Need help with making coulters.

[Jason S.]

I"ve got a Massey #62 2-14 turning plow. Which to me looks identical to the Ferguson plows, just the Massey is painted red and has replaceable shins. When I got mine the coulters were missing like most plows around here are, so I think I"m going to make a set so it will keep the wear down on the shins and landsides. I know the made different size and style coulter discs depending on your soil. I"ve found some 15" coulter disc. Are those big enough? Can anybody give me the measurements for the rod that holds the coulters? I"ll have to get a straight rod and heat it and bend it, so I need to know how long it is to the first bend, how long it is after the bend horizontally and then how long it is after the last bend. I hope that makes sense, I"m basically looking at the rod as 3 pieces in measurement. The upper straight part, the horizontal part in the middle and the lower straight part. Thank you for all your help.
 

[Tony in Mass.]

Oh that sounds like one heck of a project. There should be tons of coulters around, tons of people like me who get irritated with the things and take them off... some forever.
On fresh ground they will ride the surface and you will see why we don't use the things unless on soil that is grass free if not plowed within a year.
I would go to all the dealers, repair shops and other fergie owners- Ford guys too- and ask about any coulters they have hanging around. The job you are thinking about will cost more in torch gases than the things are worth new, so good hunting!
 

[maxwell99]

there should be a number of old coulters thrown in the scrap pile somewhere. give a good look see at local scrap yards.

here is a picture of my mf 62 plow 3-12"
i just installed new coulter blades last year.

but over the years i have taken the coulters off/on a number of times. These plows have a small throat and will choke up easy, if you have a lot of trash on the field.

They do a great job on a clean field.

2-16" will roll and cover the ground better and have a larger throat area to allow trash to feed through.

I had to borrow 2-16" ford plows last year to roll under my garden truck patch corn stalks.

If you really want to roll some ground, get you an old mf disc plow, this old boy will really break up the soil.



 

[Jason S.]

I thought an old set would be easy to find myself but around here nobody has them. There is only one metal scrap yard around here that will even sell you anything but they don"t have any. All they rest of them will not sell you anything once it"s in their possession. I have no clue why. I tried to buy a nice dynabalance mower that got scrapped and they wouldn"t sell it to me.
 

[Tony in Mass.]

Gosh, where are you Jason? The free world was farmed by fergies! AS far as a dynabalance getting scraped.... mine is alive on a day to day basis... someone on here might have coulters for you, but shipping nowdays is nuts. We'll try to figure out an original set before you try to fabricate them.
 

[Jason S.]

I'm in East TN, around here it's all Ford. There are a few of us Ferguson enthusiasts around here, but it's mainly Ford and John Deere here,especially plows. I try to snatch up what Ferguson pieces I can find. I work for Deere but I got in trouble for wearing a Massey cap in the plant...lol
 

[Tony in Mass.]

I wouldn't pay attention to brand names, if you are surrounded by Ford people just get ahold of a couple- or even one Ford/Dearborn coulter and see what it looks like on yours. I bet they all came from the same cookie cutter.
 

[Jason S.]

They probably are interchangeable between the early Dearborns and the Fergusons. I looked at 4 Dearborns here and all were missing the coulters and of course nobody still had them. There must have been a virus outbreak here where everybody removed their coulters and tossed them. The coulters for a Deere I don"t think will work. The ones I did find for a Deere had a straight rod to hold the coulters.
 

[Tony in Mass.]

Hummmmm.... since everyone around, no mater what the brand.... has long since lost patience and thrown these things in an iron pile... it should tell you something???? Eastern Tennessee??... I got a cousin near you. She has a large collection of large rocks... weren't her idea! Coulters and big stones don't mix. Better to let the share or shin deal with it, hard surfacing welding rods build them back up easy.
That's why I hate to see you use $100 worth of oxygen and acetelene to make something someday you will throw in an iron pile! One or two will show up sooner or later.
Are you on good terms with Santa Claus??? Ya never know....
 

[Jason S.]

That's true...the Dearborn plow we had growing up didn't have the coulters either. It does plow fine without them but I was wanting to restore the plow also. Although instead of Massey red it may get a coat of ferguson gray. I have a 2 bottom disk plow for a farmall super A that was given to me by the same guy that I got the Massey plow from but I don't have the mounting brackets for it to hook it to my super A. He has since passed and I can't find those brackets anywhere. They say that is the type of plow to use in rocky soil. Actually my favorite plow is a ford 9 shank field cultivator. Same thing as the ferguson tiller. I actually have the frame from a ferguson tiller but no shanks or springs on it. I think I may transfer the shanks from the ford to the ferguson just so I can have a working ferguson tiller.
 

[maxwell99]

Jason,
i have a tool much like the old ferguson tiller and it works great.
it is an old AC snap couple field cultivator with a 3 pt hitch welded onto it, works great for my little TO-35

 

[Jason S.]

It may not be the correct way to do it but I usually plow with the moldboard plow and then disc it down just a little bit. Then in the spring I use the tiller and work it up again and then plant. Is that ok?
 

[Tony in Mass.]

That's funny! A year ago I was selling my Allis CA. A guy came over, looked at the tractor asked if the toolbar- just like yours- came with it, I said yes, but only if you are going to use it, otherwise I will weld up a 3 point and keep it for the fergies... he said, don't bother, here's your money, without that toolbar, I wouldn't want the tractor. I 'think' I have a Dearborn version, but a hollow tube, not solid square stock like AC's. They are handy and impressive aren't they? But I still like ferguson better of course
 

[Tony in Mass.]

Here ya go Jason. Santa don't even need to show up! You already have a 2 bottom disc plow? Like what Maxwell posted here? But it is for a Farmall or ? And if you have enough cutting and welding equipment and experience to try to make a cloulter bar, heck, used what you got to convert that disc plow to 3 point. Seems A's? super A's had the one prong quick hitch? If two prong, that would be an easy fab job. I would start eyeballin that thing, can you post pics on here?
BTW, yeah plow and harrow in the fall, till in the spring sound good, some people think if you plow and leave it, the furrows trap more rain and snow all winter... but some people don't need or want that much wet in the spring.
Pick your poison!
 

[Jason S.]

I don't think it would be an easy conversion. It is one of those plows that had a tail wheel that turned with the front wheels as you steered. It had that long rod that ran from the tail wheel to the front axle.