One bottom IH plow, again..

Mike

• Poke Here!

For the rest of you guys involved in this discussion, Jim's parts book clearly indicates there was indeed a No. 8 single bottom plow, or Little Genius. The picture Jim has sent to me shows the plow beams in relation to tail wheel hardware as well as the linkage going to front wheels. I have suggested that since these are his pictures he should do the honours of posting.

Having said all this the Little Wonder plow is also exactly the same except it has no tail wheel, thus no linkage along top of plow. I does have a bar from front of tongue to top of plow frame, that designed to make plow rigid so back will lift without tail wheel.

One other item I notice in book 150 Years of IH, of the several pictures all Little Genius have trip hitch and Little Wonder don't. Little wonder was clearly just a cheap model to compete with other cheap plows. They lift much like a three point plow, straight up and down. All trailer plows with lifting tail wheel glided into soil as linkage to tail wheel was designed so front of plow lifted and lowered ahead of tail wheel. This is precicely why the Little Genius was so popular, whether it was 2, 3, or 4 bottom a good plowman could put down a chaulk line across furrows at beginning or end of field and line would touch every furrow at the end. No question, in our area at least Little Genius was Cadillac of plows.

The book I am using 150 Years of IH great reference except for items he omits, which is quite clearly not much. He doesn't show in picture or print a single furrow little genius. I expect there was enough demand in some areas of country that IH did infact build one. If you look at pictures side by side, it would be very easy to convert a Little Wonder into a Little Genius, so these single bottom plows with tail wheel could have indeed been created by dealers. The tail wheel really has no benefit on a single furrow plow as it's only function was to give multi- bottom plows same entry and exit point on all bottoms.

TO ADJUST THE REAR WHEEL The heel of the rear plow bottom (with long landside and heel casting) should run LIGHTLY on bottom of furrow and should not carry the full downward pressure from rear end of plow. The amount of wight carried on the heel can be determined by observing the bottom of the furrow (in front of rear wheel) to see the impression left by the heel casting. When the plow is adjusted properly, the impression left by the heel casting in bottom of furrow will be bartely visible.

The heel of the plow can be raised or lowered by means of set screw in rear axle control arm. To make an adjustment, loosen lock nut on set screw and loosen bolt in rear axle control arm, turn set screw to the right to raise the heel of the plow, or the the lift to lower it. Be sure to tighten lock nut and bolt after making an adjustment.

The rear wheel should be set so that the heel of the rear plow bottom will run about 1/4" to 3/8" away from the furrow wall. When rear wheel is set at the proper angle, the landside will not be forced against the furrow wall which causes excessive draft on the plow.

To adjust, loosen lock nut on rear wheel control rod; turn rear wheel stop to the right to move heel of rear plow bottom closer to the furrow wall, or to the left to move the plow bottom away from the furrow wall. Be sure to tighten lock nut after making an adjustment.

I hope this gives you a little insight on what the rear wheel does on the IH Little Genius plow. I put a new rear tire on my Little Genius so I had to make these adjustments to the rear wheel on my #8 when I started to plow with it last fall.

TO ADJUST THE REAR WHEEL The heel of the rear plow bottom (with long landside and heel casting) should run LIGHTLY on bottom of furrow and should not carry the full downward pressure from rear end of plow. The amount of wight carried on the heel can be determined by observing the bottom of the furrow (in front of rear wheel) to see the impression left by the heel casting. When the plow is adjusted properly, the impression left by the heel casting in bottom of furrow will be bartely visible.

The heel of the plow can be raised or lowered by means of set screw in rear axle control arm. To make an adjustment, loosen lock nut on set screw and loosen bolt in rear axle control arm, turn set screw to the right to raise the heel of the plow, or the the lift to lower it. Be sure to tighten lock nut and bolt after making an adjustment.

The rear wheel should be set so that the heel of the rear plow bottom will run about 1/4" to 3/8" away from the furrow wall. When rear wheel is set at the proper angle, the landside will not be forced against the furrow wall which causes excessive draft on the plow.

To adjust, loosen lock nut on rear wheel control rod; turn rear wheel stop to the right to move heel of rear plow bottom closer to the furrow wall, or to the left to move the plow bottom away from the furrow wall. Be sure to tighten lock nut after making an adjustment.

I hope this gives you a little insight on what the rear wheel does on the IH Little Genius plow. I put a new rear tire on my Little Genius so I had to make these adjustments to the rear wheel on my #8 when I started to plow with it last fall.

As for actual plowing an extra long land side as seen on most mounted plows will give same benefit as a properly adjusted tail wheel. That is precicely why your tail wheel must be properly adjusted, as because it is there you can't use a long landside. The lifting tail wheel whether it be trailer or semi-mount was put there primarily to give smooth entry to and exit from soil on multi- bottom plows. Nothing else.

I will gve you an example. Ten years ago I wanted a rotary hoe and I wanted it 6 to 7 feet wide for use on my Farmall 130 with single point fast hitch Problem was and still is no one builds a rotary hoe smaller than 15' and 3 point hitch. A friend and I went to John Deere dealer and bought a new model 400 - 15' rotary hoe. My friend has a well equiped shop. Since the John Deere rotary hoe is made up on a 4" x 4" square tubing 15' long, and there are 2 - 4' and 2 - 3.5' sections that clamp to the 4" tubing. We cut that tube at the 7-8' mark, bingo I had a 7' and my friend an 8' rotary hoe. He put the 3 point mounting brackets on his 8', and in his shop made up a single point fast hitch mount for me. I know of that being done 3 more times since with John Deere rotary hoes. That means there are 4 - 7' and 4 - 8' model 400 rotary hoes out there that on paper don't exist. I am sure that one, will send some of the purests scratching their heads 50 - 60 years from now. The words John Deere and number 400 are on each one. They don't have serial numbers.

I have another project in the making, soon as I find a suitable IH 530 or 540 14" semi-mount plow. I am going to cut it down and make a 2 x 14 single point fast hitch sem-mount plow for my Farmall 130 or 140. I will also make a single bottom mounted plow for my SA.

I just advised a guy on how to cut a heavy frame, heavy arbor, wheel controlled disc from 13', down to about 6.5'. He has a good disc for his Super C. It is rugged and has the weight to cut without loading with weight.

I could go on all night, as I finish one probably would think of another. Don't ever think for one minute new machines have not been cut up and modified. Some of the most inovative people out there have been farmers with the courage to cut a new machine into two pieces.

Mike

You trying to find a manual?

Old Iron

Mike