Plowing with WD-45

BillOHIO

Member
I grew up with IH as Dad was Service Mgr at local IH Dealer all his working life. However local Turkey farmer where I worked had all AC. Two WD-45'S with mounted AC plows. The owner said we are going to plow today. I looked at the rig and said give me some instructions as I have only plowed with Farmalls and pull type plows. He said follow me and look at this lever . If wheels spin, move this lever down too stop the spinning. Off we went in hilly field. Up the first hill and wheels started to spin. I moved the lever quickly and a lot......next thing I know I am looking at sky ! I quickly moved lever back and tractor came back down. Owner ahead didn't appear to look back so I thought I got by but not sure if my underwear was still good for the day ? Got along O.K. and stopped for lunch. First thing owner said was "You don't need to move that lever as far as you did to stop the wheel spinning .That is all he said and that was my first experience with Traction Booster !

Bill
 
Been a few years, but I used to plow with my old d-14 with 2-14" a.c. snap couple plows.

Always enjoyed plowing with that old tractor,

also had a set of a.c. snap couple disc plows, those plows would turn over most any ground, rocks, roots, etc:

I do remember that traction booster lever, it would add the weight of the plow to the rear wheels. System worked well.

Good memories, thanks for the post.
 
I was young enough that I did very little dirt plowing (later plowed a lot of snow with it though!) with the WD45. Dad would drop the lever all the way, then as soon as the plow was in the ground he would start bumping the lever up, and set it by the "traction booster" gauge. Then it took care if itself. I suppose after you have done it a few times, you know about where to set the lever.
 
Plowed 30 acres this spring with my WD45. I went by the book and set the hydraulic pump for the plow and never had a problem with wheel spin except when plowing on up a side hill, I attributed it to the fineness of the soil and needing new tires.

Leonard
 
Dad had an early D-17 with a 3- bottom SC and thought it was the best plowing rig he"d ever run. Problem was the traction booster gauge didn"t work. I had a real time with it.
 

The Hydrolic lever has to be gotten used to..!

You will find that the lever setting depends both on the soil AND the condition of the Plow Shares..

In extremely hard pulling, you may need to have the lever ALL the way down AND need to be pulling back in the Hand Clutch lever, to keep the front near the ground..
New shares will require much less lever movement than worn shares.
You do not need that Traction Booster gauge, once you get used to the "Feel" of the tractor and hydraulic system..when the front get s light, or the plow looses depth, you are using too much "traction Booster"..
We pull a Semi-Mounted 4x14 (always have on each WD-45), with Loaded tires all the way around, + a 70 lb weight across the front.
Handles it well and burns less fuel per acre than 3x14"..
Sometimes ( usually anymore) I put one Dual on the left and leave that wheel set "in"..
Works out real good..
With 4 Bottoms, the fun is when you need to steer it with the Brakes, as the front is just clearing the ground pretty often..
With a Full Moon and the light from the glowing muffler and the 12" Blue flame out the top, you sometimes can plow without the lights..!!
GREAT TIMES..!!!

Ron..
 

As for going by the Traction Booster gauge..all you need is to see that the needle "wiggles", varying draft will increase the reading as the pull gets heavier..

Ron.
 
Years ago dad bought a set of AC 4 bottom semi mount plows for almost nothing.We never did get around to putting them behind our WD45.We even found the transport valve which I think was needed so it would lift correctly? A neighbor ended up buying them for parts.The few pics I have seen makes for a neat looking outfit.The first tractor I ever plowed with was a Series II D15 with a two bottom plow.We have all Deere tractors now but there is still a pair of lift latches hanging in the machine shed.
 
The 3x14 that Dad used also had the little tail wheel. Had the big cast iron transport valve on the tractor. The front end coming up was not a problem with that set up.
Cousin plowed with a JD 60 w/ 3x14 mounted. Believe it or not, he traded that for a brand new AC D15II w/3x14 mounted. That was his "big" tractor for a few years. It did the work, but it was stressed to the max, and it showed.
 
I grew up on Allis WD and spent some time plowing & disking so am somewhat familiar with how the Hydraulics worked. I now have a wd-45 put back together and really do not understand the traction control and how it works compared to the regular WD. I don"t have a traction gage or know where to plumb it in but maybe some other gage would work. I heard the original gages are expensive and even lookalike non working ones are outragious.

Does anyone have a description and info for getting the traction control hooked up right and operational as it should be? Apparently it is a good improvement over what I was used to.
Cleddy
 

The Hydraulic system is the same as on the WD.
There is a linkage attached from the Hydraulic pump to the Hitch under the differential.
The Hitch has a large spring that receives the load that is put on the tractor from pulling..
As it compresses the spring, it moves the linkage and varies the setting on the hydraulic pump (when set for "traction Booster).
You do not really need that gauge to use the TB..
If you were to try adding a gauge, it should be capable of reading FULL system pressure..at least 3,000lb.
Original TB gauge is a special gauge for that application..
I would not worry with that gauge, you will get to know how it works and feels after a short time of plowing..
My previous post describes the various usual positions of the Hydraulic lever..

Ron.
 
Thanks. That what I thought as I remember that slight lifting action and getting a little more traction to keep going. The 3 bottom plow was quite a load on a Reg. Allis WD so there was lots of time to notice how the machine was operating. Did it work on the remote cylinder port also? I seem to remember that it did on a disk also. A fellow was making a fuss over the special hitch on the Tandem wheel disk and I did not really see the value since seems like the lift assisted on all heavy pulling. cleddy
 

The rear "Transport Valve" only amounted to a variable delay, making it possible to adjust the delay you want before the remote cylinder lifts or lowers.
All the "Weight transfer" was associated with the Hitch under the tractor and how hard the tractor is Pulling on that hitch..

Ron.
 

The "AC" "Snap-Coupler" Implements worked as the Plow does, as they are attached to the Lift Arms and the snap-coupler underneath.

Ron.
 
cleddy,
the 8ft wheel disk hooked to my D-14 snap couple used the transport wheels to move the disc around.
but in the field, if the tractor started spinning you could engage the traction booster lever and it would transfer the weight of the disc to the tractor.
used a chain hooked to the end of each lift arm. this chain went down around a pulley on the tongue of the disc.

bet not too many of these hitches made it for the long haul

this hookup make it a harder to turn as the disc was hooked up under the tractor rather than to the rear hitch as most trailer implements would have been.
 
always have a competition with my dad and his massey harris 44 and I have a 51 wd allis both have 3-14 plows it is a hoot of a time the hills in Waterbury Ne are a equalizer. This spring I will have 56 wd45 to play with.So he put the the big pistons in. Love the mounted allis plows they give me all the edge I need.
 

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