Chisel plow sweeps

[Paul swpa]

I was thinking of putting sweeps on my Landoll soil master chisel plow (drag type). It is a 5 shank unit, currently use 4" twisted points, pull with an 85hp (IH 3088).
If sweeps are a good idea, how do I determine what width to get? Current spacing is about 16" centers, should I use 16" sweeps?
Aplication will be grain stubble prep for double crop beans, and/or bean stubble for fall grain planting.
Any advice is appreciated.

 

[JMS/.MN]

If you want a full undercut, use the sweep that matches the shank spacing. Sometimes I use 12 inch on a White 435 12 shank, 12 inch spacing. It disturbs less soil than the 4 inch twists.

 

[Texasmark1]

I run sweeps a couple of inches overlapping I am pulling 12 10" sweeps with 3 rows of spring finger smoothers with a 65 engine hp 4wd. Guarantee you that you need to get the pulling angle correct or it won't pull it. The sweeps are offset in 3 rows so there is maybe 5' front to rear on the plow. I use it as a cultivator, not a plow.

HTH,
Mark

 

[Paul swpa]

Thanks for the info Mark.

That was my idea, to use it more as a field cultivator than a plow. Sweeps will be offset in two rows - two up front and three in back. The unit has a homemade leveling rack on back the previous owner had made for it.

Could you explain a bit more what you mean by correct pulling angle though, that has me confused a bit - level unit front to back side to side when in the ground?

 

[Paul swpa]

Thanks JMS. that is part of what I was thinking as I want to cut the weeds off and loosen the ground for my conventional drill.

Thought I would ask here about it before I spent the money on sweeps and found out it wouldn't work for me.

 

[LenND]

To make it easier pulling you could get by with 10" or 12" shovels. They will still overlap 4 or 5 inches and pull a lot easier than 16' Sweeps.

 

[4020deereboy]

I put 14s on my John Deere 100 chisel with 12 inch spacing I wish I'd have put 16s on because I've done 500 acres and they are starting to mis a little bit

 

[Texasmark1]

The implement is 3 pt. If I don't have my 3rd member set right, it will skip over the soil if too long, and dig in to the point of stalling the tractor if too short.

I know when I have it right as the engine keeps it's rpm's within 100, and I can run in mid range gears at a reasonable clip, and all the sweeps have the same amount (height) of dirt on their shanks.

This is my first 4wd tractor and I had pulled this cultivator with a 4230 JD 2wd with 100 drawbar hp in mid range gears. This little tractor is 65 engine, 57 drawbar, Cummins 3.3 liter 4 cyl direct injected and it just hums right along. I had heard that the performance of 4 over 2 wd tractors was impressive, but I had no idea.

HTH,
Mark

 

[Paul swpa]

Thanks Mark,

That's what I thought you were meaning, mine is a drag unit but still has a leveling top link to the drawbar hitch to level front to back given different drawbar higths and running depths of unit.

I've also heard that 4wd will out pull a 2wd in nearly all instances not just when it's wet.

One other question I have is about ground speed. Will it work better at faster speeds or can you go slower and still do a good job (2-3 mph vs. 5-6 mph). I have pulled a 5 bottom 16" moldboard plow with this tractor before just not as fast as I normally want to go with the chisel plow with 4" twisted pionts.

 

[Texasmark1]

It doesn't seem to matter, unlike a disc harrow/plow. Actually if you go slower, you give surface material (that you are trying to kill) time to work by the shanks and fall behind you.

I read your answer below to killing weeds before drilling and that is what I used mine for. It's really a harrow, not a plow and it needs softer soil to work properly. In my early days when I was attempting teach yourself Farming 101, I tried to plow up hard soil and it just skipped across the surface.

If I have some soil that hasn't seen steel, I either run a Hayme deep cutting chisel if really bad then a disc harrow/plow, or if it isn't all that bad I just disc it. Then after the weeds have emerged that the plow "found", I come back with it and follow with the drill. The spring fingers added to my harrow leave the soil baby's rear smooth.

On the fingers, I had the harrow and went to the auction yard and found a set of spring fingers on their own rack. I brought them home, cut them to size and bolted them to it. Works great and is a one pass operation. Much better results than with a chain or log.

Mark

 

[Paul swpa]

Thanks again for the info Mark.

I guess what got me going down this road was seeing sweeps for chisel plows listed in an aftermarket parts catalog when I was looking for row crop cultvator parts. I have been looking for a small used field cultivator to try to do this with, after seeing how a friends field cultivator performed, without success (atleast in my price range - cheap) and thought these sweeps might do the trick as I already have this soil master unit. It had never impressed me much unless I could go a foot or more deep and very fast (for me - 6 mph or better). Also in dry ground it tends to work better, which I rarely have unless we start toward a drought like up until last night when we got our first significant rain (1") since early June. Most times I'm wet and all it will do is pull up these 4" wide strips and leave the gaps between hard making for some rough fields. I have tried different methods of using it, multiple offset passes, changes in direction when possible (90 degree), same results. (If I've got to tramp over a field half a dozen times I might as well moldboard plow it and be done with it). Works good though if I use in the fall/early winter and let the freeze/thaw cycle work on it - field is just like driving in sand. Not too good for double cropping or fall planting.

I have been no-tilling most crops the last couple years - borrowing a nieghbors no-til drill for beans and small grain (which causes problems of it's own). And smaller, 10'-12',used no-til drills tend to be way overpriced and/or worn out in my area. If I can get the ground somewhat loosend up (2-3") I can use my conventional drill and do it in my time frame. Added benefit if it knocks out many of the weeds I could skip one spraying, atleast for double crop beans.

As for the hardness of soil, that will probably be the catch. Our ground is clay, clay loam based, with shale knolls. I have seen it vary three different ways in a 5 acre field, the bigger the field generally more variation. All are rocky someplace and most are wet, except for the shale.

I really appreciate all the information from everyone. I've been farming about 40 years but doing it the "old" ways and am tryng to catch up with some of the "new" ways to hopefully keep going another 40 , if I'm lucky.

Thanks,
Paul