Center line of draft on semi-mount plow

Now here is where people get confused. You can hitch any width tractor to any width plow as long as you follow the attached diagram. Point C is the cener of draft of the plow, Point B is the rotation point of the semi mounted plow or the clevis or hitch pin of the pull type plow, and Point A is the center of pull for the tractor. These three points must line up or else you will have steering problems. You have all seen the guy with an antique tractor pulling a two or three bottom at a plow day and he has his front wheels turned 45 degrees and he is fighting the steering wheel like hes in a race car. That person didn't get points A, B, and C lined up. Now there are limitations to this which is in my next post.

• Center of Draft

Moral to the story: all that garbage about "dividing side draft" in plow manuals is just a dumbed down version of making points A, B, and C line up. Have a nice day.

• Plow Force Diagram

When I took delivery of my new semi-mounted plow, I figured my two top mentors would disown me, they being trailer plow guys, and probably two of the better plowmen in our county. Those two guys had entrusted me with their respective farms. I was busy finishing off the building of a barn before winter, along with milking 100 cows. My dad was away, so I left the tractor and plow under the nose of George. I knew he couldn't resist a new tractor with cab and a new plow. I was right, 4 days later he was looking for diesel , and had burnt roughly 100 gallons at that farm. I went with my pickup to fuel him up, he told me he was a full day plowing the first two acres, he had to adjust wheel tread then he had to adjust plow. That same 5x16 semi-mounted plow pulled very easily behind 656D. Over the years, different farmers had a crack at operating that setup and remarked how easy the plow pulled and how well the 656 pulled it.

I've gone to a lot of plow days and plow clinics. I remember once a guy showing up with a 9000 Ford and 5x16 semi-mount plow he was having problems pulling. I did get to operate that one, and couldn't believe a poorly adjusted plow could demand so much horsepower.

I would never attempt to write a book, it would be a lot of detail. I think this could be best handled through vidio, and I suspect it has been already done.

Once you get to 85% of tractors rated pull you have a whole new ball game. Wheel tread must be adjusted to give center line of draft at center of tractor. There are charts and I'd give it to you, except I've lost my copy. It gives you distance from center of tractor to inside of right rear tire for each and every configuration of plow. With trailer plows you probably have 4 inches of leeway. Mounted and semi-mounted plows have to be much closer to exact setting.

I've plowed thousands of acres with both trailer and semi-mount. Once you go semi-mount the tractor must be adjusted to suit the plow, not the plow adjusted to suit the tractor. If you do get the plow adjusted to suit the tractor, it will probably be a miserable tractor to steer, if bad enough it may even turn the tractor crossways.

If you adjust the tractor to suit the plow, here is what can happen. I pull 2x12, 8" deep with my Farmall 130 at 4.5 mph. In the past I pulled 3x16, 8" deep with Farmall 300, again 4.5 mph and I pulled 5x16 semi-mount, 8" deep with Farmall 656, 16.9x38 tires, no chloride or wheel weights, and again 4.5 mph. A perfectly adjusted plow and TRACTOR work much easier than most people would have you believe. From my travels, and experience, 85% of all folks using plows are doing it with tractor or plow out of adjustment. When I read a thread and the guy is telling us he needs 135 hp to pull 4x16 in his heavy clay, I shake my head and say,"there is another guy doesn't know how to adjust his plow and tractor."

I'm not about to question Oliver's manual, they do take a different approach on the writing from IH for example, which I am used to. I've seen too many Oliver Plows work well, to critize their manual.

Are you using a on land depth gauge wheel directly opposite the rear bottom. I've seen guys having great difficulty trying to controll rear depth of plow with the in furrow steering wheel. Not that the steering wheel didn't control depth, it throws other things off.

It's close to impossible for me 1,000 miles away, to tell you exactly what your doing wrong. If you go to plow days or plow clinics, latch onto some guy right up to speed on your equipment. These plow clinics are becoming quite popular. Get about 20 guys plowing with a team of well known farmer experts to help participants make the adjustments needed. The moldboard plow is a complex piece of equipment, probably from an adjustment point of view, more difficult to get correct than most other farm equipment. Bill is questioning my 85% figure, and probably what I should have said are 15% are doing excellent plowing 70% are striving to do better, not satisfied with their plowing and the bottom 15% don't give a damn, to them a plow is just a ripper. Those 70% (your group) are not satisfied, and this is exactly what is driving plow clinics. There were no such things when I started out, I just poned the job off on my dad or one particular neighbor.

No - I'm not using a gauge wheel but I wish I had one . I haven't noticed a problem with the rear wheel's depth control .

I am concerned about doing the best job possible . Even for plow day plowing . I had an experienced oldtimer follow me about 1000ft across the field on foot and all he could do is scratch his head . He said it was level all around and the rear wheel tryed it's best . I've measured the bootoms and the plow isn't bent or sprung that I can find . I'll get it worked out sooner or later . Thanks for the help ! ...Randy

Sure commodity prices are on the increase, but so are the inputs. I'm sure there are many guy out there with the between ear computer just a grinding as they plow, cultivate, drill, etc. Lot different from the old days when you sat back on the old open station tractor, singing a few bars of Wabash Cannonball, or what ever your favourite was. I had a neighbor tell me, my version of Wabash Cannonball above the 560 diesel had a way to go to match Roy.

The 4-16 semi-mounted would pull the front end of the 85-90 hp tractor up off the ground in the right spots - and the front tired are liquid filled.

To plow alfalfa dad would use the 3-10 on the Oliver 88, with 2 chains and a tire hooked up to the H or 300 with mom driving. Couldn't pull it.

Pretty common to have 6-20 plows pulled with 180+ hp tractors around here.

I could often pull a 5-20 bottom plow with my 135hp, but not _always_. In fact, I'm looking for one, see how it works. But I won't throw the 4-bottom away. :)

A 4-20 plow can pull pretty hard, but it allows more trash to flow through so I save a trip disking or chopping stalks - seems like a good trade to me.

You get into the clay soils, and setting up the traction of one wheel in the clay furrow, a set of duals on the trashy surface, and set it to work so your town wife & her town galfriend can run the plow all fall - then you know what setting up a plow is all about. :) :)

All in fun. :)

--->Paul

Dad plowed with a 3-16 on the Oliver 88, probably a 50 hp tractor. In alfalfa, had to add another tractor to get it through.

The soil around Glencoe is pretty heavy, but I can beat it in my fields. It just latches on to the plow, holds it down. Moisture can really make a difference.

Dad said he used every gear but 2 on that Ollie 88 to plow over the years. In our short season & wet ground, need to get it plowed, so I need to plan for the tough years, when it goes extra hard.

Maybe strip till will work out here some day.

--->Paul

Rod