John Deere Three Bottom Plow

WI Rick

New User
Hello, I got a three bottom plow in the fall and went to use it for the first time and turns out my 1959 Ford 841 doesn"t have enough power/weight to pull it with shares down more than about 4 inches. My intention was to trip a bottom if I had this problem, and tie it up some how so was out of the dirt so I could use just two bottoms. Problem is I can"t figure out how to do this. Did my best to loosen it up with plenty of Gibbs and WD 40, then banged as best as I could with a 8# sledge on a board on the share. (Trying to imitate a rock in the ground, but just left me feeling like I have a box of rocks in my head.) Took all the nuts and bolts off the frame to plow connection to separate that and thats rusted together to.
Thinking about putting fluid in the tires but I already have about 240# of weights on each one. I"d rather just plow with two bottoms.
Any body have any ideas? (Hopefully the pictures come through, don"t worry that mud was dirt when I attempted to plow, but with the rain we"ve had it"ll be a while before I get back out there.) Our soil is pretty sandy and not real heavy. Thinking i"d ought to sharpen the share with a grinder (doing my best not to heat them up) does that sound like a good idea?
I"d heard that plowing was a bit of an art and am starting to realize what people mean. I am just plowing for about an acre of vegetables. I have a disk harrow that works well to finish the job.
Thanks
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You should be able to drop the rear bottom off and move the tail wheel to the second bottom. To trip those bottoms put a ajustable wrench on those two tails sticking out the back of the trip standard near the top. Push down with the wrench to lift the trip latch. The bottom will swing free.
 
Heat is the way you sharpen a share, NOT with a grinder. From picture angle I cannot tell for sure but I think you have the throw away type share that you just change instead of sharpening for probably less that 20 dollars a share and looks like the share is worn out.
 

No Coverboards and I question if that tail wheel is original.?/??
If it is original, then the rear Landslide is not correct..should be much longer and/or have an adjustable "Heel"..
 
That looks like an adapted 8" wheel, the orignal would be 12" with a 4:00 X 12 tire. And that is definatly not a correct landside.
 
Thanks for the advice, do you know where I can get new shares?
Do you think I need to worry about the landslides? I am plowing sandy soil, not to heavy. This year just lawn sod, next year probably pasture sod. Any suggestions about where to look on how to plow? I knew nothing until a week ago when I hitched it to the tractor. Just trying to plow 1/2 acre for vegetables.
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The early 813 plow used the pneumatic 8" wheel and later a hard rubber wheel. The bigger 12" wheels like on trailer plows came into use with the 810 series mounted plows. The short cast landside is correct with that style tailwheel. The longer landside will hit the linkage and bend it when the rear bottom trips. Guess how I know?
 
I just looked at the new picture again and noticed it does have the gauge wheel on it. The 813 plow was meant to be used with the JD800 series 3pt hitches on the 50-60-70 and needed the gauge wheel because the was no depth control with that system.
 
my friend bought a ford 3-16" trip plow for cheap, he only wanted a 2-16" plow, so he just took a torch and cut the frame of the back plow off.

I do not recommend this action, but I borrowed the plow last fall to break my truck patch, it pulled good and did not clog up as my 3-12" Ferguson plows. (I wish I owned it) in a way I do as I can borrow it when I want too.

I would think the proper procedure would be to take your plow apart and remove the center plow, then reinstall the rear plow as it has the proper connections for the rear trail wheel.

if its a 16" plow, they have much greater throat height and will not clog up like smaller plows.

picture of my 3-12" ferg plow, good plows but only for clean ground, they do not like trash, corn stalks etc: .

but if you really want to roll some dirt and they are easy to pull, get you a disc plow,

I enjoy using the old disc plow and it plows in almost any ground.
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Parts are available from JD. They are high speed bottoms. You need to know if they are 14"or16" bottoms and 3or4 bolts holding the share on.
 
The most obvious place for new shares is of course your JD dealer.Any 'farm supply' store,Your coop,Shoup manufactureing can get your parts.As to the 'tripping' the plow thing,It wont work,the tripped bottom will drag and prevent the plow from going full depth.Completely remove the third bottom.Move the furrow wheel ahead to the 2nd bottom.Better yet,simply trade the 3 bottom off for a 2 bottom...You already have enough wt on your tractor,that plow is simply TOO big for your tractor.
 
WI,
attached is a picture of a JD 813 plow that I found on the internet. The picture gives you a better understanding of what your plow looked like years ago.
it came with a gauge wheel on the right side as the old tractors that pulled this plow did not have depth control,

however, the rear gauge wheel looks bigger than yours, the rear wheel on yours looks more like the trail wheel on my old John Deere mounted corn picker (one row semi mounted)
per the info in the picture the plow was a 3x14
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I have an 812 tow bottom version of this plow and it has the same tail wheel.
 
Wi Rick's plow is a 813 (3x14"?), it has orginal trips,(no grease zerk hole for trip latch pin on right side)& welded right side pull pin & lever used in "54" & "55" yr.s.. PC-390 JD parts.. tail wheel is correct 4.00X8 ...metal gauge wheel for 800 series hitch.. Painted up plow in pic. is 810 series 3x14 plow with wrong decals, It's got 800 hitch mast & optional rubber gauge wheel for 800 hitch, And optional 12" rubber tail wheel, but wrong rim..
PC-390...
 
Rick to make your plow work as a two bottom You can unbolt complete 3rd. frame as ET says,(but 4 bolts on top of trip rust tight for life)... Or trip standard with wrench, & lube big pivot pin on standard hammer it out.. move tail wheel up to 2nd. bottom or leave it of.. I see plow has bend in front bottom main beam ; front bottom will run on it's nose a not turn furrow well. you might want to take it out & hyd. press straighten it .. Next yr's project ?
 
Just buy a bigger tractor problem solved. Besides then you can disc and plow without unhitching. The plow shares are good for several years if all he is going to plow is a half an acre.
 
The blue plow if in as issued condition major parts wise is no newer than 1956 . The tube tire was replaced in 1956 by the hard one that says " soil king " on it . Both came with the rear axle that is " S " shaped , has a flat bar brace rod and the axle support casting only bolts on one side of the rear standard . The green plow also has the old style rear wheel setup but has an incorrect wheel on it . In 1958 the entire rear wheel setup was replaced by the " big wheel " type . This setup has the axle support casting that straddles the rear standard , has a round brace rod , has the axle that is " C " shaped and has either a 12" tire or a steel wheel . The big wheel type is also used on the RH side of 825 rollover plows and on newer stuff also . The teardrop landside is indeed proper and looks to be in decent shape . The long type landsides are used in place of tail wheels - not with them as was pointed out already . To clarify the "C " & " S " shaped axle thing it is in reference to the ends pointing in opposite directions on the " S " type and the same direction on the " C " shaped one . Don't care to get into the 810 - v - 813 discussion . Looks like the frame in front of the rear standard is bent also .I f you need shares Your JD dealer will sell you all you want for $28 ea for 16" or $31 ea for 14" . This is if you have 4 bolt shares . If you have 3 bolt shares the " Depot " has a REAL GOOD supply of 16" NOS ones for cheap . 3 bolt 14" will require a little digging . I have a good supply of them but they are LH and that won't work worth a crap on your plow . Like already pointed out you can simply remove the entire 3rd bottom and put the tail wheel stuff on the second standard .
 
Another diffrents between the 810 and 813 is the plow frame is 3" longer on the 813 where the front coulter mounts The coulter shanks are all the same on the 812-813 plows. The frame was shortened in this area on the 810 plows because they were introduced with the 20 series tractors and the longer frame would strike the remote cylinder valve body when you lifted the plow. The correct front coulter setup on an 810 uses a coulter shank with a larger offset to place the coulter far enough in front of the first plow bottom.
 
Thanks for the advice.
I went ahead and removed the rear bottom, and I tried the plow out again yesterday. It was working great then I hit a rock, the front bottom tripped, I thought "Great, now I know that works." Backed up and the bottom fell right back into place. Kept on plowing and the bottom tripped up again. Now, as soon as the bottom gets down a little it trips. Looked up in there and it seems like the spring isn't operating properly. Got any ideas?
 
Probably have a broken spring . You can still finish your job by wiring the trip levers sticking out the back of the standard up . Or is it down ? Been a while since I had to do that but you will see what to do when you look at it . If that doesn"t cure it you probably have a broken pin but I would definitely look at the spring first . Look up the parts book for 810 { the same book covers 812 , 813 & 814 ] and you will see a good blowup of the trip standard assy .
 

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