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Can you teach me how to set up a plow? I made a mess

1

1939farmall

Member
I posted below about the progress were making on the Farmall M I bought at auction. Today I finally put it to work turning over our garden spot for winter. I made about every adjustment I could think of and I ended up with some pretty poor results!! Can you guys give me the rundown on the correct way to set up a plow? I couldnt get both bottoms in the ground even and the ground didnt turn over very well. So I need to start from scratch. What is the process to set this up? Im using a 14 inch Ford 101 plow, attached to a 1941 Farmall M. Thank you in advance for the help!
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I doubt the wheels on tractor will set close enough for that plow and another thing, your plowing does not look too bad considering the moldboards are rusty and the plow is not scouring. A plow will never work right unless bright.
 
Plows won't work well until they are shiny. Get a wire cup brush for a 4 inch grinder and clean all the rust is gone then sand it till you can see no more rust. If you have some sandy ground to start in even better. To set it up run the wheel that is not in the furrow up on a block of wood to the depth you wish to plow. Then level the two sides. The leading edge (point) should point slightly down. HTH
 
47fivewindow,
I have to go to the hardware store tomorrow Im adding a wire cup brush to my list! We had sand ground back at home but not where were at now so I guess it will have to be done by hand. I knew there was a way to set the plow but I couldnt remember how! Thank you.
 
I agree with five window,but if you want to make darn sure its going scour nicely. use a 3 in wide belt sander for a finishing touch !!! I did a 3x16 last year, drop it in the ground at the plowing bee, went 30 feet and it was plowing nicely!
 
well you cant replow that ground it has to be disced up as is. plows dont like loose soil either. you have to try again next year. and yes on the shining it up thing. plus that ground might be just too hard and dry and the plow wont dig in. best time to plow is after a rain in moist ground.
 
Moonlight37
I think your right. Even if I set the wheels dish in I think they would still be to wide. The pictures are kind! I should have taken a picture from the end to show how uneven it is. Sounds like Im about to spend some time buffing moldboards! Thanks.
 
i was going to give the same complement, honestly. For a rusty plow set up on an aftermarket 3 point with the incorrect geometry, that looks like pretty good.

i have seen polished plows set up by experienced operators that were very vocal about knowing what they were doing, and still make a terrible mess.
 
I'm not a plow man, but Dad made sure when I polished the bottoms/moldboards,
I went the direction the soil would flow. or at least close. NO crossways!!!
 
and another thing u should be pulling that plow in 3rd gear for good results and i looked things over and yes i would say that ground is way too hard. you had to wait till after the rain a day or two. 5 mph is a nice speed to plow to get the furrows flipping nicely and throwing a nice even level ground and should not be able to tell each round.
 
I was taught that a plow , when properly adjusted is sitting level in the ground and level side to side. That is how the plow is designed.
 
And after you have them shiny,you will need to coat them to keep the rust out till next year.The make a coating for that but flat black spray paint works good. Then the next time you use it splash on some brake fluid the night before use, the paint will polish right off.
 
Tire spacing from furrow wall to first bottom is important. Another thing, checked on the frame of the plow, plow should be level front to back and side to side when in the furrow in the ground. Use a 6 inch torpedo level.
 
dont leave it like that, has to be disced as i said then you could try in the spring. with those sod clumps you will just plug the plow up , and that is a pain in the assabasca. plus you dont plant a garden in plowed soil.
 
Im glad you said that. I meant to mention it. I was in 1st gear. I didnt even think about my ground speed. Wow rusty plow, set up wrong, going to slow, in hard ground. No wonder it looks like crap!
Thank you
 
Yes I will disc it down. I meant I wont try to plow it again till spring. There calling for rain here for the next three days so Ill have to wait a few days to run the disc through it.
 
Google Poly moldboard covers. For the amount of plowing you do you will never wear them out and it will always be scoured.

Poly Skid and Mea Wes make them. I have used Poly Skid on both my Case plows.
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Thehickdaddy,
I appreciate the compliment. From what you guys are saying it sound like I just need to do some polishing, and a few simple adjustments and i should get better results. Thank you.
 
For it to plow right, the rear wheel of tractor needs to be in the furrow of the previous pass of the plow. I'm just not sure you can adjust a 3 point plow side to side to put the rear wheel in the furrow and be plowing where you need to be.
An M originally pulled a 3 bottom plow (in most cases) and a pull type. To adjust the plow right to left or left to right you simply used a different pin hole in the draw bar to pull the plow. Which ever one put your rear wheel in the furrow, and put your leading plow plowing the correct width of dirt. However wide your leading plow is, is how much you should be plowing into the previous furrow. To much, and your simply trying to plow dirt into a strip of unplowed ground instead of entirely into the furrow.
That said, you need to accomplish that first. Your first pass will never be exactly right untill you get that rear wheel in a furrow. Then fine tune other adjustments.
If this can't be accomplished, you could possibly try adjusting things with rear wheel out of the furrow on un-plowed ground. Not sure how that would work out.
In my honest opinion, this tractor and this plow weren't meant to be together.
 
Redforlife,
Thats really good info. Im sure your correct this tractor and plow were never meant to work together. But, at least for now, I gotta ride the horse I own. Ill take all the advice you guys can give me and see if I can make it work. It doesnt have to be perfect, I would just like it to look half way decent when Im done! Thank you.
 
That set-up just is not made for a plow got to set the furrow wheel on the tractor in so the wheel runs in the furrow to start with
 
The after market 3 point has no float position so if the tractor front raises , the plow goes deeper and if the front dips, the plow raises. I have an after market 3 point and had a mounted plow, Nuff said.
 
I have the same plow, it's stored outside, so when I'm done with it, the moldboards and even the coulters get a coat of white rustoleum paint, will last years and if rust does want to poke through, you will see it immediately being white.
 
Look -
you got a tractor that runs
you got a plow attached to your tractor
you got a plot that needs to be broken up for winter freezing and thawing
you got it done

Relax - and enjoy success!
 
jCarroll,
LOL! Thank you for putting it into perspective for me. I guess I am getting wound around the axel a little to tight on this! Thank you, I appreciate it.
 
Gene
Your right. Im kind of cobbling things together. I doesnt have to be perfect, I just dont want it to look like the hogs ran through it when Im done! Thank you.
 
To level the plow left to right and front to rear
Find a flat surface,
Run the front tires and the left rear up on blocks equal in height to the depth you plan to plow
Adjust the plow to the surface
 
After looking at your pictures it looks like you have a setup that should do reasonable work, as others have said a polish on the wear parts is important, sanding will get you part way there, but a good land polish is hard to beat, you may never get there just plowing a garden, in our soil it takes many acres to get it right. The poly covers work very well. The back wheels of your tractor need to be turned in, so you can get the proper draft from tractor to the plow, 44'-48'' between the insides of the rear wheels is a good starting place, How good are the wear parts? if the shares are very worn they will not penetrate well, feel under the front edge to see if there is a significant heel worn there. Those plows are kind of light a wheel weight on the back of the plow may help in very hard ground, but should not be needed in average ground. Look up this extension publication on the internet or on this site it will give you many things to look for in plowing, it is for trailing plows but the general information will transfer to a mounted plow.
Mike
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A mounted plow doesn't work well unless the tractor has some type of draft control which an M doesn't have. You would be lots happier with the results if you used a trailer plow, but using what you have, get a manual for the plow and follow the adjustments. Here's adjustment for my John Deere F-125 assuming a 4010 tractor which would give a starting point if you convert to the length of your bottom links.
Wheel setting from center line to inside of tire is for 2 and 3 bottom plows - 14 plow is 25 and 16 is 27
Left lift link is 28 1/2 and right link is 29 1/2 so 1 lower on the right side.
Top link is 25 1/2 or 3 shorter than the left bottom link. However the top link on your tractor is likely in a different location relative to the bottom links.
 
Park the tractor with a 6' block under the right side wheels. Place the landside lever in the middle position. Level the plough side to side and fore to aft. Plough frame and right rear wheel may need to be adjusted to make the front mouldboard cut the proper width . This will ballpark the first rough adjustments

This post was edited by buickanddeere on 10/28/2021 at 09:53 am.
 
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