those sliding adjustment's also change the angle of the pins.
[video]https://www.google.ca/search?q=1-16+dearborn+plow&client=safari&hl=en-ca&prmd=imsvn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJ0_jQ39_YAhVL7YMKHWoBBFYQ_AUIESgB&biw=1024&bih=681#imgdii=cSWPRwFsfGWCaM:&imgrc=zc_9yZfKDjio9M:&isa=y[/video]

 

[jeff9366]

If you plant row crops, the best alignment of the rear wheels is equal to or slightly wider than your front wheels, so your front wheel is in a furrow, the rear wheels follow the fronts in alignment, tire center following tire center. That is the way tractor dealer mechanics normally set the wheels when assembling the wheels to the tractor chassis pre-delivery.

(Some 2-WD tractors have variable width front wheels too.)

If you have spread the rears wider than the fronts before mounting a Turning Plow, the tractor may "crab", throwing off the Turning Plow. Crabing is exacerbated by having one front and rear wheel in a furrow, the other front and rear wheels on unfurrowed ground, which causes weight of the plow to oscillate from side-to-side in tiny but significant amounts beyond Three Point Hitch ability to stabilize swing.

If you have rear wheels spread to increase stability on your hills, which is a standard procedure, you may not be able to get your 1 X 16" to track properly, period.

 

[BrokenTrack]

If you plant row crops, the best alignment of the rear wheels is equal to or slightly wider than your front wheels, so your front wheel is in a furrow, the rear wheels follow the fronts in alignment, tire center following tire center. That is the way tractor dealer mechanics normally set the wheels when assembling the wheels to the tractor chassis pre-delivery.

(Some 2-WD tractors have variable width front wheels too.)

If you have spread the rears wider than the fronts before mounting a Turning Plow, the tractor may "crab", throwing off the Turning Plow. Crabing is exacerbated by having one front and rear wheel in a furrow, the other front and rear wheels on unfurrowed ground, which causes weight of the plow to oscillate from side-to-side in tiny but significant amounts beyond Three Point Hitch ability to stabilize swing.

If you have rear wheels spread to increase stability on your hills, which is a standard procedure, you may not be able to get your 1 X 16" to track properly, period.

Thank you for wording this so much better than I did! Kudo's to you!

 

[Egon]

I started plowing (40 yrs ago) with an 860 using Dearborn 2-bottoms, and the results were perfect. I now have a Dearborn 1-16 I used behind an 850, and now behind a JD 1050, and I can't plow worth a d__m. The plow main beam has been broken, but repaired to the point that the original geometry appears to be retained. I have the Ford Plow Book for N models, but that isn't much good for trouble-shooting. My biggest problem is that the plow makes a furrow too wide, ie the distance between the furrows is more than 16"--more like 20-24". I have set the beam as far to the right as it will fit on the cross-shaft, and adjusted the stay chains on the bottom links to move the whole unit as far to the right as possible, rotated the cross-shaft so the point doesn't pull to the left, and adjusted the top link to generate the proper 'suck', and I still get wide furrows. That said, every so often the parameters align just right, and the furrows are beautiful for about 20 ft . To complicate matters, 90% of the terrain I plow is sidehill and rocky. I would really like the design specs for setting up a plow from scratch. The Plow Book tells how to adjust it, but it is based on the assumption you have a Ford N tractor, and plows set at the factory. I want (I think) the specs for assembling the plow if it came as a kit.

I am fairly confident that most of the trouble is operator error. Any suggestions ?? All feedback welcome.

If the furrow is too wide it means the plow share is not tracking parallel to the tractor centreline. Seeing as there was damage it may be wise to check the plow frame alignment for the main beam and the individual plow shares to the main beam. Your adjustments are have been made to the main beam so far.

 

[tree grower]

Thanks for all the good feedback. Just to be clear, my wheels are set as narrow as possible. The farmwithjunk thread has a lot of valuable info. I think I will print it out, and underline key points

 

[Ford850]

which kind of Ford plow do you have? Does it have a flat cross beam or a round one?