656 Wheel Spacing for 3-16 plow.

[LMack]

I have plowed many acres with a 656 and a 3-16 flip plow. The front and rear wheel spacing was 76-inches center to center which was also good for 38-inch rows which we had standardized to back in the day. As such we never touched the wheels to alter the spacing. Some space cadet on UTube is trying to convince me that we got it all wrong and the correct spacing was something less than 60-inches. He uses some formula to determine the correct spacing. Is my memory that flawed? Help me out here.

 

[fastfarmall]

if your right front wheel and rear wheel are next to the furrow, what more can you do, at least with a regular plow,and your front bottom is taking a full cut,i would say your good,especially on a mounted plow!

 

[steve_in_mo]

Ideally you would pull from the centerline of the tractor through the centerline of the total width of the plow shares.
The right rear wheel would run in the previous furrow at a width such that the first share would cut the same width as the others. The left rear wheel width/distance between rear wheels are not critical.

 

[caterpillar guy]

I never plowed in the furrow with a plow. but I suppose if he is plowing on land with something less than 60 inch that could work with 3 bottom though they would have to be slid way in. We used to plow on land with 4-16's and 6-16's never had anything smaller to use. D-4 would pull 4-16's pretty easily. Later we put 6-16's on it for a try. Would pull it in 2nd and the 4-16's in 3rd. Usually used a D-6 for the 6 bottom or when it got dry enough the 806D. Plowed on land with them too.

 

[Roger Tomfohrde]

It is in your description that you are center to center and the cadet is between tires , add one width of tire and you get about the same dimension. Personally I am of the crowd that is if it works don't mess with it.

 

[LMack]

Seems to me that the plows were made for the tractor and not the tractor for the plow. The tractor manufacturers wanted to make it as simple as possible and when we tended to standardize to 38-inch rows for a short time they tried to make the plows work so that the row crop tractors did not need wheel adjustment, at least for plowing to planting and cultivating. If you were on land plowing, it would not make any difference how you set your wheels as long as they were not too wide. Wheel spacing was determined for the plow by the manufacturer and it was best to use the specified wheel spacing at least for in furrow plowing. That wheel spacing could be found in the plow operating manual.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Yes there are formulas. In fact there are entire books on the subject.

Usually the settings are given to you in the manual for the plow.

Nowadays we tend to "over-horse" plows so things like draft angles aren't so important, but back when farmers were plowing with H's and M's, an inch could make a ll the difference in the world between a tractor that pulled the plow arrow straight hands-off, and one that you had to fight to keep in the furrow all day.

 

[LMack]

I agree and understand. Most of the make it fit was for pull behind plows back in the day of Farmall Regulars, Model 20's and 30's and even the letter series tractors. Mounted plows created a whole different issue even for these and that was the context of the question. Single mounted plows for the early Farmall were not centered on the tractor but offset right to match the pre-determined wheel setting for the tractor. For two plow tractors the plow hitch was offset to match again a pre-determined wheel setting for the tractor and those wheel settings could be found in the plow manual. As the horsepower and the plows increased the plow hitch modifications and wheel settings were appropriately set by the manufacturer. Even for Simi mount plows the proper wheel setting could be found in the plow manual.