Cleaning up plow bottoms

[ndaircapt]

Bought a 2 bottom plow a couple years ago but bottoms were rusty and I tried to plow sod with it and it didnt work very well. tailwheel kept trying to jump out of the furrow, Im guessing because it wasnt scoured. Plow has been parked since then.

I want to use it this spring in a cleaner, easier soil. Also has some sand in it. I want to use it but think I should try to "pre-scour" the bottoms first. I have a 3/8 drill and a 4" angle grinder. what attachment should I buy to shine up the bottoms? Anything I should try to coat it with first then brush/shine it?
 

[JMS/.MN]

Rotary wire brush on the grinder- then coat the bottoms with grease, thick oil, cheap spray paint, etc.
 

[Fullers Farmalls]

A "flapper wheel" disc for your 4 inch grinder will work. Hold it at
an angle to the plow bottom. Don't hold it for to long or itll take
more off then you want.
 

[mike chapman]

I had good luck with flapper wheel and then coated mouldboards with navel jelly. Scoured in no time.
 

[old]

3 point snap coupler or what??? I take old plows that are so rusty that you think you would never get them shinny and not had problems but you do need to learn how to set things. To much angle up or down will make them skip and jump. So what type brand etc plow do you have.
 

[ndaircapt]

Its a John Deere 2 bottom. 2 x 14. Ive got my tire on the 60 slid all the way in but aint going to flip it inside on the rim. drawbar slid in all the way on tractor. plow drawbar angled to the center point of the plow. I made up the additional ofset to get the plow in the furrow by angling the tractor drawbar (I know, not supposed to do that) but cannot get the tractor any narrower without flipping the tractor tire.

Sa a post and some drawings on here and kinda followed that as close as I could.

Plow just seemed to "drag back" too much like there was too much resistance and forcing tailweel to jump out of the furrow or plow wasnt heavy enough in the back? It was in CRP sod. Just playing around in a friends "garbage land" trying to scour but it didnt work.
 

[ndaircapt]

Tried faster and slower (2nd and 3rd) on the 60. I do think the old hard sod was just too much for the plow on that day.

My new lot is an older farm field farmed 2 years ago. will re-break much easier.
 

[Billy NY]

I've never had that experience with the tail wheel, and am trying to visualize what would cause it.

Was the ground dried out and compacted and or are the shares worn down too much ? Besides worn shares, was the plow level both ways in the furrow and or aligned to the tractor correctly ? Coulters ? some prefer them, some do not, my preference is to have them and set them just enough to slice.

With the gravel content in the soils here, scouring is likely never an issue, but I would bet in the finer/siltier kinds of soils, it would not take long for it to stick to the moldboard, or say deep sod in heavy/fine soil could plug, seems you want it shined up before.

I'd use a wire wheel, well flap disk might be better, wear safety glasses with either, those darned strands of wire do come off like sparks sometimes, main thing is to remove rust and not take off metal.

As soon as I am done with my plows, take the air hose and blow off,(wear safety glasses)the moldboard, clean any crevices where dirt accumulates, wipe dry/clean and use rustoleum paint, and I try to do it when the temperature is warm enough to paint outside. Couple of light coats and its good to sit a long time, I have one unused in over a year, not a hint of rust and the paint is white. I have used grease, but it seems to wear off over time, had one sit 2 years with a coat of grease, one area close to the share and shin just started to rust. Kind of a matter of preference, and of course, I'm no expert, but having fooled with 3 older plows, for the last 10 years or so, a 1 bottom and a pair of 2 bottom plows, as well as heeding the advice from this same forum, some suggestions and or hints, its a little bit of fun once you have it working right and the results look good, I can recall the first patch of root bound soil I started working, results were so-so, but it worked, no erosion or ill effects, now that patch turns easier and I have decent handle on how to set up and use the plow or I at least I think I do LOL !!!
 

[mkirsch]

60 grit flap disk on a 7" angle grinder will get the bulk of the rust off the bottom quickly. You can work up to finer and finer grits, even going so far as polishing to a mirror finish if you want to take the time.

Sounds like maybe your landsides are shot on the plow.

If your wear parts are shot the plow won't work right no matter what you do.
 

[ndaircapt]

I plan on bringing this plow in out of the snowbank this week, Ill take some pictures and will see if we cant figure this thing out. Ill also take some with it hooked to the tractor from front on and rear on to show my alignment.

The bottoms have some wear both shares and landsides but dont look too awful to me. Ive seen plows work in previously broke fields with worse.

Thanks for all the advise.
 

[BANDITFARMER]

Last fall I bought an Oliver plow that had sit for the last 20 years. I got it home and went to work cleaning and greasing it. I put a 4 inch wire wheel on my drill and took all the loose rust off the points, shines and molbords. I then took my DA with 80 grit sand paper to them to make them good and smooth, Blew them off with an air hose. I sprayed a heavy coats of primer on it to make them good and slick. 4 rounds and they were shined up. I would not use a grinder on them at all, If you have a sanding disk use that. You need to make them smooth. The primer will fill in small pits and stay slick till they get shined up. I have done this many times and it allways works. Could you post a picture of the points some we can see the shape of them? I hope this helps you. Bandit
 

[casecollectorsc]

Furrow wheel on plow set too deep will make tailwheel come up. Once in the ground, stand back and see if the plow is level front to back and side to side.
 

[old]

Try adjusting the point of the plow down a little bit more. Sounds like the plow you have is a n old trip plow and those once you get them set up right will plow almost any thing but it takes some playing with to get them just right. I have a 2-12 I pull behind my 1935 JD-B here in Missouri and it does well and sits for years some times before I use it again
 

[Dick2]

IF you use a flapper wheel or wire brush, remember to wear safety glasses. If we had a plow with rusty bottoms, Dad always had us rub off the rust with a moistened soft brick, then grease the bottoms with a coat of axle grease.

Us kids learned quickly that it was a lot easier to grease the bottoms before the could get rusty than it was to clean off the rust with a soft brick that we had to wet repeatedly during the scrubbing.
 

[dboll]

sounds like the lays are worn out or the plow is mis-adjusted, I doubt not scouring is the reason, we've had the best luck sand blasting them then sanding them with a da, it also has to be kinda dry as we don't have easy scouring soil