Using a Dearborn plow?

Cooter143

Member
I was digging around some of my dads stuff the other day and discovered that he had his dads dearborn 2-bottom plow. I thought I'd go out and test it but after playing with it for 30 minutes or so I couldn't get it to go any deeper than about 2-3 inches. I assume I was doing something wrong, there were some rocks but overall the ground wasn't all that hard. Any tips on how to use one of these? or maybe someone could point me to a good website that can help me out?
 
Before you hook to a plow, you need to setup the tractor right tires first. From the center of the tractor draw bar to the inside of the right rear tire sidewall you need to measure 23 inches for 12" plows, 25 inches for 14" plows and 27 inches for 16" plows. If you don't start with these initial settings on the tractor, you will battle with the plow eternally. Ken Sweet
 
My dad had a Dearborn 2 bottom and had the same problem. He made 2 heavy cement weights to bolt on top of the frame. You could do the same with wheel weights. The plow itself appears to be too light for some conditions.
 
Look at the points.Are they like'sled runners'?If they are,the plow will never go into the ground.They must have "suck" in order to function properly.Alot of old plows are simply worn out.New/'sharpened'/rebuilt shares will do the trick
 

Along with the possible worn parts, the plow MUST NOT be Rusted on the "Wearing Surfaces"..
If it is, you are well served to clean the parts up so the soil will slide along the surfaces and not stick..
As stated....adjustments can make all the difference, too..

Good Luck.
Ron..
 
I would 2nd what Ken said, this is a must do, now I'm no expert, plowing match exhibitor, guru etc., but I have done just what Ken said below, when the plow is not set up properly, you will fight with it.

Here is a good example and I can explain why. I first had a worn Harry Ferguson plow, shares were still useable but were getting close+ 1 coulter was missing. There was no tail wheel/gauge wheel, was broke off, and my level box ( lift arm crank handle on 3 pt) was seized, improperly adjusted, and at times this plow would suck in too deep want to stop the tractor, had even hooked a few stumps in a new food plot area, which did stop the tractor, in short it was a pain to plow with this thing and I needed to regardless.

Its obvious some things are wrong(coulter depth!) here,(adjustment/plow missing things) and I knew that at the time, but being busy, I did fool with it a bit and this patch was plowed dicc'd 2x (2nd time in photo) an old garden with really nice soil though. I did accomplish my goal to get the old sod/weeds turned, level, planted and the following spring, rye came up followed by grasses and this was a paying job, it filled in with a nice stand of grass for a lawn, though I'd love to plant this, it is a neighbor and a paying job. I just about re-landscaped the entire side of their place, replanted grasses etc.

<img src =http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j185/BillyNY/CameraEmpty1-11-05030A.jpg>

You can see the coulter is too deep, this is a 101 ford, trip type, 2 bottom with worn out shares, did what I could in the furrow, and it worked, not the best but I planted a fall crop of oats in here for a plot that came in nice, a benefit for the deer (was a real harsh winter) and ourselves during the hunt. Suprisingly, it pulled ok, but the 2nd bottom would suck in and this plow was shiny super polished when I got it from previous use. Again, both the ferguson and this 101 are not set up properly, ferguson missing parts, 101 with worn shares, not how to run a plow but how to make one work with less then better results when it needed to get done, which I am not a fan doing, better to do it right the first time.


Ford101plow002.jpg


Ford101plow003.jpg



I found this one bottom in '09, was a nice find for $100, came with all the options, including a gauge wheel, coulter, larger or H/D landslide, but the share did have some wear on it. I'm not even sure how to measure this plow to say what it is, seems like a 14" or 16".

I drove and chocked the tractor up on a 6" or 8" block, leveled the plow as shown side to side and front to back. I recorded the measurements on how much threaded rod was out on my level box (3 pt lift arm adjuster and my top link exposed thread or distance for future reference or next time). Now this is a shear bolt protected plow, and I also suspected I may have to adjust for alignment(trailing). I tried it in my garden first, it pulled perfectly, it plowed easily, trailed correctly, and it was really fun to do this work. Previously, I did none of the above and tried it in oat stubble, adjusted in the furrow, well it trailed off a little, still sucked in ( moldboard was rusted when I got it). Doing what I describe in the photo below is all it took, this thing pulls nice, never tripped once (shear bolt)and I took it to the field next which has clay/gravel and deep top soil lots of round rocks up 6"-12" round, oval, photos below:

Ford110singlebottomplow001.jpg


Garden patch - I believe this is a good result, others may comment different, but its the best I've ever done with one of these LOL !
Ford110singlebottomplow004.jpg


Deep top soil adjacent to small creek and marsh, edge of field:

Ford110singlebottomplow012.jpg



You should post some photos of what you are doing and your plow, it will help anyone here to advise, I've had my trials and tribulations and am no expert, but it was fun to learn, take in what others said here and try it out, leading up to this particular plow working so nicely. Its a Ford 110, my other is a 101 and I will be putting shares on it and doing some plowing.

It seems around here, farmers don't seem to put on grease, coating or paint the moldboards, the guy who worked this ground for years never did. The moldboard does scour in this soil, it has enough sand, gravel and does not make suction like finer soils could do, and does which combined with a rusty mold board could plug and or cause it not to work, commonly called scouring. I painted my 110 right after using it, the paint will come right off, my 101 I greased, fall of '09 and its just starting to come of, cheap can of spray paint is all you need, TSC sells plow coating as well.

Your soil conditions, moisture all play into this, a plow with worn shares, hard dry soil may not work, I have seen this, was so dry april '09 that my farmer friend's 5 bottom IH would not go in, and I welded up shares to the existing ones, it would normally have sucked right in and have been good for 30 acres in these soils.

Tail wheel/gauge wheel is nice for depth control, that, draft control on my ford 850 does not seem to work, no tail wheel on the ferguson plow was a nightmare, the 110 had the gauge wheel connected like a coulter, I took it off initially, now last December, that plow, adjusted properly, seems to not need it, draft control, basically done by hand, when the tires slipped, which was not much, it pulled so easily and that grass/weed stubble was almost perfectly turned and covered which I assume is the intent of plowing ! Cover boards may help make that sod bound soil flip sooner and or completely as I reviewed video I took, maybe those or some minor adjusting the furrow might look perfect most of the time.

Coulters, well there is a certain depth, don't use my photos as reference of that some show them too deep. Some soils conditions maybe you don't need them, I like them on, more so in sod or stubble, taller grasses, but you should cut any grass, (well shred like a rotary cutter) lay it down and you will plug, other crop trash may do same, some people run some sort of wire to lay down grasses if I understand correctly, I like to have the area cut and minimal trash to plug, sharp coulter seems to cut through and the trash gets buried, too many varying opinions, methods, conditions to say what is right, I think a plow should have them for what I do.

Your plow shares if worn, you may be able find a part number on the existing ones if you take them off and see what is out there, tons of these Dearborn plows out there and I know there is some obsolescence associated with wear parts now, not so sure you won't be able to find some parts for it somewhere. Check around, ask here and see if you can post some photos. I'm not a plow expert, but I enjoy and have fun with planting my food plots and shared some experience here with same so far.

Ford110singlebottomplow009.jpg
 
Remember:
When you get your plow working, take magic marker and write your adjustment numbers on the plow.

You will thank me for this tip next year when you hook up to the plow.
 
A plow doesnt need to be heavy to go into the ground.The fact you had to add weights only means:#1,shares are wornout(sledrunners);#2,your plow was misadjusted;#3,the ground was too hard(like 'concrete') too plow.A good set of shares is critical to good plowing.
 
Ken is right about the wheel settings,Check the lift arms on the tractor to see if they are working right, They should go down to about 8" of the ground, maybe less. Then, the easy way to get it set in the ballpark is to put the plow on the tractor then put the left wheels up on blocks about 8" high. Lower the plow to the ground, and it should set level front to back, and right to left. Then take it to the field and try it. If the points are any good it should go in the ground. If it does plow a couple of rounds to the point where you are plowing with the right wheels in the furrow. Don't lift it, stop the tractor get off, see if it is level left to right and front to back. AND, check the plow bottom closest to the furrow and see if it is plowing a 12" 14" or 16" furrow, whatever your plow bottoms measure. If it is taking to much or too little you have to adjust the bar your lift arms are attached to. If it's taking to much, aim the plow more to the furrow if it's too little you have to aim it away from the furrow. I don't know what your plow is so I can't tell you how to make that change. Some are round and held on by U bolts and you adjust it by turning the bar DON"T move it side to side. Some are rectangular and adjusted by a bolt which moves the drawbar a little side to side.The drawbar has a slight bend so moving it side to side changes the angle of attack. The easy ones have a lever, Give us a picture of the plow and I can tell you how to adjust yours. ONE more thing, don't use any chains or stabilizer bars when plowing. If you get it adjusted right, it will follow like a well trained dog.
It's Sunday afternoon, you can see I have lots of time. Any questions Email me.
 
:? I am amazed that you got that single bottom plow to work at all :shock: I believe that it should be level with the right wheel low as in the furrow, and the left wheel high as on land, the opposite of what the picture shows! :eek:
JMHO, HTH, Dave
 
Look again, under the left tire a small block and the right just has a cast iron wheel chock, (incidentally which came from a loading dock at a ford radiator plant that used to be here). I had another chock in front, had to balance on that block, of course later I found some timbers.

There's no way the plow would work the other way, it pulled easily in some not so friendly soils, that side of the field is loaded with hard round rocks. I got lucky with it trailing right though, gauge wheel would really control your depth if you wanted to be precise on same. Makes a nice ditch too, great implement to have.
 
:oops: Thanks for the explanation! Unblievable how my eyes can play tricks on me! :roll: I'm almost embarrassed to say what I thought was happening. I was thinking that the right tire was sitting [u:cb8b5899d6]on[/u:cb8b5899d6] an anvil, and the left tire on a small block to correc tfor the difference between furrow depth and heigth of anvil!
I should have followed the old saying: "It's better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt!"
Thanks for the explanation,
Dave
 
That's really funny actually, I was thinking someone is going to see this in the opposite way for some reason, as the wheel chock is more visible or something. I was fighting the late afternoon sun and or light to get a decent photo to illustrate what gets mentioned here quite often on how to level up and adjust a mold board plow, well minus the setting for getting it to trail correctly, this one seemed to do that as is. The last time I used it seemed off, but was likely to have been the lack of doing whats in the photo.

PS, that ole saying is a good one, "have to watch out for the quiet ones ! LOL
 
Thanks for all the good info, its pretty wet here now, but next weekend I"ll go out and give it another try. There"s definitely more to it that I would have guessed.
 

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