Can't get plow in ground

Have a JD 145 plow. Bottoms are scoured (sp) and points are in pretty good shape. Rolling dirt over really well. All the bottoms are digging in about the same depth. Only problem is that depth is 2" at most. Can't get it any deeper. HELP!!! What the heck am I missing here? Thanks for ANY advice.

Only two things that will cause that.

Either the ground is too dry and hard OR the plow has lost it's suck.

Maybe your points aren't as good as ya thought?

Allan

Are you sure your 3pt arms are adjusted to go low enough?

Not that I till much, but when I do I love my chisel plow with twisted spikes.

whatever type of plow,mounted ,drag ,walking ,whatever,raise back of plow bottoms to make it dig deeper.plow suction holds it to its work,or in other words keeps it in the ground. I am not at all familiar wih your particular plow,but this is universal.no way around it.on a drag or trailer plow,Hitch hieght is how you set this,on a three point plow the toplink does.Is yours a mounted three point type plow,or a trailer plow? on a trailer plow you set hitch height at the hitch clevis,this is not where it hooks to the tractor drawbar,but where the hitch of the plow connects to the beams basically.Normally there will be a series of holes to adjust hitch height,or on some a screw adjustment at same location to set this.proper hitch hieght is set when you can pull a string,in a straight line from a point 1/2 the depth of furrow,(depth is normally 1/2 plow width)to attachment on tractor drawbar.The exact same thing happens on a mounted plow but its much harder to see.all this simply means,if you have a three point plow SHORTEN your toplink.ALL moldboard plows are designed to pull flat,,plow suction holds them down..by raising back of bottoms up plow has to dig deeper to run flat.simple huh!back when we plowed with horses,the same principals applied.you set hitch hieght,to make plow pull flat at proper depth,and pushed down on handles to make rear of plow deeper and cause plow to pull out of ground.heres a tip for you,,ALL and you can safely say ALL,ground engaging equipment work this way.culivator,chisel plow,gang type disk etc etc all work on the same principal and must have hitch height set..if not pull on front will either raise front or rear..even a disc plow must have hitch hieght set.
many times guys will try to make a gang type disc dig better by lowering front,and then cuss the implement for ridging,but they are designed to run flat.and to give the best penetration that way.pull up on front and it rolls out of ground. pull down in front, and rear rides out of ground.
hope this helps!

I would agree with Allen. Could be that your points are not as good as you might have thought
I had the same problem with a IH 3 wheel, 3bottom. Took 20-30 feet to get to good depth, and after welding new points on (cut from a new point from TSC).....it sank all the way in within 6-8 feet

If the soil is hard then try moving the coulters nearer to the moldboards.

but,again,by wearing off your points you changed hitch height!by rebuilding you simply put hitch height back near correct..many folks dont know that the adjustable screw type toplink was developed just for this one exact reason..to make up for wear on plow points,and adjust hitch height.before them literally thousands of nearly new three point plows went to the junk piles because farmers couldnt afford to buy two or three set of points a day.dealers actually GAVE them away,and to this day most farmers prefer drag type easily adjustable plows.economy bottoms, replaceable shins ,etc all were made as a cheap way of making plows work cheaply without a easily adjustable toplink.today,folks plow very succesfully with bottoms that we would have considered worse than scrap not long ago.points can cause problems surely,but until one skips across the ground with only point touching and wont penetrate at all,you can pretty much get them to plow if you know how to set them up.

Is the setscrew adjusted at the tail wheel. It only lets the back of the plow go down so far.

Yup.

--->Paul

I have both, Semi-Mount 4-16" and 3-14" fully-mounted..
The F-145, be it 14" or 16" will go in the ground, if the shares are good and it is adjusted properly..
With the plow raised, how close is the "Frog" to the edge of the share..?
Those shares can get badly worn down and you not realize it....then they won't go in well at all..
Same for Blacksmith-type shares..
If it is not going "IN" well, how are you ever going to obtain any weight transfer for traction..!!
On the rear, a miss-adjusted Heal, or tail wheel can prevent that end from going in deep enough (or Worn Shares)..
On the Front, the depth is pretty much determined by the depth of the lower arms of the 3-Point and the condition of the Shares.(assuming the plow is fairly well Scoured)..

Ron.

Matt, I have plowed many acres with a 145 plow. Something is very wrong here. Either the tractor is not going low enough or else the right hand lift link is WAY longer than the left one. If this happens it will cause the plow to enter the ground slowly. If a semi-mount plow won't go in the ground something is very wrong. Mike

If you ever followed a team of mules you learn how to get the plow to go deeper into the ground.
Just lift the handles and the point will go down if it goes too deep you have to push down on the handles, same principle with your plow.
WaltMo

Went out on a plow complaint years ago, customer could not get good depth. I made sure the hitch was going down fully, made some adjustments. My brother in law had rode along with me, said raise those colters up and it will dig in, and yes it did. Heck, I'm a tractor mechanic, not plow man. Had to set a few after that and of course they all had different type of problems.

I had a few acres of Black Wax left to plow a few years ago that got too dry..
Using my WD-45 and dropped to a 3-14" mounted, I tried to finish it..
Had to give it up..!! The plow would go in plenty good, BUT..the Cover-boards were turning the majority of that HARD soil and I started breaking the Cover-Boards...!!!!!!
Why, if I let the traction booster drop, the left tire would slip and leave Rubber, like I was slipping on asphalt..!!!
Grandad always did say the best way to plow that strip was to chase water down the furrow...!!!
Really that piece needed to be plowed in the Fall or early Spring or it would not work down good at all..

Ron..

your correct mike,its called hitch height.and if its wrong plow wont go deep enough.on any make model, brand of plow,mounted ,semi mounted ,or otherwise ,in any soil,anytime ,anywhere.thats simply the nature of the beast.

Jack,

The plow suck pull's 'er down; the hitch holds it up.

That center link should "float" in a loose fashion. Fact is, to properly set a plow, you can take the silly center link clean off the tractor. All it is used for is to lift the plow.

Allan

know what you mean there!tried turning over about five acres of new ground once in the middle of the summer that was about half red clay just about like brick.had a nearly new JD "a"model,and a really good single bottom jd trailer plow.figured I would walk right through it but that was the single hardest plowing job i ever did bar none.bet that old tractor would have had 500 miles more on it by the time i gave up and waited for rain,most of it spinning the tires.

Conditions can really make a difference...!!!

Especially with older, smaller equipment..!

Ron..

better try that,,fact is on a three point top link is mighty important,plow wont do anything but skid across the top of ground(or roll over) without it.heres basically how a plow bottom works,point is turned down,what we call suction is caused by this fact and the fact than plow share is sort of cut out about 1/8- 3/16" behind point and in front of heel of share.this in turn lessens draft,and keeps plow from wandering up and down,hence suction.land slide has the same between front and rear.BUT suction of course doesnt pull plow in ground,if it did we all would lose our plows when we unhooked them!LOL,,forward movement pulls plow in ground,because point digs in.it ONLY digs in as far as rear of share lets it.Once its flat with heel of share setting on bottom of furrow,the little bit point is turned down cant go deeper.This makes soil begin to lift over point.If in fact you just had the share in ground it would act very much like a chisel,subsoiler,etc fracturing soil from underneath.but,we have the shin and moldboard also.The shin cuts the now lifting soil loose from the furrow wall and the moldboard turns it,and depending on the type of mold board either fractures it up making a fairly loose ridge,or turns it in one piece to be broken up by other equipment.Very basic description indeed but close.
now in his case, he states his plows entering ground well,turning soil well,flat bottom on furrows,doing everything its supposed to do except go deep enough.So what can we do ?first clue is its turning soil and furrow is flat.That tells us tail wheel aint down too far,if it were soil wouldnt turn. At that depth plow would simply cut a groove.Second clue is furrow is well formed and flat. So plow is holding to the ground(suction)and its bottoming on heel or rear of share.If it werent again furrow would not be formed.what now? we cant force plow in ground,We have no power down and it wouldnt work anyway.What we need to do is turn point of plow down farther.how?simple..lowering hitch height.or on a semi-mount,trailer,sulky or walking plow adjusting hitch clevis.on a three point and some other mounted plows by again adjusting the hitch either at toplink or however hitch adjusts.His plow is simply set up for a tractor with taller tires,or a higher drawbar.He might even simply turn drawbar over if its an offset one and offset is up and plow is atrailer type.Once hitch height is lowered,plow will go deeper simply because it has to go lower before heel of share touches bottom of furrow.or of course tailwheel holds it up,at which time it needs to be adjusted.sorry I'm not a better explainer,but maybe that will help a little.

woops,,i'm confusing myself now,that should read his plow is set up for a tractor with shorter tires.

Do you break a lot of center links? :>)

Allan

(quoted from post at 21:50:03 05/17/11) Do you break a lot of center links? :&gt

Allan

Click to expand...

dont recall ever breaking one,or bending one ,or breaking a pin,why do you ask?I did break a lift arm once,carrying a heavy brush hog on a three point and ran into a badger hole!LOL

Not sayin' this is your problem, but an idea.

Years ago, I bought a Ford 101 3X16" plow that was virtually new. It was 15 years old, but hadn't been used. The guy selling it said it was sprung, and when he bought it, the dealer kept telling him there was nothing wrong, and wouldn't buy it back. In a fit of protest, he put it in the barn and bought another brand of plow. In a day when that plow was worth $600 + or -, I got it for $175.

Brought it home, looked at it for a couple minutes, spun the offset drawbar 180 degrees, hooked it to my tractor and used it for 15 MORE years. Best working plow I ever owned once it was put together right.

If your shares are worn obviously they should be replaced but I'm with the other guys in thinking the hitch needs to be raised on the front of that plow (flat plate with all the bolt holes).

It's often not that your hitch is bottoming out but rather the arms are dropping so far that they are giving lift to the plow during draft.

The draft arms on the tractor should be as parallel to the gound as possible when the plow is moving through the soil at its desired depth. This gives straight draft.

If the arms are too low they draft upward on the font of the plow. If they are too high they pull downward on the front of the plow as it travels through the field.

This is the very reason lift link lengths are given in mounted plow operators manuals.

Thanks to all for the suggestions. Really appreciated. We raised the hitch height on the plow and now it works great. Finished the field last night about midnight. Again, thanks for all of the suggestions.