IN THE FIELD
How to set up
your plough
I
f you use a conventional
tractor and a two- or threeshare plough to turn your
soil there are two adjustments
you can make on your plough
and three on the tractor that
will make your task easier and
more productive.
Older, smaller ploughs are
often fitted with a rotating bar
to which the hitching pins are
welded eccentrically. The bar
itself is held firm and tight
against the body of the plough
by two large U-bolts.
Rotating the bar (after
loosening the U-bolts) will see
the hitching pins alternately
moving up and down and
closer to, and further away
from, the body of the plough.
The effect of this, when the
hitching pins are attached to
the tractor, is to cause the
body of the plough to flop
over to the left, or rise to a
more vertical position (caused
by the up-and-downmovement of the hitching
pins) and for the tail of the
plough to swing to the left or
right (caused by the hitching
pins moving closer to and
further away from the body of
the plough).
More modern, and larger,
ploughs have bolt on hitching
pins, the ploughs themselves
being fitted with heavy plates
drilled with two or three
vertical holes on one side and
two or three horizontal holes
on the other.
Movement out of the vertical
is achieved by changing the
vertical bolt hole on the one
side, while the degree of
lateral movement of the rear
of the plough is achieved by
changing the position of the
pin in the horizontal holes on
the other.
Both of these adjustments
affect what you can achieve
with the plough.
The greater the degree of
angle away from the vertical
has the effect of leaning the
plough shares to a more acute
angle, facilitating the desirable
action of the plough to
“throw” the soil, upending it
so that the tops of any
vegetation are buried and
their roots, conversely,
exposed. (A plough that
merely cuts away a sod of
earth and allows it to flop
back into its original position
without turning it over is
achieving nothing.)
The extent of the throw you
can achieve is further affected
by the type of soil, the amount
of vegetation it is carrying at
the time of ploughing and its
moisture content, as well as by
the power available to you
from the tractor, which in turn
Continued on page 24
The two types of plough adjustments: Left Adjustment holes through
which hitching pins are bolted. R Y