Which plow to buy?

JD did pull harder for a period of time, had a diff angle. Doesn't make it a bad plow, just different.

--->Paul

Rod

I'd agree that just because Deere uses them doesn't make them best. Deere has done lots of stupid things over the years. However, of all the plows that I've seen, Kverneland has been the best. In this area they are very widely reputed to have the very finest wear parts, albeit the most expensive. The plows are sturdy and reliable, and very well designed. It's hard to give you an exact account of wear parts on the current AB_85_HD 4 bottom I'm running now, but the #8 bottoms it has, often running at 16-18", it will plow about 100 acres to a set of shares, with 2 sets of tips per share. Land sides and shins mabey 200-300 acres. This plow is probably over 600 acres now with no appreciable wear on the boards. I would not anticipate any problem with each board seeing 600 acres. This, mind you is plowing in sand-sandy loam, and right down into slate rock...

The old Hydrein's were another story. Those bottoms had no shin piece on the leading edge of the board, so yes, they wore back quite rapidly. A different bottom altogether from the #8. We had one of those old things. A 5x14 semi no less. It wasn't bad, but it doesn't compare to this AB we have now. As I know you're well aware, the settings are critical on these things if you're to see any life from wear parts at all.

In my area today, of all the farms plowing, you will find a Kverneland on all but a few farms. The remainder will have an Overum because they found it cheap, and that's just how it is. Dearborn will elicit a stream of expletives from most anyone. David Brown's were decent in their day, but we can't get parts for them anymore. We had 2 of them; One a sod plow, the other a stubble plow. Neither on their best day would ever match this AB on a bad day. There are still some scattered IH's around, but for whatever reason they don't seem too prominent. I guess it's different in every area. Oliver never made it down here, but mabey you had lots in the valley? Anyhow, take care.

Rod

I will agree there are a number of factors from farm to farm that will change these stats a bit. Speed of plowing probably the greatest factor. Most of the plows engineered back in the 70 were designed for 3.5 to 4 mph, you increase that speed to 5 mph, and your cost of shares and points per acre will double. I noticed this one very early on, I was having trouble keeping hired help down to 4 mph with Farmall 1066. I put the Farmall 656 on front of that 5x16 plow, that kept them below 4 mph. Never did plow with 1066 after that.

Soils will make a difference also, the higher the sand content, the faster wear parts are going to disappear. I don't know how old you are or exactly were you live. In the 1970s I owned and operated a Dika Drum Rake, behind my 1066 across most of Nova Scotia and PEI. On average it cost $21.00 per hour of operation to keep teeth built up on that rake. One might think those stony soils around central NS would cause the most wear. Not so, it was the average, the killer was that sand stone content in soils of Eastern PEI. Clay soils were actually quite easy on this rake.

For these reasons I think you will find a vast aray of opinions on which plow is best. I think between my neighbor and myself, our soils were close to same texture, he never did take the 120 hp tractor off the 5x16 plow. Some of these guys in this thread talk about hard pulling plows. There is no such thing as a hard pulling plow, just improperly adjusted plows. You give me a situation where a plowman is successfully pulling one bottom per 15 hp. Provided rust is not a factor, give me 5 minutes with proper wrenches, and I can stop him in his tracks. Improperly adjusted plows can add 40% to hp requirements. Those improperly adjusted plows are wearing wear parts at a much faster rate than fine tuned plows.

In closing I am going to give credit where credit is due on the success and performance of my 5x16 plow. When it was deliverad new, I was very busy with oter matters. I had the dealer park it complete with 1066 and manual, within 100' of the home of the late George Burris. George in my opinion was probably amoung the top 10 plowmen ever. I'm willing to bet I could get a 100 folks to share that opinion with me quite quickly. I knew George could not resist the temptation of a new plow on a new tractor with a cab. George spent two days fine tuning that plow. George was the single biggest factor in turning that plow from a load for a 1066 to a nice load for a 656. My friend, it is not the Deere's, Oliver's, McCormick,s or the Kevernland's of this land that created great plows, but rather the George Burris's of this world that turned them into great plows.

Now mabey you neighbour just didn't have his Kverneland set up right....

I never knew George Burris, but the name is certainly famailiar to me. He was quite widely known. As for me, I'm down in Cape Breton, in the middle of Boularderie. I'm 28 since you asked...

The major compliment of our soils here are of the Shulie series, with some Springhill. We also have a small amount of heavier ground. I forget the soil series. It may be Falmouth. If you're not familiar with Shulie soils, then lets just say you don't often plow with more than a 16" bottom, because you can't. There just isn't enough soil there above the shale/slate or bedrock in some places. Auto reset isn't an option here, it's standard equipment. When going is good, I like to plow at 5.5-5.75 mph. It's not uncommon to see sparks flying off the boards at night. If I'm in a particulairly rocky field, then I'm down to 4 -5 mph.

Seriously though, I do believe that your neighbour's plow wasn't set quite right, unless you're dealing with a lot heavier soil than I'm accostomed to. I generally pull the 4AB with my Ford 7710, turned to about 105 PTO hp. It's variable between 12 and 20 inches, and I like to run it at about 17". She could take it faster, but I just don't push that hard. I also plow with a NewHolland TS90 which is rated at 70 PTO, although it probably makes a bit more. This tractor will maintain 4 mph under most contitions, and if things are good, it will hit about 5.5 mph. If the gearign was right, it would probably hold 5... but the gearing is wrong for the torque it's got. Again, this is at about 17" width, and 8" depth. By that standard, 120 hp on 5 seems like a lot. A neighbour is pulling 6x12"-22" with a 7710, again turned well over 100 hp. I can't say for sure just how much of that 22" he's actually pulling... but in certain contitions he probably can take most or all of it. He's got a 3650 Massey that's cranked close to 170 PTO, and he still plows with the Ford. One thing about our soil is that it is generally light.

Also, as you say, everyone has their preference, and different reasons and conditions to go with it. I also think there's probably a fair difference in the bottoms that I'm using today and perhaps the Kverneland bottom of days gone by that you neighbour may have had. One of the major reasons we went with this plow was that the wear parts, on a per acre basis were a good deal cheaper than the old plows we were using previously, and the performance was not even comparable. That's just my experience with it.

Rod

Larry