Oliver plow woes....

I have a few major issues with my 2x14 Plowmaster & I'm not sure if it's out of adustment, worn out, or both. The first problem is, it pulls crooked. Standing behind the plow, with the bottoms sunk in, the plow's tail is about 2" or 3" to the left of center. This causes the hitch (centered) to ride on the right stay bolt & the front of the tractor to pull to the left. Not a great amount of pull, either, just enough to let you know it's there. I did try adjusting the hitch to the left, to no avail. The furrow wheel just climbs up & down the wall. There's no tail wheel & I think that might be part of the problem. However, it came that way. So, I would assume the plow IS meant to be operated without one?

Next problem is, it makes a real loose & messy furrow wall. The top 3" are cut clean & from there down it's loose dirt pushed against the wall at a 45° angle.

The last problem is: plugging. It only plugs up on the second bottom, between the arm for the jointer & the beam & only when it encounters a merciless onslaught of firmly planted corn stubble head on.

Otherwise, the plow don't cause any other headaches. I've had it over 15 years & it dosen't owe me a penny. Though, I've never relied on it for serious plowing or a clean job until now & I'm not anywhere near the half way mark on 35 acres.

Ah, before I forget, I wanted to mention that I replaced a few parts, new moldboards for the jointers, new yokes for the coulters & the land axle bearing on the first beam. The coulters & jointers were not readjusted & the bearing was the only actual improvment i.e. the plow dosen't fishtail wildly when pulling it dowm the road in fourth (my tallest field gear).

I'll try to get some pictures posted if anyone needs to see something.

Many thanks in advance!!
Mike

First off your gonna want to get a rolling land side on it. The regular land side alone isnt long enough to hold the plow staight. Any plow that didnt have a rolling land side from the factory was in extreamly light soil. Second when you get it in the field get into the furrow, trip it and drive 15 feet or so. When it is all the way in the ground stop and loosen all the tungue adjustments including the drawbar on the tractor if it swings. If the tredwidth on the tractor is set right when you take off again the plow should find its own center and track straight. When this happens stop again and tighten everything back up and you should be good. That is how Oliver recomended you set a trailer plow up and we have had good luck setting our 100s this way. The only thing you might have to do is drop the tougue support down to force the back bottom in, sometimes in heavy ground it wants to pull out. If it doesnt work the tredwidth on the tractor is set to wide and you cant get over far enough, or something on the plow is slightly sprung.

I agree, either worn or missing Land-slides or mis-adjusted hitch or rear wheel spacing..

Ron.

You didn't mention the condition of the shares. Look underneath where they cut, the shiny metal parallel to the furrow bottom. The wider the band you see, the more the plow bottom floats. You may have all these problems because you may have adjusted the plow to make it enter the ground faster, and when plowing at depth, everything is crooked. If the shares don't have a lot of acres on them, you can fix them with a grinder. Just reduce the amount of ground contact to about 1/16", all the way to the tip. If they're easy to find, of course the best way would be new ones. But you will never get the thing adjusted satisfactorily with dull shares.

I'm not sure where I'm going to find a rolling landside on short notice, but I'll have to post a wanted. The stationary landsides aren't going to hold out for much longer. The one is so thin on the trailing end, the metal has begun to curl over. May have to get a pair of those, too. Once the ground dries, I'll go over the plow, as per your instructions.

Thanks,
Mike

The shares look to be in fairly good order & should have enough metal left to grind down. I'll check the thickness tomorrow, when there's light again. I will probably be ordering new landsides, so I may just as well get new shares, too.

Thanks,
Mike

Mike, the shares for the 4 bolt are designed for a different landside than the 3 bolt shares as they set an aditional 1/2" to the left and the landsides for them either have a bend to put the back of the landside out that much farther or have a replaceable pad bolted on the back. Are your shares the plain flat blade style or the style with a nose for better suck? Flat blade I think grinding is only way to sharpen and then only once as nose becomes too short, style with a nose like the old blacksmith style share can be sharpened same way as the blacksmith sharpen share, if you were here I could teach you how to do it.

Oliverkid,
I just found out that my plow originally had heels on the landsides. Might that be why there's no tail wheel & can I get along without the wheel, provided I use the heels? I'm adding new landsides, too. The old ones don't have enough meat left on them to add anything without breakage. I'm not trying to get around using a rolling landside, I just don't want these repairs & plowing to go on forever. Frozen ground is only around the corner & I will be exeptionally lucky if it dries out enough before then to finish plowing. We'll see how much rain we get around here, tonight.

Mike

Leroy,
I found three hole shares!! Osmundson makes them (Thanks, grandpajohn!). I don't know how long it would take to get them factory direct, but they had them (Osmundson #) at the Depot. They were put on the truck an hour ago & will be here late tomorrow morning, early afternoon. I also found landsides & heels. Didn't even know my plow had heels. It does explain why the landsides that are on there have extra holes in them.

Oh well! I've learned one thing out of all this & that is, if you want to feel like a kid again, buy a well worn machine you know nothing about & have no manual for. I think I need more practice in the sandbox. ;v)

Mike

P.S. I always wanted to get into blacksmithing, but I'd have to trade one hobby for another. Otherwise, repairing shares certainly sounds right up my alley. I have worked hot iron a few times, the last time was when I needed to cobble up a new trip rod & other pieces for the bundle carrier on my binder. They ain't pretty, but they're the right length & havent bent or broke yet.

Also.... The share on the second bottom had a bump left where a snout may have been, before I started plowing. So, I think they started life as a deep suck share.

Let me know how it goes. If you get all the new parts on it you should be all set.