I read a post under "Tractor Projects" where someone used a potato plow (aka middle buster) to dig a trench for burying conduit. It sounded like a good idea to me and I decided to give it a try. It was my first use of the 3pt hitch on my BX2200.
The first thing that was evident to me was a lack of documentation. There was no documentation included with the plow and virtually no documentation with the tractor on using the 3 point hitch. I gave it a whirl anyway.
The problem I had in mounting the plow was that I couldn't spread the lower links far enough to get the plow on. The dealer had told me to loosen the check chains to widen the links. When I tried to loosen the lock nuts on the check chains, it seemed like they were welded on. I decided it was easier to pull the cotter pins from the bracket assemblies holding the chains to the lower links and release the chains completely so that I could spread the links as wide as they would go. Even then, I had to raise the hitch a few inches and tilt the plow to jockey it on to the lower links. I finally got it on and reattached the check chains.
With the hitch fully raised, the tip of the plow barely cleared the ground. Indeed, as I drove the tractor over the lawn to get to where I wanted to start the trench, any variations in the terrain sank the tip of the plow into the lawn and cut little divots.
That's the bad news. The good news? Making the trench was a piece of cake. I was very surprised. It was a heavy clay soil with lots of rock -- but tweaking the depth of the plow and making a few passes made short work of a long trench.
So did this novice miss something and make things too complicated (or do something wrong) in attaching the plow or is this life as usual in the 3pt world? I read a post from October 2000 about a quick hitch for the BX. If my experience is par for the course -- the quick hitch may well be my next tractor purchase.
Huck
The first thing that was evident to me was a lack of documentation. There was no documentation included with the plow and virtually no documentation with the tractor on using the 3 point hitch. I gave it a whirl anyway.
The problem I had in mounting the plow was that I couldn't spread the lower links far enough to get the plow on. The dealer had told me to loosen the check chains to widen the links. When I tried to loosen the lock nuts on the check chains, it seemed like they were welded on. I decided it was easier to pull the cotter pins from the bracket assemblies holding the chains to the lower links and release the chains completely so that I could spread the links as wide as they would go. Even then, I had to raise the hitch a few inches and tilt the plow to jockey it on to the lower links. I finally got it on and reattached the check chains.
With the hitch fully raised, the tip of the plow barely cleared the ground. Indeed, as I drove the tractor over the lawn to get to where I wanted to start the trench, any variations in the terrain sank the tip of the plow into the lawn and cut little divots.
That's the bad news. The good news? Making the trench was a piece of cake. I was very surprised. It was a heavy clay soil with lots of rock -- but tweaking the depth of the plow and making a few passes made short work of a long trench.
So did this novice miss something and make things too complicated (or do something wrong) in attaching the plow or is this life as usual in the 3pt world? I read a post from October 2000 about a quick hitch for the BX. If my experience is par for the course -- the quick hitch may well be my next tractor purchase.
Huck
