Subsoiler adventure

[daugen]

Had a great deal of fun ripping up a field in prep for a garden. The ETA/Fred Cain subsoiler is very heavy duty and worked fine. Likely I need some adjustments to the three point hitch to fine tune. Would like it to raise up higher but also go lower but I think I'm limited by the range of motion of the tractor hydraulics. This little 25 hp tractor pulled it fine, though it would have worked a lot better with 4wd. Had to step on the diff lock a few times to get myself unstuck, but I expected that. Rocky clay soil. Seemed to have patches of rocks, and other areas I just zipped through. The ETA video is right on, if you aren't hitting too many rocks, you hardly leave a trail if you run the tire over it on the next pass. Not sure I can figure out how to lay plastic pipe with it yet.

Now I plow this bumpity garden and rough it up even more with a middle buster-potato plow, and then I rototill with my pull behind DR Rototiller behind my Gravely. The Gravely weighs half the weight of the tractor, so my thought is tread lightly on the final pass.

I'm thinking I'll use the little potato plow to make furrows for corn, but on a garden this small, probably just as easy to do it by hand. If all grows well, the garden will probably double in size next year.

The subsoiler did its job beautifully, and I'm glad I bought the heavier duty one, because it became quickly clear that nothing I hit in this field was going to faze this subsoiler one bit. Stop the tractor yes, bother the plow, no.

So this is an update on the Happy Ending thread. Drew

 

[rockshaft]

Excellent. How deep were you able to rip with that set-up?
I'm planning on fabricating one of those, probably not as heavy duty- we'll see.

 

[daugen]

looking at the worn off paint, I'd say I was 12-14 inches down, not the max 18.
I'm going to fiddle with the links and try to get it lower. Sometimes it would sort of suck itself down lower and other times it would ride higher. Sometimes it skidded on the surface of the field grass before biting in too. Again, not sure of my adjustments, but once it started to dig in, it usually stayed in.

I'll probably have another go at it though I've really accomplished what I wanted which is to get down a little deeper than I have any chance at plowing.
The land slopes off in two directions, so first I went one way, then I went at an angle down the other slope. Probably drains fine anyway, but I thought a little aeration and decompaction would do a lot of good.

I think I may have the piece with the mfg name on it upside down, now that I look at the pics. Not sure it makes a difference though. If it does, I hope someone chimes in.

 

[whirly]

... I think I may have the piece with the mfg name on it upside down, now that I look at the pics. Not sure it makes a difference though. If it does, I hope someone chimes in.

You have the working ends right. Just rotate it 180 degrees so the name in the photo is on the left side and Fred Cain will be happy:thumbsup:

 

[daugen]

thanks, that makes sense to me. No one wants to ride around upside down...

 

[GPintheMitten]

Looks good.

This just a guess, but it seems to me, that if you shorten your top link, the angle will change to be more upright than as you have it, and it might pull itself deeper.

 

[cttractor]

I, too, pull a subsoiler with a small (24HP) tractor and it does it quite well. I do have MFWD and it does make it better. However, the main limitation will be rocks. Hit some bigger ones and we'll stop dead, even with all wheels pulling. It's just a matter of the size of the rock(s). For that reason, I pull slowly. I don't want a big rock to stop me dead and break something on the tractor because of the inertia of moving too quickly.

As for limited range of hydraulic motion, I have the same problem that you mention. Other than shortening the length of the device's shank, I haven't found any other option -- we live with it or we modify it.

If I adjust the 3PH for full height, I get about 3 inches of ground clearance. That's not a lot and I'm very careful when driving onto or off my driveway so I don't take a chunk out. If I want to plow deeper, I have to adjust the 3PH down lower. I wish there were a better way, but small tractors don't seem to have as much hydraulic range as we would like for one of these devices. However, used within their limits, I am happy with how well the subsoiler has worked for me.

 

[daugen]

shorten your top link,
thanks, I'm going to try that. My dealer gave me a freebie top link and it doesn't seem to adjust very far. And I haven't used a three point hitch before so I'm learning. I put the top link on the lowest hole of three, or furthest away, now I'll take whatever other slack is in there hopefully out. But not sure it's going to get me much. Would extending the side links help? Not much adjustment left there either.
I plow slow
second gear, low range, about 2000 rpm or less, have to throttle up when going uphill for sure. But I was happy to bump, bump along slowly, as you say, making sure nothing expensive gives out first.

 

[GPintheMitten]

Do your bottom 2 links go to the ground with no implement on? If so, I think you may be able to get deeper by adjustments.

 

[Baby Grand]

<snip>

As for limited range of hydraulic motion, I have the same problem that you mention. Other than shortening the length of the device's shank, I haven't found any other option -- we live with it or we modify it.

If I adjust the 3PH for full height, I get about 3 inches of ground clearance. That's not a lot and I'm very careful when driving onto or off my driveway so I don't take a chunk out. If I want to plow deeper, I have to adjust the 3PH down lower. I wish there were a better way, but small tractors don't seem to have as much hydraulic range as we would like for one of these devices. However, used within their limits, I am happy with how well the subsoiler has worked for me.

My transport solution - allows you to adjust hitch for full depth subsoiling in the field and then drive back to the shed without ripping up a gouge in the lawn, driveway, and everything else in between: