plow size for model a john deere

swindave

Member
i have a model a, nf, gas, what size plow would have been used with a late styled john deere model A
my guess is a 2 or 3 bottom? what model plow would have been sold with the styled model a tractors?
thanks for the help!
 
In my part of northwest Iowa 2x16 is about right in 3rd gear in the spring. 3x14 is too much for 3rd gear but the tractor isnt working all that hard in 2nd. 20 miles west of here in a more windblown soil 3x14 is just a nice load in 3rd gear.
 
My 1950 B pulls an integral 2 - 14 in 3rd (in my garden) but I prefer 2nd . Back in the day guys pulled 3 - 14 trailer plows , never seen anyone use a two bottom. Guess it comes down to soil conditions and how hard you want to work them. My 1949 A has a water pump so I bet the PO worked it pretty hard.


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I pull a 3-14 555 around 8" to 9" in second with my 49 A. I am in central WI and have a heavier soil. This spring I was trying to plow some old sod in a mist power was no issue but lost traction and this is with two weights on the land side.
 
There were a few guys around here who pulled 3 14s with them. My uncle farmed with one and always pulled 2 14s. 2 16s would have been fine I think.
 
My grandfather pulled 2-16s in 4th gear- remember, the late A's had slower gearing. The neighbor had 3-14s, and ran in 3rd. Later, grandpa installed a power block, and then the A ran 3-16s in 3rd.
 
Neighbor had an A with 2 14's & in the clay hills it had to be just right for moisture or it was too much plow for the tractor.
 
Back then we pulled 5-16s with an R John Deere in third which is around 46 draw bar hp. Here a 730 I owned (53 draw bar hp) and ones my friend owned have a load with 3-16s at the same speed
 
Per Nebraska test R was 43 draw bar HP. Dad bought the matching 4-14 Deere trailer plow for his R that was going to be "MY tractor". Plowed 40 acres of alfalfa sod first off. R struggled in 2nd, had to drop into lo on one clay side hill I had to turn uphill on. I did most of the rest of the plowing pulling an IH #8 3-14 in 3rd gear. The last 16 acres that spring I pulled the Deere 4-14 with the FARMALL Super M-TA. SM-TA and R were less than a HP apart. SM-TA just had better gear speeds AND the TA was a great productivity booster on our hills.

I can't imagine an R pulling 5-16's in 3rd gear more than 2-3 inches deep. Neighbor's 730-D pulled 4-14's about as fast as our 4010-D did. We tried pulling 5-14's when we first got the 4010, got real tired crawling along in 2nd gear. Tried 3rd, slightest hill and I had to downshift. Everybody plowed 6-7 inches deep. Except the neighbors trying to pull 6-16's with their turbo 4020. They plowed about e inches deep.
 
For the real A experience get the spring hitch with the clutch release setup. Dad had a G which would pull the 4 14 trailer with the spring hitch or the 3 16 three point with a gauge wheel and was a trip bottom. All operators preferred the 3 16 trip bottom. Actually it had some form of an 801 hitch with the center bar. They plowed the low ground with that 4 14 with a D2. The clutch rope had to be rigged to work in reverse.
 

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