Here's a few posts I've collected over the years that should help remove some of the mystique in setting up your new plow:
Attach the plow to the 3 point hitch. Drive the tractor's left rear wheel up on a 6 inch block. use the right hand leveling crank and the top link screw adjustment to level the plow share and the land slide with the ground. Do this on a good level spot or on a level slab of concrete. Pull a string from the back of the land slide to the front of the tractor or farther out in front of the tractor and make a straight line beside the land slide to the front of the tractor. The line should angle slightly to the right front wheel of the tractor about 6 inches more than the left. This is to assure that the plow doesn't try to turn the tractor right when the plow comes in contact with the earth. Think of the plow acting as a rudder would on a boat. The way to adjust the angle of the landslide to the left is to loosen the bolts that hold the drawbar that goes across the plow and attaches to the two lower links and twist it in it's cradle until the plow is pointing in the right direction. (string pointing to the right at the front of tractor) The plow will have to be raised to let it more easily be moved. Some plows have adjusting bolts that help in turning the plow and in securing it in position. This is just a preliminary adjustment and when in the field it may be necessary to tilt the plow slightly forward by shortening the top link etc. Good luck and let me know how you do.
To prevent the plow from trying to turn the tractor you need to adjust the draw bar. Think of the plow as the rudder on a boat. If you want the boat to turn left you turn the rudder left. The same is true of the plow. The drawbar has an offset on the right side with the offset turned down. To turn the plow as a rudder to the left to make the tractor stop turning right when the plow is engaged, loosen the bolt that secure the drawbar to the plow. Turn the drawbar counterclockwise looking at the right end (offset).in order to make the tail of the plow turn to the left. It only takes little to turn the plow tail a lot but do it so that the tail of the plow is moved about 6" to the left. Retighten the bolts that secure the drawbar to the plow.
Put the little lever that is under the seat in the down (draft control position) Move the lift lever till the plow drops to the ground. advance the tractor and gradually move the lever more down till the plow is at the depth you wish to plow and then set the lever at this point with the stop to make it stay there.
The little lever under the seat is the mode selector lever. It us moved from position mode when up to draft when it is down. Position lets you hold the lift arms at a given or selected height.
Draft control allows you to have the ground engaging implement (plow etc) to automatically raise or lower itself according to the texture or hardness of the ground it is engaging. If you want the plow to go deeper you gradually move the touch control handle
down just a little and then set the quadrant stop so that the touch control handle will not go down any farther than it is set. This will allow you to return to the same load on the tractor when the plow is raised to turn around etc. Draft control was the brain child of Harry Ferguson back in the mid thirties and his invention is still used today on every modern farm tractor the world over.
Draft is the amount of pull an implement has on the tractor or the depth of the implement. The draft of a boat is how deep the bottom goes in the water.
If when you try to use the draft mode on the tractor and it will not raise the implement when the touch control handle is raised all the way then the lift is in need of repair and or adjustment. Also if the lift will not hold the implement at a selected height it in need of repair and or adjustment.
I sell a jig and instruction booklet with illustrations that is for adjusting the lift on the 8N tractor.
A flat bottom plow should be set so that when the plow opens the furrow the bottom of the furrow will be flat. Hence, flat bottom plow" !If the plow will not go in the ground with the plow set flat, get new plow points.
When using a 14" flat bottom plow the distance from the inside edge of the right rear wheel should be 14" from the most forward point of the first plow. Or 14" from the landside of the first plow to the inside of the RR tire.
The tires of the tractor should have water in them or either wheel weights.
Your plow should "aim" slightly right of center. Run a string along the landside (flat plate perpendicular to the soil) to the front of the tractor. String should cross under the nose about 6 inches RIGHT of center.
[b:46bab10aad]Zane Sherman[/b:46bab10aad]
Most N's like to plow in second at nearly full throttle. Whilst doin' all this, you want both moldboard tips to be out of the ground about the same amount and your two turned-over furrows on the plowed ground to be the same height.
You only need concern yourself with two major adjustments - your top link, which sets the plow point angle, and the leveling box, which keeps the two bottoms level with each other.
One other thought - coulters are pretty important when plowing either heavy sod or stubble - helps to bury the trash on top. The settings for these are covered in the Ferguson Plow Manual - only two - depth and alignment with the plow point - they oughta' be almost buried to the hub when you are at normal plow depth - AND those little scraper shares on the jointers are sorta' important when you are in clay or heavy soil
[b:46bab10aad]Greybeard – PA[/b:46bab10aad]
Plows also come with different moldboards. High speed have less twist to them and are meant to run in 3rd on 8N, low-speed moldboard, in second. Moldboard extension bolt on at end of moldboard helps in sod. All plow require to be "scoured" (Shiny) Rusty moldboard inhibits the sliding of the dirt on the moldboard. "Scouring" is best accomplished each start of season by plowing in sand. Clay soil will also stick to the rusty moldboard. Once shiny you can move up one gear, not plow so deep and sod will flip over better.
[b:46bab10aad]Charles Krammin[/b:46bab10aad]
1- Set tire width correctly, its important!!
2- Level plow for first pass(opening furrows)
3- Level plow again after first furrow with rear tire in furrow bottom, if your setting up according to Zane’s instructions, your first furrow is wrong and you’ll have to make 4 or 5 passes before you get deep enough (if you do). Very, very good instructions but he leaves out the first pass setup and it throws a lot of folk .
4- Make sure plow is set correctly to begin with, you don’t say which model plow, but many manuals are available if you do a search for N tractor and look at the club site(though I aint supposed to mention it here)
5- And maybe most important, make sure ground is not too wet or dry to plow
6- Trash will make one clog up if its heavy enough, one trick there is to take a heavy stiff wire about 6-8ft long, tie it to beam ahead of coulter, and let rear drag in furrow bottom. this will help to turn trash.
And do not adjust plow frame or draw bar except as a last resort!! a little bit goes a long way, and EVERY adjustment you make affects something else. IF tractor is not pulling hard to left or right do not adjust drawbar!! that’s NOT your problem!!!! If you do, mark it very well so you can adjust it back to where you started.
Once you get setup with either a new adjustable link or chain trick, try this. move touch lever ONLY enough for plow to lower to ground. it should start to lower fairly close to top of quadrant. once its lowered start moving tractor and let plow dig in all it wants. if furrow is not deep enough move lever only SLIGHTLY more and keep going. You’re not setting in draft mode the depth directly, your setting the amount of draft (or pull) that it takes before tractor starts raising implement on its own. Moving the lever down more controls depth only in that tractor allows it to pull itself into ground more. Once you get plow as deep as you want it, generally 1/2 the plows width is where they are designed to work, set quadrant stop and you can return to the same depth each time. On all four of my tractors, and with my plows, this is somewhere approx down 1/4 of the quadrant.
Also it may help to explain a little more about draft control. Draft control in ABSOLUTELY NO WAY relates directly to depth control as many folks believe. Draft is quite simply put the amount of force required for FORWARD motion. Draft control allows you to vary the amount of this resistance of forward motion before tractor starts to lift plow from ground. By lowering control arm on quadrant you are increasing the amount of draft on tractor before automatic control tries to decrease it. ALWAYS on any implement use the least amount of draft necessary. Drop plow or implement to ground ONLY, then allow more draft to achieve desired results by lowering quadrant lever in very small increments. Forward motion + plow suction is what regulates depth. Worn shares, hard ground, improper timing of plowing in that ground is too wet or dry, improperly set top link, low tractor speed etc etc is what regulates depth. NOT draft control. It would be very hard for me to say move lever x amount of inches etc, that is all dependent upon your ground, your tractor, your implement, and a half dozen other factors. Most plowing problems with these are caused by folks simply allowing too much draft. By simply using the smallest amount of draft needed nine times out of ten people could get by without weighted tires and all the other tricks. That’s the secret of these little tractors, and what was so revolutionary when they came out, the fact that you didn’t need a huge, heavy tractor with heavy weights to do your plowing, and in fact they are better plowing tractors than some much larger were in the day.
[b:46bab10aad]Jack in OK[/b:46bab10aad]
