A good speed is same as your walking speed for those old style moldboards of the 1940s and 1950s. Moldboards made in the 1960s and later were often called "high speed moldboards" because tractors then had plenty of HP and could go faster.
If the moldboards are rusty, they will shine up nicely after you have plowed a while. At first (in your case?) a non-scouring moldboard can be very trying...just be patient as this method is far superior to shining a moldboard compared to grinding and grinding at your shop area.
As you stand at the rear of the plow and looking ahead to the tractor, the right hand lever is for balancing the plow from left to right so both moldboards are the same depth. The left hand lever sets the depth of plowing.
The rear wheel has two jobs; making sure the rear landside is off the furrow wall about 1/2 inch and is slightly lifting up on the rear moldboard so it doesn"t drag on the bottom so much. You fix that and your plow will pull so much easier it will seem like your tractor has more power. Have a friend drive the tractor slowly with the plow in the ground and you walking along side the plow so you can see what is happening or needs adjusting. I studied the manual for my plow, made the adjustments, stopped often to check and recheck, and my H now pulls my 2-16" without much difficulty in 2nd or 3rd gear, even in heavy soils. But it sure did not do that the first hour!!
For starting on your first pass, raise the righthand lever up high, this gives more depth to the right hand moldboard because that right hand "furrow wheel" is not yet running in a furrow you made on a previous pass.
After you have completed the first round, then you can start the balancing process and recheck your depth. Stop, get off tractor, look, reset, go a short distance, get off, look, reset, etc.
I suggest you wait until fall before plowing as your area might get some needed rain at that time of year and the soil should be in better condition for working. Those old plows were not made to work hard soil like we have this year due to the drouth.
I plow every year with an old trailer plow and I wouldn"t think of trying that now with the soil rock hard.
If you have a "trip rope" lift, make sure you do NOT attach the rope with a knot or something that can"t break lose easily. If you hit a rock, or the soil suddenly gets even harder, and you have the proper spring-loaded hitch, your plow might unhook. Before you can react your tractor has traveled 5-10ft, by that time you can be in danger of being thrown off the tractor if you had attached the rope securely to your tractor seat and the seat breaks. It happened a lot years ago....and can happen in a fraction of a second. I suggest you use a short length of heavy wire and make a "slip pin" that you can attach the rope to your tractor seat. My plow has unhooked and that pin is a life saver. An old rope can work if you think it will break, but that is a chancy thing and you might soon run out of rope after a few releases.
In most soils fit for plowing, your tractor should be able to plow in 2nd gear, in 3rd with lighter soils. That is plenty fast.
Plowing can be very enjoyable if you just relax, set throttle at about 3/4 open for the start, plow at a slower speed until you get comfortable, and don"t worry "what other people might think". You are doing something very neat that they are not: Plowing with an old plow and an old tractor! Good plowing is an art and a pure joy.
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Today's Featured Article - The Day Mom Drove the 8N - by Brian Browning. My Dad was wanting to put in a garden but couldn't operate the 8N and handle the old horse drawn plow he had found and rigged up to use with the tractor. Well, he decided to go get Mom out of the house and have her drive the tractor while he walked behind the plow. You got to understand that while my Mom is a hard worker who will always help whenever she can... she had never operated farm machinery before that day. Dad got her out there, explained how the clutch was the same as in our o
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