Bout marker on Tractor Centre Line.

David. · Apr 21, 2018

Stick with it. Seening the tractor bonnet is fairly incidental to the process anyway, what you need to do is picture where your bum-crack is in relation to the line so that you are sitting on the centre-line yourself, think tacking like in a helicopter. On sidling ground this will mean the need to steer the bonnet maybe 9" to the uphill side of the line in both directions.
It will come to you with practice and is well worth it because you can keep much straighter when you develop the 1000yd stare and focus on the furthest point that you can see in the field, never ever concentrate on the end of the bonnet.
You will have to keep adjusting the markers until the bouts match up regardless. Some drills do not pull quite straight anyway but can still be made to match bouts perfectly well.

Flat 10 · Apr 21, 2018

David. said:
Stick with it. Seening the tractor bonnet is fairly incidental to the process anyway, what you need to do is picture where your bum-crack is in relation to the line so that you are sitting on the centre-line yourself, think tacking like in a helicopter. On sidling ground this will mean the need to steer the bonnet maybe 9" to the uphill side of the line in both directions.
It will come to you with practice and is well worth it because you can keep much straighter when you develop the 1000yd stare and focus on the furthest point that you can see in the field, never ever concentrate on the end of the bonnet.
You will have to keep adjusting the markers until the bouts match up regardless. Some drills do not pull quite straight anyway but can still be made to match bouts perfectly well.

This. As an old man with the gift told me- rubbish over the mark son. All there is to it.

David. · Apr 21, 2018

I considered my words carefully in order to phrase it delicately

mixed breed · Apr 21, 2018

CB aerial is quite handy.

Big Dom · Apr 21, 2018

In days gone by, i used a bit of round baler twine fixed top and bottom of the windscreen right down the middle of screen, and had a centre marker fixed to the front grill that was about 1ft tall, all you had to do was line the two up with the bout mark, and got almost perfect results when used, and cost about £1 to make......

DrWazzock · Apr 21, 2018

76masseyman said:
@DrWazzock
Had the same issue on a 590 years ago, when going from 60 to 72" centres.
We put a 72" wide bar across the front of the tractor, but mounted on arms about 2 foot out in front.
Hung from either end was a length of bar that could only swing forward and back, not sideways.
The hanging bits were above the scratch marks, and could be seen better being well forward.

Could you have been just up the road from where the bikers meet on a Wednesday evening ? Was on that road yesterday and saw a 500 series on a beet drill.

Yes, that was me. I bet I was out of the cab with my tape measure. I can hear and see the bikes speeding past. Better than being trackside at Cadwell.

Anyway, thanks folks. Some useful pointer (forgive the pun) to make something up in the workshop. Even tempted to consider a pair of offset cameras and a screen. All good stuff and what makes life interesting. It will certainly be interesting for the harvester man (me) but I'll open out big lands to minimise straddling if wide rows with the Cyclones.

Serves us right for switching from 20" to 18" rows. Thought it would be easy but the implications have been considerable.

DrWazzock · Apr 22, 2018

Tried sticking insulating tape the full length of the centre of the bonnet.

Best bit of advice I've been given in a long time @Sharpy . Can now manage to keep match ups within an inch of where they should be and good and straight. Because it's a line, not a point, it gets your eye lined up properly in the centre of the cab looking down it to the bout mark.

However, I did discover something else. After a couple of minutes I could see two lines down the centre of the bonnet. So I had to keep my left eye covered to avoid this problem. This also made a big improvement to straightness and matching up. Maybe there is some sort of problem with my eyes or maybe not as I always close left eye when aiming a rifle.

Thanks all. Problem solved with 5p worth of insulating tape and keeping one eye closed.

mushnt grummmble · Apr 22, 2018

Should have gone to specsavers

DrWazzock · Apr 22, 2018

mushnt grummmble said:
Should have gone to specsavers

Reckon so. This is why I was in and out the cab every few minutes moving the bout markers 2" in then 2" out. It depended which eye was doing the looking. Covered one up and it was a lot more consistent.

Another thing I learned was that a mark on the windscreen isn't very useful. It's higher up and causes errors if the tractor leans sideways.

Line along centre of bonnet is ideal. MF135 had a line folded into the tinwork made for the job. The "new" 565 has no built in line on the bonnet, which is pretty useless.

yellowbelly · Apr 22, 2018

DrWazzock said:
So I had to keep my left eye covered to avoid this problem.

We'll all know who you are now when we bump into you in P&B

76masseyman said:
Had the same issue on a 590 years ago, when going from 60 to 72" centres.
We put a 72" wide bar across the front of the tractor, but mounted on arms about 2 foot out in front.
Hung from either end was a length of bar that could only swing forward and back, not sideways.
The hanging bits were above the scratch marks, and could be seen better being well forward.

Not a very clear pic, but shows a similar arrangement to @76masseyman's system...

I think BSC's machinery boys developed it in the 70's when we were all going from 60" to 72" centres

dannewhouse · Apr 23, 2018

seen people make a guide to bolt on front of tractor width of drill with a chain dangling just keep that inline with edge of old drill?

I set my markers to inner sidewall of front tyres as MF 3120 doesn't have centreline down bonet but agree easier to keep straight on a centreline

Horncastlefarm · Apr 23, 2018

TripleSix said:
I've a load of Trimble hardware to sell to make a T7 autosteer....

Interested in this!

Bout marker on Tractor Centre Line.

David.

Member

Flat 10

Member

David.

Member

mixed breed

Member

Big Dom

Member

DrWazzock

Member

DrWazzock

Member

mushnt grummmble

Member

DrWazzock

Member

yellowbelly

Member

dannewhouse

Member

Horncastlefarm

Member

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

0 %

Up to 25%

25-50%

50-75%

75-100%

100% I’ve had enough of farming!

May Event: The most profitable farm diversification strategy 2024 - Mobile Data Centres

Share this page