how much to pull

[willy44]

Hello everyone it's warming up here (finally) and the time to start plowing and planting is coming up fast. I got a JD 2240 last year and didn't get a chance to do much tillage work with it. That being said all I want to do is plant small patches of corn for deer mainly and a small profit to benefit my fishing habit So I was wondering any of you guys have any experience with this tractor. I'm particularly interested if I could attach a small chisel plow or field cultivator to it and if so how big, or I know it will pull a good old 2 bottom but I don't know how big of a disc to put behind it. I was also looking at planters, namely a JD 7000 4 row with dry fertilizer boxes (a big step up for me), I think it would pull it but I haven't ever pulled a planter with hydraulics and was wondering if the system was big enough and if one hydraulic outlet would do. I hope its a good spring for everyone, any advice would be greatly appreciated thanks.

 

[Paul N]

According to tractordata.com, the drawbar hp is about 40. It will handle the 4 row planter as long as you don't have too many (steep) hills. Depending on the style of disk, maybe an 8 foot. A cultivator takes more power yet. I don't know of any chisel plows that are small enough for 40 hp. This is all based on heavy clay soil, which is what I'm used to. If you have lighter soil types, that changes everything.

 

[texasjohn]

Remember, if you have something which happens to be too wide for your soil conditions, you can remove a couple of chisels or disks and reduce the load to match your tractor. I did a lot of field work with a 35 hp tractor...just don't sink the tines or disks in deeper than you can pull for current soil conditions.

 

[jenkinsph]

For a 2240 I would find a heavy duty 6 to 7 ft 3ph disc with 20" blades. This is about all I think you can pull at 5 mph, while a fully ballasted tractor might pull a heavier disc you want to select a disc you can operate at proper speeds of 4 to 5 mph.

 

[LD1]

Dont let the 40hp fool you. It is a heavy tractor for its HP. Heavy means traction.

I have no experience with what size equipment you will need, but I can pull a 6' disc with my tractor that weighs 1/2 as much. I would think 8 should work fine there. Everything else I havent got a clue. Alot of it has to do with soil conditions. Stay out if it is too wet, its a heavy 2wd tractor and you will make a mess.

Having good tires are also key. And if it has a FEL on it, I would remove it for ag work. It takes too much weight off the rear tires. You will pull better without it.

 

[Ed of all trades]

I don't think you can pull a chisel plow. They take about 10 HP per tooth and they would have to space them pretty far apart.

 

[jeff9366]

For a 2240 I would find a heavy duty 6 to 7 ft 3ph disc with 20" blades. This is about all I think you can pull at 5 mph, while a fully ballasted tractor might pull a heavier disc you want to select a disc you can operate at proper speeds of 4 to 5 mph.

I agree with JENKINSPH: You can pull a Disc Harrow with 20" pans with ease, assuming your Deere 2240 has 4-WD.

You may or may not be able to pull a Disc Harrow with 22" pans but that would depend on your tire type, overall tractor weight and soil.

In Disc Harrows it is the diameter/weight of the pans which determines soil penetration, which determines how much draft force your tractor has to overcome; therefore what you can pull.

Harrow width means little.

You can pull a Field Cultivator as wide as your tires, or 24" wider, if you are referring to a Ferguson-syle Field Cultivator with overload springs and parabolic curve to the tines. These are fairly low draft force because the tines are usually 1/2" or 5/8" in thickness and the sweeps about the same. (Field Cultivator is an imprecise term.)

For corn prep, a Moldboard Plow followed by a Disc Harrow and some form of drag harrow is a classic combination.

 

[willy44]

Well the chisel plow was a shot in the dark for me having never used one but the idea sounded good to me. My fields are flat, they were origionally farmed with a farmall H back in the day so they tried to aviod hills. However there are a lot of rocks, when its plowed you could walk across the county and not touch the dirt thats where you run into problems with moldboard plows and coulters, there is some clay in spots down deep but its not really a problem if you stay out of wet ground. Ive never worked a 3 point disc is there any difference on how the load is distributed on the tires? The tractor does have a loader and is not 4 wheel drive. I was referring to a fergusson style field cultivator, around here thats what most everyone uses cause the s tine syle dont do well with the rocks.

 

[jeff9366]

WILLY44: You need to paragraph for clarity, like your respondents.

A Disc Harrow is a ground contact implement. Its weight is distributed on tires like any other 3-Pt. ground contact implement.

I pull a John Deere Frontier Disc Harrow with 20" diameter pans [Actually made by Monroe Tufline for Deere.] behind a John Deere 5103 with 2-WD from time to time. The Deere 5103 is the same weight as your Deere 2240. A Disc Harrow with 20" diameter pans will be all your tractor wants, 22" will stall you out. You will be able to pull a 20" FINE.

A Disc Harrow with 20" pans is not a primary tillage tool.

If you want to plow rocky ground consider a new Monroe Tufline Disc Plow or there are a lot of old Ford Dearborn Disc Plows around used. Rocks are less bothersome to a Disc Plow, relative to a Moldboard Plow.

LINK TO TUFLINE: http://www.monroetufline.com/pdf/TDP Discplow (47990).pdf

LINK TO FORD DEARBORN DISC PLOW: http://www.ntractorclub.com/manuals...n 10-80 and 10-202 Disc Plow parts manual.pdf

 

[willy44]

jeff9366: I apologize for the format as I work off of my phone most of the time, and it does not like to keep paragraph format.

I ask about the weight distribution due to my past experience with my Massey Ferguson 65, with a 3 bottom 3 point plow it would pull fine through the field. However with a 3 bottom trailer style plow it would want to raise the front even with suitcase weights on it, this made for great traction but also made for a rough ride through the field as density of the ground changed. I reasoned that due to the ability for the plow to pivot at the draw-bar that was why the front wanted to lift. It may have been the plow because my old JD B doesn't do it with the old trip style 2 bottom.

Now with the 2240 it has smaller but wider tires therefore the traction factor evens out. It does have a stronger clutch than the 65 and so it is more comfortable at pulling heavy loads. However I was unsure of the weight distribution due to the fact that the 2240 has a shorter wheelbase than all of my other and previous tractors ( certainly makes it nice for tighter turns) and has no suitcase weights only the loader.

The disc plows are a good idea, I have seen them in magazines and at shows but have never seen one used in the field. Around here once no-till was able to be done it was the way to go not only for time a fuel consumption reasons but because you no longer needed the moldboard plows, just chisel it in the spring if you have to, but most of us little guys are still working moldboards and a disc.