jointers on 4B

I wonder if anyone would have a few pearls of wisdom concerning setting up and adjusting jointers on my John Deere model 4B plow? Thanks, Ellis

They would only work about a third of the time. That is why cover boards came out.

As far as setting them, you need your plow to be at the depth you are going to plow at. They set them so they are running 2/3 of the way in the ground. You usually have to have your coulter set correctly too for them to work at all. You usually set the coulter so that the front edge of it is cutting about 1/2 inch more than the plow bottom would cut. That way the coulter cuts a little relief so the sod/trash clears the plow bottom better. Those jointers will need to be shined just like your moldboards. That is the real hard part. Once they are scoured they will work but I have seen rusty ones that would never scour.

Ellis,
I have jointers on my IH #8 plow. They are best for exhibiting at shows. Some people have never seen them before.
First cornstalks you plow you will learn new swear words or recycle the old ones.
I have an extra one including shank and it has very little wear, hoping someday to sell that one.
LA in WI

Thanks Troops, I bought them because I could, I just use my plow to do a garden plot on the farm and sometimes for neighbors. No corn fields. Ellis

When they are shined-up and set right, they will work almost as well as Coverboards..
Used them every year on a pair of JD #52 plows..never did anything but keep them from getting rusty..and more than 1/2 of our land was in Corn..
We did chop the fodder with an old Case stalk chopper.. NOW, THAT would work the BeJesus out of a JD "B"..(just to get it going)..!!
Ron..

I run beam-mount jointers on my 44. I set the bottom of the jointer 5" from the share, so when I plow at 6-7" the jointer is cutting 1-2" deep. I run the top corner of the jointer's shin 9.5" forward of the top corner of the shin of the plow bottom. Looking from above, I run the left edge of the jointer in line with the left edge of the share. That way, if you have your coulter .5 to .75" away from the share, there's some breathing room there so jointer isn't always rubbing on the coulter and wearing away.

The forward and back adjustment: run it forward enough so there's room behind it for the clean soil to pass, and yet leave enough room in between the jointer and the coulter hub for the jointer slice to turn.

I can't stress enough, 95% of people's frustration with jointers, besides maladjustment, is dull coulters. Trash will wrap around a dull coulter blade, come back around and plug the jointer. Coulters must be sharp! Use an angle grinder! If you aren't afraid of cutting your hand, they're not sharp enough. When I plow all day long, it will take 4-6 hours before I start to notice the coulter dulling and the jointer trying to plug, and then it's time to sharpen.

And, of course, if you shares are dull and riding the plow out, or your hitch is not adjusted correctly, you will have problems with jointers because they need to run in the ground consistently. If the plow is bopping up and down, you're going to introduce trash into the jointer.

There was one sticky fall jointers worked better than trashboards because the trashboards caused scouring problems. I wouldn't even try jointers in corn stalks, that's where trashboards shine.