Wheel settings for 11” work

[Mydexta]

I was always told that wheels should be 52” centres at rear for 10” work, and 56” centres for 12” work.
Having seen and heard of people going to 54” for 11” work what would folk recommend for 11” as I have seen people at all 3 widths, each with its own merits and pitfalls

 

[Tonym]

Most wheel adjustments are in 2" increments so 54" is impossible to obtain without spacers or moving the lugs on the rims Unless you are using a reversible plough only the furrow wheel is of any importance for the running of the plough and the setting of the land wheel is only important at the finish to ensure you can straddle the right width to make your finish. Most of us who plough at 54" obtain it by having the furrow wheel at the 52" setting and the land wheel at 56" setting with the tyre reversed.
I plough 10.5" and use 54" setting.
By using the narrow setting on the furrow wheel the plough is 2" nearer the furrow which means you have 2" more cross shaft showing on the furrow side which makes it possible to easily take one furrow off if you need to to obtain a finish.
Hope this makes sense to you.

 

[Lurker]

Go with 52" centres for 10" work I'd say, and plough as normal the only difference it the plough is sitting a little further on land along the cross-shaft, this achieves a better direct draft through the tractor to the plough.

 

[Howard150]

Not an exact science by any means. You might well not be able to achieve exact values depending on the tractor. In general track widths are adjustable by 4” increments (2” per side). As Tony says earlier you can either add or deduct from this value by turning a tyre on one rim to give a 2” increment.
My 780 accommodated both 10 1/2 & 11” with the furrow side set at 52” nominal and roughly 41” between the rear tyres. Try and keep the inside faces of the tyres (fronts and rear) in line.
With this setting you will find that the plough is in virtually the right place when the left hand wheel is in the furrow at the finish and also the maximum amount of stubble is run down by the tyre which makes for easier skimming.
Just a small point but when starting to cast off (with the wheel settings given above) measure so that you end up with 61 inches to finish. This way you guarantee staying on top and not crushing the furrow wall. Always easier to plough in inches.
Hope this helps.

 

[mike.l]

Hi I plough with 11" width. Tractor wheels are 40" between tires, fronts are wider as its as tight as can be got on a nuffield as to finish i work a little different I try to get the land down to 55" that allows me to run on unploughed land with rear tire return with both wheels in furrows leaving 33" plus or minus very little this sets me up for my finish. Two furrows leaves me a 11"strip giving me the last full furrow and my sole furrow tight to my last pass which gives me a narrow shallow finish which is what they look for over here might not work for you guys but thats my finish. Yes i plough in inches and my tape measure is marked off in 22"segments

 

[Howard150]

Hi I plough with 11" width. Tractor wheels are 40" between tires, fronts are wider as its as tight as can be got on a nuffield as to finish i work a little different I try to get the land down to 55" that allows me to run on unploughed land with rear tire return with both wheels in furrows leaving 33" plus or minus very little this sets me up for my finish. Two furrows leaves me a 11"strip giving me the last full furrow and my sole furrow tight to my last pass which gives me a narrow shallow finish which is what they look for over here might not work for you guys but thats my finish. Yes i plough in inches and my tape measure is marked off in 22"segments

Hi Mike and happy new year over there. 11” is too wide to leave for the last green furrow or it will look far too big at the finish. It needs to be 1 to 1 1/2” narrower than you are Ploughing - slightly less in grass. That’s the reason for extra width.
With 61 left plough 2 furrows. Straddle the 39 reducing it to 20 1/2” - shallow with the back furrow, 8 1/2 to 9” with the front going deeper to put a bigger furrow up under the wheel. You can pull your front board back a few flats to avoid pushing it further than where the wheel runs but don’t forget to put it back for the next run. Run round empty and take a single off, the front body tidying up the furrow from the previous run. Next take a shallow single furrow with the back body just as deep as you need to make a furrow. Put your depth wheel out to run behind your left hand wheel and act as a gauge up to the furrow wall. When you move the plough across for this run, stop short on the cross shaft and get the last little bit with the furrow width adjuster, wound to make the furrow wider in order to take weight off the rear landside. Extend the rear mouldboard stay 4 flats. This stays for the last run as well. No need for this in grassland on the penultimate run though or it pushes the show furrow too far.
I lift the front leg for the last run. Set the plough to run with the front disc up the side of the last green furrow. If the show furrow was ploughed shallow enough the there will be enough meat left in the sole furrow to leave it at the same level as the rest of the work, just leaving a single furr-hole finish.
Hope this helps.

 

[mike.l]

Hi Very interesting we both plough antique class but a different style from one country to the other. Most of us do not move the plough on the cross shaft at all in fact the few of us that do are frowned on.This leads me to not being able to take a single furrow so we have developed a different way of making the finish remember we also plough wheat stubble or bean ground might find sod once a year . I have not found the 11" to much as it is shallowed up to match the furrow it goes against and the sole furrow is then made to be a 2/3 furrow. Going back to the start i watch a lot of the videos on ploughing matches and watch you guys plough the chip, there is very few people that do that here, again no moving of the plough on the cross shaft . Guess we got to educate them guys that make the rules. we are still not allowed the use of trip links.
only 2 years ago we were allowed the use of slip links .Happy new year to all people on the forum hope all your furrows are straight with no green left at the end of the day Mike

 

[Howard150]

Hi Very interesting we both plough antique class but a different style from one country to the other. Most of us do not move the plough on the cross shaft at all in fact the few of us that do are frowned on.This leads me to not being able to take a single furrow so we have developed a different way of making the finish remember we also plough wheat stubble or bean ground might find sod once a year . I have not found the 11" to much as it is shallowed up to match the furrow it goes against and the sole furrow is then made to be a 2/3 furrow. Going back to the start i watch a lot of the videos on ploughing matches and watch you guys plough the chip, there is very few people that do that here, again no moving of the plough on the cross shaft . Guess we got to educate them guys that make the rules. we are still not allowed the use of trip links.
only 2 years ago we were allowed the use of slip links .Happy new year to all people on the forum hope all your furrows are straight with no green left at the end of the day Mike

Sounds like the luddite faction is strong in your part of the world Mike. If thats what they want then thats fine. Its up to them and is their right accordingly.
Some of us though set off in a quest to find the perfect furrow many moons ago. Hot on its heels comes the quest to plough the perfect plot. Like it or not this hobby of ours is all about ploughing and not the presevation of tractor factory production. Comes a time though when the luddite faction imposes conditions to stop those of us who are just that bit more inventive from beating them.

 

[Farmerpickle]

Not an exact science by any means. You might well not be able to achieve exact values depending on the tractor. In general track widths are adjustable by 4” increments (2” per side). As Tony says earlier you can either add or deduct from this value by turning a tyre on one rim to give a 2” increment.
My 780 accommodated both 10 1/2 & 11” with the furrow side set at 52” nominal and roughly 41” between the rear tyres. Try and keep the inside faces of the tyres (fronts and rear) in line.
With this setting you will find that the plough is in virtually the right place when the left hand wheel is in the furrow at the finish and also the maximum amount of stubble is run down by the tyre which makes for easier skimming.
Just a small point but when starting to cast off (with the wheel settings given above) measure so that you end up with 61 inches to finish. This way you guarantee staying on top and not crushing the furrow wall. Always easier to plough in inches.
Hope this helps.

Is your 780 a 12 speed one?

 

[mike.l]

Sounds like the luddite faction is strong in your part of the world Mike. If thats what they want then thats fine. Its up to them and is their right accordingly.
Some of us though set off in a quest to find the perfect furrow many moons ago. Hot on its heels comes the quest to plough the perfect plot. Like it or not this hobby of ours is all about ploughing and not the presevation of tractor factory production. Comes a time though when the luddite faction imposes conditions to stop those of us who are just that bit more inventive from beating them.

I guess as farmers we are very inventive and and we will try to do the best job we can with the tools we have .but there are a few of us that have seen the light and want for change but it will take a earth quake to shift some of the people mike ....most cross shafts are painted on antique ploughs over here

 

[Farmerpickle]

Is your 780 a 12 speed one?

What gear do you plough in?

 

[Howard150]

What gear do you plough in?

3 levers. 2nd low, fast on 3rd lever. 2 low slow isn’t fast enough.
Trailer ploughing with a 35 using 3rd low.

 

[Boohoo]

3 levers. 2nd low, fast on 3rd lever. 2 low slow isn’t fast enough.
Trailer ploughing with a 35 using 3rd low.

You know you've got 4 gears between LS2 and L2 on the 780?

 

[Sharpy]

Would it be possible to put a spacer an inch thick similar to the dual wheel spacer to give the desired track width?

 

[Howard150]

Would it be possible to put a spacer an inch thick similar to the dual wheel spacer to give the desired track width?

It would but there is no need, unless of course you need to get the wheel in the furrow away from the furrow wall, that’s if you can’t alter the fronts to suit.

 

[Lurker]

Hi Very interesting we both plough antique class but a different style from one country to the other. Most of us do not move the plough on the cross shaft at all in fact the few of us that do are frowned on.This leads me to not being able to take a single furrow so we have developed a different way of making the finish remember we also plough wheat stubble or bean ground might find sod once a year . I have not found the 11" to much as it is shallowed up to match the furrow it goes against and the sole furrow is then made to be a 2/3 furrow. Going back to the start i watch a lot of the videos on ploughing matches and watch you guys plough the chip, there is very few people that do that here, again no moving of the plough on the cross shaft . Guess we got to educate them guys that make the rules. we are still not allowed the use of trip links.
only 2 years ago we were allowed the use of slip links .Happy new year to all people on the forum hope all your furrows are straight with no green left at the end of the day Mike

Hi Mike can you explain in the antique class how you do the last few runs of the finish what you have left and what your taken each time similar to how Howard150 explained and are you set at 11" as well?

 

[mike.l]

HI will attempt to answer this could have done it this morning but thought i should wait until my brain had got working
as i said before i plow 11" wide with 2 furrows as soon as i have finished my crown i measure to my next neighbor and work it out on intervals of 22" I try very hard to keep my crown side very straight when i get down to 55" i already have the plowing depth reduced on both sides . .I then prefer to go down on my crown side with 2 furrows saves tractor wheel pawing on the crown side this leaves me approx 33" i move the plow across on the cross shaft to the left 6" this allows me to plow 22" which i fine tune with the furrow straightener with the left hand wheel in the crown side furrow the front furrow is made a little deeper( this is where i hide any variations) to make a good base for the wheel mark to ride high. this also allows me to bring the back furrow up to 3" without fear of breaking the last 11" as the front landside has something to push on . I then put the plow back to normal plowing take the skim off change the coulter for opposite hand one. the front moleboard takes the 11" left which i make the depth to match the furrow before . and rear makes the sole furrow which is normally 3" deep Our rules ask for a 2/3rds furrow i extend the top link to scrape as much as i can get and leave a clean furrow bottom I do not move my boards much after the first set up unless the day goes ape sh!t i have missed out the adjustment of the coulters etc as it starts to get very confusing more than it is now I do all these things without thinking what i do. I only use my stabilizer on first when i strike out and sometimes on the last pass

 

[Lurker]

HI will attempt to answer this could have done it this morning but thought i should wait until my brain had got working
as i said before i plow 11" wide with 2 furrows as soon as i have finished my crown i measure to my next neighbor and work it out on intervals of 22" I try very hard to keep my crown side very straight when i get down to 55" i already have the plowing depth reduced on both sides . .I then prefer to go down on my crown side with 2 furrows saves tractor wheel pawing on the crown side this leaves me approx 33" i move the plow across on the cross shaft to the left 6" this allows me to plow 22" which i fine tune with the furrow straightener with the left hand wheel in the crown side furrow the front furrow is made a little deeper( this is where i hide any variations) to make a good base for the wheel mark to ride high. this also allows me to bring the back furrow up to 3" without fear of breaking the last 11" as the front landside has something to push on . I then put the plow back to normal plowing take the skim off change the coulter for opposite hand one. the front moleboard takes the 11" left which i make the depth to match the furrow before . and rear makes the sole furrow which is normally 3" deep Our rules ask for a 2/3rds furrow i extend the top link to scrape as much as i can get and leave a clean furrow bottom I do not move my boards much after the first set up unless the day goes ape sh!t i have missed out the adjustment of the coulters etc as it starts to get very confusing more than it is now I do all these things without thinking what i do. I only use my stabilizer on first when i strike out and sometimes on the last pass

Thank you for sharing "mike.l" much appreciated, it's always good to learn how others do it.

 

[Ley253]

Sounds like the luddite faction is strong in your part of the world Mike. If thats what they want then thats fine. Its up to them and is their right accordingly.
Some of us though set off in a quest to find the perfect furrow many moons ago. Hot on its heels comes the quest to plough the perfect plot. Like it or not this hobby of ours is all about ploughing and not the presevation of tractor factory production. Comes a time though when the luddite faction imposes conditions to stop those of us who are just that bit more inventive from beating them.

You mean the standard plough mantra! Whatever a standard plough is!

 

[Cordiale]

What tyre width is best for 11" TCN work.
Would 13.6 be okay?