We recently bought a '37 WC(32777) tricycle and have been using an old farmall single bottom plow, and want to upgrade to a 3.

The way we make the farmall work, since we don't have the proper undercarriage frame to pull a plow, is I've bolted a 2-1/4"x5/8" sidewall square tube steel arm to the frame just south of the pumpkin at about a 30 degree angle going up, then bolted an electric winch to that, and use it both to raise and lower the plow into the soil, and keep it at height so I don't end up with a land anchor instead of a plow. Works great pulling it with a modified reese hitch.

Problem is, I'm trying to get about 3 acres plowed in the spring, and this lil' single farmall is taking forever.

So, I'm looking at buying this guy:

I know I can rig a means of pulling it, and looks like it has a mechanical arm to raise and lower the plows while the trailer stays on ground. It's an old IHC.

My main question is, do I have enough HP to drag this through the soil at 9" or 12"?

Any opinions would be helpful, thanks!

If you live in SE MI I would say no, since most everywhere is red clay.  You don't use the levers to raise it out of the ground, those are to adjust depth.  That is either a hydraulic lift or trip bottom.  I would recommend you pass on that one.You need to be looking for a 2 bottom trip bottom trailer plow.  When you find one you need to check to make sure the trip works.  That would be a mechanism on the left wheel.  You run a rope from the lever there to the seat or fender.

You can PM me if you would like some help since it appears you live in SE MI.

But, we do have to pull a few ton of brick, concrete, iron and car parts out of every half acre. And that makes the single plow work all the harder. 

  However you think plowing only 3 acres is a big task. Years ago our family plowed over 400 acres for corn with only an Allis B with a 2 way set of mounted plows and a IH SuH pulling a 2 bottom trailer plow

I would recommend staying with the 1 bottom plow after reading your posts. First the tractor may never have the power to pull 3 bottoms, as mentioned it was designed as a 2 bottom. But back to your project.

- Garden to feed needy folks! Well I praise you for doing this in a town environment on reclaimed land!

- Second if your finding things buried in the soil all the more reason to plow slow and get that stuff out of there as you go. 

- Also with the three acres. well we did all our farm plowing for years with a 2 or three bottom plow and that might have been 40 or more acres. 

- Just get on and ride it a little longer!:) Bigger is not always better. 

And we do need some pictures too! 

Here is a 3 bottom (14 inch) plows on my freshened WD45:

Regards,

 Chris

 Another though, A lot of guys with antique tractors like to get together and have a "plow day". Maybe a couple would come and plow there.     

 Dusty

That was my thought Dusty. Too far to trailer the 45 or I'd plow it!

Interesting project, and the more people whom are aware of how food is grown the better.

I was thinking how would I farm a junk yard.

When you do pull up the brick, concrete, rebar, auto-parts or whatever, do you stack it or will the city haul it away (for free?)?   Will you be branching out occasionally to new lots? This means you will always have junk to deal with. Currently the 3 acres, is that all one plot? What do you imagine the size of each location will be? What do you do for irrigation water?

Use the single bottom plow for first plowing of new plots, then next year a two bottom after it gets cleaned up. What do you guys think of a sub-soiler first?

Survey the new plots while winter barren looking for surface wire and junk.

It will be a bad day when a tire gets ruined.

Is there a local tractor club?

Can the local highway department help out? Maybe to haul away the junk.

HS kids seem to have to do community service these days (looks good on resume).

The Scouts also.

 

Thanks for all that! 

So, the 3 acres aren't contiguous, only about 3/4 acre is on one plot, and that's what's directly behind us on the neighboring/attached lots. The rest is spread out over several more lots, some conjoined, some sole, where the sole sizes are an average of 30'x104' or 45'or104'.

Have half of a 45'x104' planted with garlic, the remainder will be various onions in the spring. It's kitty corner across the street will be squash, the rest will be verything else as we go, with a solid 1/2 acre for a corn/bean/squash combo.

Started out life as a 3, but as you can see it only has 2. And the $75 price makes it a no-brainer to swap the plow over a location, and restore the whole thing for operation. 

One rim is totally shot, plan on getting a matching rim and cutting out the center meat and reweld the steel spokes back to the rim, then some decent used tires on both sides. There's obviously a few bent parts and pieces that will require straightening and amendment, not to mention cleaning, greasing and oiling everything else. 

To address the debris issue, we keep all the field stone and collect the other debris and take it to a city dump for $20 a ton per trip. 

 Congrats on the new plow! Keep us posted. Neat project you have going!

 Regards,

 Chris