First the Good News

[Tupperville]

My Ford 3000 is running great and Castrol oil was on sale today so I did my first oil change tractor related.

More about the replaced part that gave us an instant startup.

The bad news is the plow I bought is not going to hook up without some modifications.

I did modify my cat II upper link to fit into the plow the way I thought it might work, so I now have a cat I on top and cat II on the bottom for the plow.

The problem is the lower arms are not going to go onto the plow without arms that have cat I as from the factory at one end and cat II (1"1/8) at the plow.

I am open to suggestions to any and all suggestions.

My uncle thinks my 3000 will pull the plow and he bought his first tractor in 1952 so knows a thing or two.

But I don't think it will pull the plow without putting a lot of stress on parts and I was just going to drop a moldboard assembly and move the trailing wheel up to the second moldboard.

It's no big deal for me to just buy a two bottom plow with 3/4 " pins and move on.

The problem is fing a two bottom Ford plow.

 

[Hobo,NC]

If I read this right google "adapt cat 2 to cat 1 bushings" either way the next time you are around a place that has a good supply of bushings and pins pick some up as they will come in handy

 

[Tupperville]

If I read this right google "adapt cat 2 to cat 1 bushings" either way the next time you are around a place that has a good supply of bushings and pins pick some up as they will come in handy

Yes good suggestion.
I may go to the used equipment yard and buy a set of cat I arms and get cat II lower ball ends welded on to them provided the width and thickness of the used arms I buy are the same as the weld on cat II ends and keep a set of bushings in the tool box.

 

[sotxbill]

Lots of 3000s came with "change out" balls on the lower links... surprised that your 3000 does not. The 2000 came with fixed cat I balls iirc.

 

[paul]

My understanding is you have a tractor with cat 1 3pt hitch and you want to pull a plow with cat 2 pins on it. (After removing a bottom so the tractor can pull it.) Since it’s a plow with the formed shaft for pins you can’t just replace the pins on the plow.

Would it be possible to bring in cat 2 arms from a bigger Ford, like a 5000, and then use the shim sleeves on the tractor side? This might not fit with the lift geometry and the hole locations and be a dumb idea, but something to consider. If it would work then the cat 2 specs of the plow would all work for you.

Paul

 

[Sean in PA]

From the pictures, it looks like the plow has the pins for the lower arms built in as part of the frame of the plow and they are the larger cat II pins, and the 300 lower lift arms have captive cat I balls. You should be able to get replacement lower arms with cat II balls for the tractor. Even if both ends are sized for cat II, you can always add bushings at the tractor end to bring the hole down to the proper size to use Cat I pins there.

 

[Tupperville]

My understanding is you have a tractor with cat 1 3pt hitch and you want to pull a plow with cat 2 pins on it. (After removing a bottom so the tractor can pull it.) Since it’s a plow with the formed shaft for pins you can’t just replace the pins on the plow.

Would it be possible to bring in cat 2 arms from a bigger Ford, like a 5000, and then use the shim sleeves on the tractor side? This might not fit with the lift geometry and the hole locations and be a dumb idea, but something to consider. If it would work then the cat 2 specs of the plow would all work for you.

Paul

Yes, I considered that and looked up underneath and there does appear to be room cat II lift arms with bushings. Before I invest in cat II lift arms I will get underneath and remove one lift arm and put the 1" ball I had cut off from the cat II and see how far it is from the rear end housing.

Going to look at two smaller plows tomorrow, one Massey Ferguson three bottom and another unknown two bottom.

The Massey Ferguson three bottom plow and the other plow one have 3/4" cross shafts.

 

[Jim.ME]

Category 1 hitch pins are supposed to be 7/8", not 3/4". if the hitch pins are 3/4" they are well worn.

The category 1 top link pin is 3/4".

 

[Tupperville]

Category 1 hitch pins are supposed to be 7/8", not 3/4". if the hitch pins are 3/4" they are well worn.

The category 1 top link pin is 3/4".

I didn't know that, it looked like 3/4" on my dollar store calipers.