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a & b) If you plan to plow thick sod or heavy cornstalks these coulters are _critical_ to be adjusted just perfectly, a 1/4 inch can make a difference. They should line up in front of the front edge of the bottom, rather a bit to wide of a cut than too narrow. The bigger these coulters in diameter, the better. Modern plows use 20" or so. If yours are wore down to 12-14", they might not do much for you. They cut the ground so it rolls up smooth & pulls a bit easier, but mostly they cut through the vegitation on top of the ground and help it fit through the plow. You want them to be about as deep as possible, but not that the bearing/bracket is dragging on the ground. Hope you looked at pictures of plows to get them on right, I've seen some folks trying to sell plows with them on backwards, etc. Some plows they should be moved way forward, some plows they clear trash better if moved very close to the bottom they are cutting for. c)How wide are the bottoms? (measure between the frame members straight across, don't measure the angled bottom) No way you could pull a 3-16 'here', possibly a 3-12 plow. Some plows the back bottom can be removed - but moreso on newer plows. I'm not familiar with your model, but I think that would be work to make it work. There is a relationship between the width of the plow & where the tractor pulls it from, to keep everything trailing striaght behind. Obviously you can't remove the front or 2nd bottom, it would leave a strip of unplowed ground. The rear plow wheel would need to be moved over behind the last bottom again. If it is easy to move this wheel over into exsisting bolt holes, yep you can. If you have several angled fram members & unique mounting of that last bottom, will be more work than it's worth. d) The wheel does 2 things - holds up the back of the plow, and holds it in a straight line. Most plows want to push over to the unplowed ground, and would drag behind at an angle. This wheel runs at an angle to handle both the downward pressure & the sideways pressure. No doubt there is some adjustment for it to help set the depth of the plow. e)After the first round of plowing, the rest of the time you will be driving with one tractor wheel in the furrow, and the other wheel up on the ground. Your tractor will be angled 5-8 inches. The hitch is angled to make your plow level while your tractor is angled like this. f)ebay often has stuff like this if you watch for a few months. The 'manuals' section up to the left of this web page has some good suppliers of manuals. Ag flea markets & ag toy shows often have a manual vender or 3 that have all kinds of manuals. Agco (Allis Chalmers, White, MM, Oliver, etc.) is the company that merged with MF, so you can check with them for manuals & parts. General plowing insturctions like I've said here are also in the archives of this forum, you can do a search here for other 'opinions' like mine. I've never set up a 3-point plow (I've used trailer & semi-mount), but the plow will work best when it is set up right in all three directions. You need the plow slid left & right (and/or the tractor wheels on the right side moved) until the first bottom is just right to cut the full width but not too wide. You need the plow leveled while in the ground from left to right, and front to back. And you need it to trail straight behind, not twist itself off to the high side, as it pushes dirt to the low side. Then it is better to have the plow as close to centered on the tractor as you can (but still keeping all the other stuff right) so it pulls well - if it's offset too much one tractor wheel will be doing most of the work & will be more likely to spin - or twist the tractor to one side & you will need to always be steering at an angle, wasting power. Two things complicate all these settings - changing one often makes the others act a little different. And, the very first round you make with the plow doesn't count, because you aren't driving down in the furrow like the plow is designed for. The good thing is once you get it set for your tractor, you are good to go for many years, and it will all seem obvious once you learn what levers & shims & shifting & sliding makes it do what. Like anything, takes a little time & practice. --->Paul
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