Plowing with my 1540...

[ratter]

I picked up a used 3-bottom plow and 6' disc for my 1540 last week. Today, for the first time, I tried out the plow. I wasn't sure if the 1540 was going to have enough muscle for a 3-bottom, particularly since most of my land hasn't been plowed in years, if ever. And the plow had been freshly spraypainted and not used in a few years. And last but not least, the fact that I'd never operated a plow in my life and had no idea what I was doing. But wouldn't you know, the 1540 pulled that plow like nobody's business! And the results weren't half bad!

 

[CDsdad]

That looks good, ratter. I use my dad's 2 bottom plow with my 1533. Discing it down is the fun part. Can get kind of bumpy.

I can recommend a spike tooth harrow after you get it disced down good. That'll smooth it right down. By the way, did you have to pull in 4wd.

I looked at a 3 bottom, but thought it was too wide. What you did looks good, though.

 

[JerryG]

I pull a MF model 66 3-14 with my 1440 and your right, it does do a good job. I have an 11 shank field cultivator for finishing up.

 

[ratter]

I did use 4wd, yes. Although I didn't try without first, so I don't know how necessary it was. I can see that it's going to take a whole lot of practice to get good at this, though...

 

[Oleozz]

Nice job. I will quote Farmwithjunk when he said that trying to turn over heavy sod is like trying to push a rope up a hill. I've found that the more speed the better and once you hit that "sweet" spot then let her rip.
I try to let the plowed ground sit awhile before I use anything else on it, it gives the turned over ground a chance to rot and you won't be dragging up a lot of sod that you just plowed under.

 

[scott_vt]

Mornin Ratter,
Hey that looks good ! Any chance to get a pic of your plow ?

 

[mark4Jesus]

I have a single bottom for my 1433. I have thought about getting a double bottom to make things go quicker, just haven't got around to it yet. Okay, I confess, I haven't wanted to spend the money yet! Looks good Ratter! I alway enjoy turning the ground every year to plant. And like CDsdad said, it is bumpy when you first start discing it. I have to expand my garden soon so I'll be getting the plow back out in a week or so. Ditto on the seeing some pics of the plow.

 

[ratter]

Sorry for the belated response. Here's a pic of the plow...

 

[mjarrels]

No sod cutters?

mark

 

[DMF]

I don't have any sod cutters on my (borrowed) plow either. These are me plowing our pumpkin patch last month with my 1433V. It goes pretty good but the ground is often wet and sloped so it can get hairy at times as you can see. I used a set of drag-behind disc harrows a few weeks after these pictures were taken. It worked ok but I borrowed my friend's Kuhn tiller and I have to say that has been the best tool I have ever used on that pumpkin patch! I was so impressed that I pressed him to sell it to me as he didn't use it any more... $100 later it was mine!

 

[ratter]

I don't have any sod cutters on my (borrowed) plow either. These are me plowing our pumpkin patch last month with my 1433V. It goes pretty good but the ground is often wet and sloped so it can get hairy at times as you can see. I used a set of drag-behind disc harrows a few weeks after these pictures were taken. It worked ok but I borrowed my friend's Kuhn tiller and I have to say that has been the best tool I have ever used on that pumpkin patch! I was so impressed that I pressed him to sell it to me as he didn't use it any more... $100 later it was mine!

$100?!? I'm jealous...

The problem I had is that the sod is so thick and matted that even after I turned it over and let it sit for a couple weeks, my fairly light duty disc harrow couldn't completely chop it up. So I still had big weedy clumps everywhere that the disc would just float over. For the pumpkins, I didn't care. But I did a garden spot for my wife, and I wasn't pleased with that result. So I ended up taking my box blade and dragging all of the nasty weedy sod clumps down to one end of the garden. This left a very nice seed bed, albeit with a mountain of crap at the end.

Next time I'll try adding weight to the disc to see if that helps any, but I have a feeling that I'll get the same result anytime I work on a 'virgin' piece of land. After a couple years of working it maybe it will get broken up by the disc a little easier.

 

[DMF]

$100?!? I'm jealous...

Funny... your not the first person to tell me that...

Best deal I ever made... everyone has to get lucky once in a while, right?

 

[WilliamBos]

My Dad picked up a used Kubota ( turfbuster ) tiller a couple of years ago, and it is irreplaceable!! Does an amazing job, no matter the type of ground, or no matter how long it has been since or if it was worked up. Money well spent!!

Next addition will be a compact tractor, nothing older than the 1100 series. Don't want to gamble on the 1000 series, parts will be hard to come by, if not now, in the near future I imagine.

 

[BTDT]

Sorry for the belated response. Here's a pic of the plow...

That's a pretty ingenious mechanism for the tilt, never saw one like that.