Dirt Moving 3 bottom plow advice?

[remington270]

I am in the market for a new 3 bottom moldboard plow to bread up new ground that has been bushhogged. I am looking at plowing between 5-10 acres for planting corn, sunflowers, and watermelon, and want a good seedbed. I am in Alabama and I can't find a single dealership or equipment dealer with any 3 bottom plows, all anybody has is 2-bottoms. What is the reason for this? Everyone keeps telling me to "just disc it" but I bet I'd have to do that 6-8 times to get the soil ready for a row planter like I want it. Any insight?

 

[art]

You might find a four bottom semi mount as a bargin as many farmers have gone away from moldboard plowing.

You do have enough tractor!

Or just get a tiller and do it in one pass.

 

[sweettractors]

I am in the market for a new 3 bottom moldboard plow to bread up new ground that has been bushhogged. I am looking at plowing between 5-10 acres for planting corn, sunflowers, and watermelon, and want a good seedbed. I am in Alabama and I can't find a single dealership or equipment dealer with any 3 bottom plows, all anybody has is 2-bottoms. What is the reason for this? Everyone keeps telling me to "just disc it" but I bet I'd have to do that 6-8 times to get the soil ready for a row planter like I want it. Any insight?

Used 5 Shank Chisel Plow, Field Ripper, WE CAN SHIP CHEAPER THAN YOU THINK items in Sweetfarmequipment store on eBay!

Our Plows Above are on Ebay now.---NOTE: Your price for the
Plows, not purchased on Ebay, is less than what is posted on these Ebay
listings. For Example: Plows priced on Ebay over $1000, your cost
would be $200 less + shipping. For Plows listed under $1000, your cost will
be $100 less + shipping. We have 2 more 3 bottom plows coming out of the rebuild shop this week. Ken Sweet

 

[remington270]

Hey sweettractor- Those are some good looking plows, do you have any "new" plows? (or know anyone that does?) I have found several used 3-bottom plows around here, but would prefer brand new...

 

[sweettractors]

Hey sweettractor- Those are some good looking plows, do you have any "new" plows? (or know anyone that does?) I have found several used 3-bottom plows around here, but would prefer brand new...

I am going to be honest with you. I don't know of a new plow that I would have on my farm or on my lots. The older plows are waaay better better and built with higher grade materials than new plows. Ken Sweet

 

[remington270]

It seems like they churn out all sorts of new implements from the factory, why then are there no new 3 bottom plows around?
Would you have any suggestions as to how to best break new ground? Would a 3-bottom be best or something else?

 

[HCJtractor]

Hey sweettractor- Those are some good looking plows, do you have any "new" plows? (or know anyone that does?) I have found several used 3-bottom plows around here, but would prefer brand new...

Go used! Get a Ford or Deere plow. THey are great. I have (restored) a Ford 101 3 bottom and it works really well. They are pretty simple to get in like new condition and fairly inexpensive. Shares and shins are cheap and easy to replace. Moldboards and landsides will cost a little more. Make sure any one you buy has trip protection (springs or shear pins) and that the frog is not worn. I don't think you will find a new one and if you do, it will be of lesser quality than an old one. But you still will have to disc and drag a harrow of some kind to break up the clods and smooth things over before planting, so a plow just breaks up the hard earth. You could accomplish the same thing with a disc alone if it is heavy enough, but I find that a plow speeds things up and reduces the passes you need to make with a disc, but does not eliminate the need for discing.

 

[TripleR]

I am with the others, I prefer the old plows, we have a 2 bottom Ford and a 3 bottom Massey Ferguson. We paid $150 for the MF as no one uses them around here anymore and a lot were sold for scrap.

 

[remington270]

I still don't understand how there are *zero* new 3-bottom plows around. I mean don't people break up new ground anymore? I know everyone isn't using a roto-tiller, so I guess people just disk a half dozen times? Seems very time intensive

 

[PHILIP8N]

Have you ever plowed before? Takes a little skill and experimenting to set up tractor and field. Plus, you still have to disc, do you have a disc? A tiller does a very nice job at loosening up the soil in one pass. Got this old 2 bottom Ford trip plow for $100 and it works great. Philip.

 

[remington270]

I've got a disc and a tiller, but a disc is ineffective and takes too many passes without plowing, and tilling takes waaaay too long.

Still wondering why 3 bottom plows aren't manufactured anymore?

 

[sweettractors]

I still don't understand how there are *zero* new 3-bottom plows around. I mean don't people break up new ground anymore? I know everyone isn't using a roto-tiller, so I guess people just disk a half dozen times? Seems very time intensive

As you can gather, there is no demand for new 3 bottom plows. Big Farmers are using no-till and people doing foodplots and hobby farming have learned by experience what is best. On a side note, If a new 3 bottom plow were to be produced today that equaled quality and design of the older plows, you would be paying 3000-4000 $ for it. Ken Sweet

 

[slowzuki]

Used are so cheap they can't sell new 3 bottom plows. You can buy a 6 bottom used in great shape for 400$. Kneverland still sell new 3 bottom plows, with spring trips and coulters I'd bet you're looking at 10,000$ +. Not many sold.

I still don't understand how there are *zero* new 3-bottom plows around. I mean don't people break up new ground anymore? I know everyone isn't using a roto-tiller, so I guess people just disk a half dozen times? Seems very time intensive

 

[remington270]

Slowzuki, I'm skeptical at your logic- everythingattachments.com sells the heck out of 2 bottom plows (for under $1,000) even though there are tons of used ones on the market. I don't see why a new 3-bottom would cost more than 1,500 to buy?

 

[nspec]

Slowzuki is right and you're delusional if you think a quality 3 bottom new would be $1500. The material alone is double that. The stuff at everything attachments, while it may work fine, is not even close to the same quality as a proper plow from the 40's-70's or a new Kverneland. If you saw them in person, you'd see the difference. There's a reason the old plows have lasted so long and work so well. Believe me, I'm a fan of E.A. and have bought from them. Having said that, I wouldn't even give a new plow from them a second glance. It's not that they're that bad, but for the same price or less, you can get twice the plow used.

 

[remington270]

Nspec, I'm not trying to convince anyone that a "quality" plow could be made fro $1500 bucks, only that they make 2 bottoms for 1000 bucks, so why not 3 bottom for 1500? It may not be the cadillac of plows, but just use the same materials and add another moldboard!

I'm not trying to get into it with anybody, but I'm trying to plant 5-10 acres and I need to break virgin ground, and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do it in a time-efficient way---1. Discing takes forever because you have to do like 6 passes. 2. Tilling takes forever because you have to drive slow. 3. Chisel plows don't really break up the surface that well. 4. Same thing for renovators/ scarifiers, whatever you want to call them.

Anybody know how to break up new ground effectively and not have a beard once it's done?

 

[ljohnson778]

Nspec, I'm not trying to convince anyone that a "quality" plow could be made fro $1500 bucks, only that they make 2 bottoms for 1000 bucks, so why not 3 bottom for 1500? It may not be the cadillac of plows, but just use the same materials and add another moldboard!

I'm not trying to get into it with anybody, but I'm trying to plant 5-10 acres and I need to break virgin ground, and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do it in a time-efficient way---1. Discing takes forever because you have to do like 6 passes. 2. Tilling takes forever because you have to drive slow. 3. Chisel plows don't really break up the surface that well. 4. Same thing for renovators/ scarifiers, whatever you want to call them.

Anybody know how to break up new ground effectively and not have a beard once it's done?

Yeah, buy a set of used three bottom plows from Ken Sweet that will last you a lifetime, and call it good... Why the hang up on "new" anyway?

 

[remington270]

I may, the only reason I want "new" is because the used 3 bottoms around here are piecemeal and I don't want to have to fix something I just spend many hundreds on.

 

[RaydaKub]

I still don't understand how there are *zero* new 3-bottom plows around. I mean don't people break up new ground anymore? I know everyone isn't using a roto-tiller, so I guess people just disk a half dozen times? Seems very time intensive

I think part of the problem is that real farmers (not intended to insult you or anybody else here) run tractors 200 to 500 hp anymore and most of them don't use a moldboard plow. A 2 or 3 bottom plow has got to be a very small market.

When's the last time you saw a 2 row corn head for a combine? Back in the late 60's maybe? Even 4 is pretty rare because it wouldn't be wide enough to cover the wheel tracks of today's machines.

 

[remington270]

I agree that that's part of the problem. Big time farmers use no-till mainly now or huge implements. But I still think there are still a ton of people like me that want/ need to farm medium/large size gardens (>1 acre). After all, tons of people have 50-75 hp tractors.