what WIDTH plow?

[Indian Territory]

I know there's no shortage of questions in this forum about how big a plow you can pull with X horsepower. But my question is, how WIDE of a plow do I need? Ultimately this still breaks down to a question about whether I need a 2-bottom or 3- bottom.

Last year I traded in my 24hp scut for a 75hp New Holland PowerStar 75. The old tractor was 4' wide; the new tractor is 6'3 at the widest point, as set up currently.

I had previously bought a 1-bottom plow for my little tractor, and I later tried it on the bigger tractor. It pulls fine, of course, but the 1-bottom plow is not wide enough (when on the center of the tractor) to allow me to place my wheels in the previous furrow and get the results I want. It leaves sections of un-turned earth between the plow lines. I haven't found a way to compensate in steering to fix this problem.

So I need to buy a new plow. But my question is, which plow will be wide enough to keep this problem from re-occurring? Do I need a 2-bottom or 3-bottom.

And I also have to match my hp to the plow to make it pullable, of course.

I'd really rather just get a 2-bottom, since I have a deal on one. But is this wide enough? I don't want to risk spending money and still having the same old problem.

 

[jeff9366]

I had previously bought a 1-bottom plow for my subcompact tractor. I later tried it on the bigger tractor. It pulls fine, of course, but the 1-bottom plow is not wide enough (when on the center of the tractor) to allow me to place my wheels in the previous furrow and get the results I want. It leaves sections of un-turned earth between the plow lines.


From my experience with Moldboard Plows I expect your New Holland tires are so much wider, relative to your earlier SCUT tires, that your New Holland tires are not running in the bottom of the furrow so the plow is canted. You may or may not be able to level the plow by adjusting the TPH right Lifting Rod.

Your New Holland tires may be 2" to 3" higher than the SCUT tires but as your New Holland tires will squash some of the shoulder dirt down, this may be hard to see.

This may be exacerbated by the geometry of Moldboard Plows specifically made to fit SCUTs, which sit lower on the plow frame relative to the ground.

Both of these factors may reduce the depth of the plow furrow.

If your moldboard is running at the correct depth I expect your problem will be solved.


You can offset a plow a tad by changing the adjustment of the TPH stabilizer bars or chains, whichever you have. (Most SCUTS have chains, most 75-horsepower compact tractors have pinned, telescoping bars.)

Some higher-end priced plows can be moved across the frame, although how that is accomplished may not be evident at first.

It is also possible your plow frame is not perfectly straight.

 

[newbury]

Read some old threads

Need advice on Plow for 75hp Tractor

I have a 75 horse 2 WD tractor to plow about 15-20 acres once or twice a year in East Texas. It has not been plowed for at least 40 years. I think I need a 3 or 4 bottom plow like a JD 145 (or 1350-1450) or a 1H 720 like the one belonging to oleoz. Question: What does the group think about a JD...

www.tractorbynet.com

Lot's of factors including $$

 

[jeff9366]

Last year I traded in my 24hp SCUT for a 75hp New Holland PowerStar 75. The SCUT was 4' wide; the new tractor is 6'3 at the widest point, as set up currently.
So I need to buy a new plow.

USED 3-bottom plows are often cheaper than USED 2-bottom plows.

Your New Holland tractor has ample weight to pull any 12"-14"-16" 3-bottom moldboard plow through MOIST soil.

A three bottom, 12" plow will turn 36" of ground per draw.

A three bottom 14" plow will turn 42" of ground per draw.

A three bottom 16" plow will turn 48" of ground per draw.

How much time do you wish to spend on the tractor, plowing soil?


The plow you choose should be wide enough for your New Holland tractor's tires to roll freely in the bottom of plow furrows. 15" wide rear tractor tires deserve a 16" wide furrow in an ideal world.

MOLDBOARD PLOW WISDOM FROM FARMWITHJUNK

I learned a lot from Farmwithjunk's posts on selecting and adjusting Moldboard/Turning Plows. Here is a selection of Farmwithjunk's Plow posts I found useful. I copied Farmwithjunk's individual posts from T-B-N into 'Word' then pasted the consolidation back into T-B-N, therefore the posts are...

www.tractorbynet.com

 

[jeff9366]

Also, experiment with the pin settings for the INBOARD end of your TPH Top Link.

3 holes for top link on tractor end

Hi all, I did a little search but taking the easy way out. On my Kubota I have a grader bar on the 3 point hitch Which of the 3 holes for top link will lift the grader bar off the ground the most? Is there ant downside? I am just dragging the blade and lifting the blade. How will it affect the...

www.tractorbynet.com

 

[Egon]

Three point plow:

Note the cross bar the lower arm‘s are attached to. This bar can be rotated to get the proper furrow bottom angle. The lower arms may also have to be adjusted for length so it pulls parallel to centre line .
The bar can also be moved laterally to get right rear tire in the furrow.

 

[LD1]

You should be able to pull a 3x16 with ease.

What is the 2-bottom you are getting a "deal" on? is it 16" bottoms?

Your tractor has 16.9 tires....those wont drop in a 12" furrow very well. You really need a 16" or 18" plow bottom.

Now as far as WHERE the plow tracks behind the tractor is all in the plow setup. And you can read for days on how to get it set up right.....or you can just learn on the fly. You can also pin your 3PH (anti sway) to make the plow stay where you want....though on a proper setup this should not be needed.

So if you get a 3x16 plow.....basically setup as follows.....

1. adjust your sway control (either turnbuckle or telescoping arms that keep the 3PH arms from swinging side to side). To adjust for a 16" plow.....inside of tire measure over 15-16" should be where the first plow point is. Since that "bottom" is gonna turn all the dirt from the inside of the right tire over to its point.

2. With that set.....bet some wood blocks or planks of boards and drive BOTH front and rear tires of the LEFT side of the tractor up on 6-8" high blocks of whetever you have. This simulates the RIGHT side being down in a 6-8" furrow. (do this on level ground. Concrete preffered)

3. Now set plow on ground and adjust until the plow now rests LEVEL on all points and plow shares are also all level on the ground.

This requires manipulating both the toplink and adjustable side link

First pass wont look great since the tractor wont be in a furrow....but subsequent passes should plow like a dream

 

[oldnslo]

Depending on soil type, tractor weight, tires you might be able to pull 4 - 16 semi mounted with 75 HP. Our old 5000 Ford (60 HP) would pull 4 - 16 in good going but not tough pull like sod.

Semi mounted is typically much easier to set up and requires much less weight on front of tractor. Fully mounted are far more sensitive to top link movement and are far more difficult to use on rough rolling ground since movement on front of tractor translate to top link moving.

 

[mo1]

I know there's no shortage of questions in this forum about how big a plow you can pull with X horsepower. But my question is, how WIDE of a plow do I need? Ultimately this still breaks down to a question about whether I need a 2-bottom or 3- bottom.

Last year I traded in my 24hp scut for a 75hp New Holland PowerStar 75. The old tractor was 4' wide; the new tractor is 6'3 at the widest point, as set up currently.

I had previously bought a 1-bottom plow for my little tractor, and I later tried it on the bigger tractor. It pulls fine, of course, but the 1-bottom plow is not wide enough (when on the center of the tractor) to allow me to place my wheels in the previous furrow and get the results I want. It leaves sections of un-turned earth between the plow lines. I haven't found a way to compensate in steering to fix this problem.

So I need to buy a new plow. But my question is, which plow will be wide enough to keep this problem from re-occurring? Do I need a 2-bottom or 3-bottom.

And I also have to match my hp to the plow to make it pullable, of course.

I'd really rather just get a 2-bottom, since I have a deal on one. But is this wide enough? I don't want to risk spending money and still having the same old problem.

Long story short, you would need a plow that can be offset appropriately to let your right wheels run in the previous furrow. A total width of 75" and I am assuming 16.9" wide tires puts your tread spacing at 58" and the centerline to inside of the right tire distance of 20 1/2". You could run some two-bottom plows and about any three or four-bottom plow with that tread spacing. I have a 75 HP Deere set at 60" tread spacing and plow a large garden with an old 3-14 plow. The plow was already set for a 60" tread spacing when I got it so I didn't have to touch the 3 point crossbar. The crossbar is roughly in the middle of the offset range so it could have been set for a wider tread spacing if needed, I'm guessing 72-76" maximum if my measurements are correct.

You can likely pull a 4-16 with that tractor depending on your soil and how you have the tractor set up. Growing up we pulled a 4-16 semi-mount through heavy clay soil with an open station Deere that was very close in power and size to your New Holland. It worked well but if you got to a tougher spot, you could tell the tractor was working pretty well so a 4-16 was about it for that machine. It did have coulters which made plowing a little easier. My tractor pulls the 3-14 that I have pretty easily, I got a 3-14 as the plot I plow isn't all that big and a fully-mounted 3 bottom plow is much easier to maneuver than a 4 bottom semi-mount.

 

[jaxs]

I've seen people that turned more acres every year than most keyboard cowboys will in a life time and never learned to set moldboards without difficulty. A drag type plow with discs (commonly called one way) are easy to adjust and will turn more soil per hour than moldboards behind same horsepower tractor. It's rare to see farmers using moldboards today ,chisels commonly and one ways occasionally. Both do a good job and are easy to set. Unlike a moldboard,if soil is easy to plow you can speed up with both without causing problems.