Pitch adjustment

Howard150

Member
Location
Yorkshire
Bit of a rule of personal preference kind of thing. Too much and the plough will bury itself. Too little and the plough will be your boss.
Ransomes used to reckon that with the plough level the heel of the landside should make a light mark.
Very little of that now applies to competition ploughing. Most ploughmen have adjustable landsides. You are better to run with slightly more pitch and the frame leant over to the work. This will turn the furrows better and firmness will be much improved due to more push on top of the board.
It also depends on how much wear is on the mouldboards at the bottom toward the back. Set your pitch and then play about with the levelling box and top link until the board no longer steers the plough.
Get everything right and the plough will run straight and true. It will be far far easier for you to plough with as well. Ploughing should be an enjoyable pastime. With the plough set right it is.
 

MrNoo

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Cirencester
I have found too much and you get a broken furrow but as said it's all to do with personal preference and plough set up and how you like to plough. I have been experimenting with pitch of shares (cant change the pitch easily on our ploughs) end of last season and this. It has been very interesting indeed, but there is a correlation between various points of the plough, landslide bottom, share wing tip, share point and lower board edge. The only thing I have not experimented with is the actual wing angle/pitch relative to plough's direction of travel, that was/is next on the list.
But I have got to the stage where I know how the shares should be, pitch of them etc and came across a new old stock share (a rare'ish one) that works very well indeed so will be getting it down the foundry to get some cast.
 

willcam98

Member
Location
Caithness
Thanks for the advice I’ve set the point about a 3/4 of an inch lower than the landslide and will need a bit of ground to try it new socks on too think I’m going to have to cut the wing down a bit
 

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Cordiale

Member
Bit of a rule of personal preference kind of thing. Too much and the plough will bury itself. Too little and the plough will be your boss.
Ransomes used to reckon that with the plough level the heel of the landside should make a light mark.
Very little of that now applies to competition ploughing. Most ploughmen have adjustable landsides. You are better to run with slightly more pitch and the frame leant over to the work. This will turn the furrows better and firmness will be much improved due to more push on top of the board.
It also depends on how much wear is on the mouldboards at the bottom toward the back. Set your pitch and then play about with the levelling box and top link until the board no longer steers the plough.
Get everything right and the plough will run straight and true. It will be far far easier for you to plough with as well. Ploughing should be an enjoyable pastime. With the plough set right it is.
Never heard of adjustable landsides Dave, perhaps you could enlighten me with a bit more detail please/
 

Ford4610

Member
Bit of a rule of personal preference kind of thing. Too much and the plough will bury itself. Too little and the plough will be your boss.
Ransomes used to reckon that with the plough level the heel of the landside should make a light mark.
Very little of that now applies to competition ploughing. Most ploughmen have adjustable landsides. You are better to run with slightly more pitch and the frame leant over to the work. This will turn the furrows better and firmness will be much improved due to more push on top of the board.
It also depends on how much wear is on the mouldboards at the bottom toward the back. Set your pitch and then play about with the levelling box and top link until the board no longer steers the plough.
Get everything right and the plough will run straight and true. It will be far far easier for you to plough with as well. Ploughing should be an enjoyable pastime. With the plough set right it is.

Was ploughing with only a light heel mark and a level plough up to recently. Changed the pitch, some difference it makes.
 

Tonym

Member
Location
Shropshire
Changed the pitch? More pitch or less? What difference does it make? I have a pitch adjuster on the rear furrow which in reality is only to match it to the front furrow as they were different.. I tries several frogs (TCN) and never found two the same so made a pitch adjuster.
 

arcobob

Member
Location
Norfolk
Richard Ingram loves playing with landsides and who can doubt his ability or wisdom ? My take on the subject is that the plough should not be carried to any great degree by the landside, hence I use no heelpiece and a fairly thin landside that cannot carry the plough to any great degree in average ground. I do not consider the landside to be anything other than a side thrust compensator. I tend to run a slightly long top link to give slight positive pressure on the same. As you drive along put your hand on the top link and if the pressure fluctuates between positive and negative it is too short. A plough that is pitching and arching will give depth fluctuations between front and back furrows. 1/4" up at the front equals 1/4" down at the rear and a total difference of 1/2". A depth wheel placed level with the rear furrow point will also aid stability by imparting pressure on the top link.
In essence marking of the furrow bottom with the landside is not desirable but if conditions are variable, as they often are , it is better to let the landside cut occasionally than carry the plough. A variable pitch landside provides scope to avoid the plough being carried by it but you have to consider whether this is a worthwhile mod or yet another trap for the unwary.
 

Howard150

Member
Location
Yorkshire
Changed the pitch? More pitch or less? What difference does it make? I have a pitch adjuster on the rear furrow which in reality is only to match it to the front furrow as they were different.. I tries several frogs (TCN) and never found two the same so made a pitch adjuster.

you and me also. It’s best with pitch adjustment on both. Reversibles have eccentric adjustment on the left hand bodies but it’s a hit and miss affair.
it’s a personal preference affair and changes as the board wears at the back. Give them a bit more pitch, bit more top link, bit more right hand link and tip the frame over to the work. Massive increase in firmness and the ploughing looks a lot sleeker. Too much though and the boards will steer the plough.
 

Howard150

Member
Location
Yorkshire
Richard Ingram loves playing with landsides and who can doubt his ability or wisdom ? My take on the subject is that the plough should not be carried to any great degree by the landside, hence I use no heelpiece and a fairly thin landside that cannot carry the plough to any great degree in average ground. I do not consider the landside to be anything other than a side thrust compensator. I tend to run a slightly long top link to give slight positive pressure on the same. As you drive along put your hand on the top link and if the pressure fluctuates between positive and negative it is too short. A plough that is pitching and arching will give depth fluctuations between front and back furrows. 1/4" up at the front equals 1/4" down at the rear and a total difference of 1/2". A depth wheel placed level with the rear furrow point will also aid stability by imparting pressure on the top link.
In essence marking of the furrow bottom with the landside is not desirable but if conditions are variable, as they often are , it is better to let the landside cut occasionally than carry the plough. A variable pitch landside provides scope to avoid the plough being carried by it but you have to consider whether this is a worthwhile mod or yet another trap for the unwary.

Pretty much of a one shot deal Bob, that does not need constant adjustment. Get it set right and leave it. Same old same old with the facility for adjustment. ‘Better off looking at it than looking for it’
 

arcobob

Member
Location
Norfolk
you and me also. It’s best with pitch adjustment on both. Reversibles have eccentric adjustment on the left hand bodies but it’s a hit and miss affair.
it’s a personal preference affair and changes as the board wears at the back. Give them a bit more pitch, bit more top link, bit more right hand link and tip the frame over to the work. Massive increase in firmness and the ploughing looks a lot sleeker. Too much though and the boards will steer the plough.
We have all been caught out by our senior moments when we forget to drop the front body after the start, resulting in frantic adjustment in order to level the furrows. If the penny does not drop the final result can be anything from pleasing to disgusting depending on how hard the conditions are but the results of running a plough laid to the right have a strong tendency for some very crooked ploughing. The experts know how to push the boundaries and that is what separates the men from the boys.
 

Pennine Ploughing

Member
Mixed Farmer
The land slide on a number 9, governs the depth of rear furrow, therefore has to sit on the furrow bottom, or it could just go deeper, and the back wheel is only for turning on headlands, if you use it for controlling rear furrow depth, it just let's to plough wander about at the back,
Maybe hydraulic ploughs are different, but unsure why,
A hydraulic plough has more pitch to start with than a trailer plough, and thought this was to enable to work the draft when not on the wheel, does anyone know why this is ?
 

arcobob

Member
Location
Norfolk
Point taken John and as any one will know a good ploughman with a a no.9 will always beat a man of similar skills with a mounted plough. I observed this for a long while and the main difference is that the trailer plough is dragged along on its arse.. This is possible for a number of reasons but the only way to emulate it is to plough with a long top link with positive pressure.
 
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Howard150

Member
Location
Yorkshire
The land slide on a number 9, governs the depth of rear furrow, therefore has to sit on the furrow bottom, or it could just go deeper, and the back wheel is only for turning on headlands, if you use it for controlling rear furrow depth, it just let's to plough wander about at the back,
Maybe hydraulic ploughs are different, but unsure why,
A hydraulic plough has more pitch to start with than a trailer plough, and thought this was to enable to work the draft when not on the wheel, does anyone know why this is ?

The geometry of the linkage is totally different on a mounted plough. It pulls from a different height and is mounted in three places. As Bob so rightly says, a trailing plough is dragged along on its backside.
My number 12 had a badly worn landside when I got it. Put one of my new ones on. Howard’s cousin has the same on his. Went down to Sarn to plough grass. What I had not counted on was the wear on the bottom of the boards. The furrow slid down the board and would not turn. I took the back bolt out in order to let the board down closer to the floor. Went a treat after that.
most of my ploughs now have slotted holes in the rear frog.
The last series of boards from Kverneland, number 25’s if my memory serves me right, need tipping back before they work right, which means cutting a fair chunk off the board in the centre. the landside also needs re-fitting. To do this you need to slot the holes in the rear frog. It’s as well that the landside runs in the right place. It works better and leaves a tidier looking furrow bottom.
 

arcobob

Member
Location
Norfolk
A broader observation is that very few mix trailed and mounted disciplines with equal success. The transition from mounted to trailed seems easier than the other way round, perhaps partly due to the fact that the level of perfection attained with a trailed plough is nearly impossible to attain with a mounted plough. Howard may prove me right. :D
 

Ford4610

Member
Changed the pitch? More pitch or less? What difference does it make? I have a pitch adjuster on the rear furrow which in reality is only to match it to the front furrow as they were different.. I tries several frogs (TCN) and never found two the same so made a pitch adjuster.

Longer toplink and levelling box
 

Cordiale

Member
The geometry of the linkage is totally different on a mounted plough. It pulls from a different height and is mounted in three places. As Bob so rightly says, a trailing plough is dragged along on its backside.
My number 12 had a badly worn landside when I got it. Put one of my new ones on. Howard’s cousin has the same on his. Went down to Sarn to plough grass. What I had not counted on was the wear on the bottom of the boards. The furrow slid down the board and would not turn. I took the back bolt out in order to let the board down closer to the floor. Went a treat after that.
most of my ploughs now have slotted holes in the rear frog.
The last series of boards from Kverneland, number 25’s if my memory serves me right, need tipping back before they work right, which means cutting a fair chunk off the board in the centre. the landside also needs re-fitting. To do this you need to slot the holes in the rear frog. It’s as well that the landside runs in the right place. It works better and leaves a tidier looking furrow bottom.
Is it only the rear frog that needs adjusting? Or do you do all of them?
 

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