The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

Sorting my PM plough out for the Spring and found that the mouldboard front lower edges are really past it. Looked at the Westlake plough parts diagram for Epic bodies and thought I had found two new mouldboards. (Swallowed hard and coughed up!).

Today I want out to put the new boards on only to find that they are at least an inch sorter than the old ones, and not as deep (see photos). My old boards are not marked, as far as I can see. Does anyone have the plough parts book showing dimensions?

I believe these may be 39 mouldboards.

Were these ploughs available with someone else's mouldboards??

Looking at the mouldboard stays, those on my 2 furrow plough are quite different to those on an old 3 furrow PM frame I have. All advice more than gratefully received! Photos below:

Old boards


PM mouldboards old by CraigWales, on Flickr

NOS boards


PM mouldboard by CraigWales, on Flickr


PM mouldboards 005 by CraigWales, on Flickr

My mouldboard stays


PM mouldboards 003 by CraigWales, on Flickr

Different (shorter) stays on an old PM frame


PM mouldboards 004 by CraigWales, on Flickr

My Robin parts list lists both 41K & 39K boards. Stays are different pn's. Only one frog 1739, is listed.

Do your 'new' 41K boards fit?

Bensdexta wrote:My Robin parts list lists both 41K & 39K boards. Stays are different pn's. Only one frog 1739, is listed.

Do your 'new' 41K boards fit?

No. The stays are too long, and the holes in the frog don't seem quite right. The one thing I didn't measure was the distance

between the two bolt holes at the frog end, I will do that this morning and will talk to Westlake (Who had the 41k boards). If the old boards are 39s I will want to stick with them, they do a decent job on the heavy clay here.

Westlake could not be more helpful! It seems there are three possible mouldboards for a PM plough, and they have all three. I will get one of the old ones off again and take it over to Peterborough by the end of the week to make sure I get the right ones.

porteous wrote:Westlake could not be more helpful! It seems there are three possible mouldboards for a PM plough, and they have all three. I will get one of the old ones off again and take it over to Peterborough by the end of the week to make sure I get the right ones.

May I ask what he is charging for mouldboards? Are the ransomes or repro?

Bensdexta wrote:

porteous wrote:Westlake could not be more helpful! It seems there are three possible mouldboards for a PM plough, and they have all three. I will get one of the old ones off again and take it over to Peterborough by the end of the week to make sure I get the right ones.

May I ask what he is charging for mouldboards? Are the ransomes or repro?

The good news is that they are NOS, Ransomes Kristeel 39 and 41k and 665 (Mine have turned out to be 665s)

The bad news is £160 each plus VAT.

On the other hand that will see the plough good for another 65 years or so.

Tomorrow I will have A. The right boards & B. A serious pain in the wallet.

porteous wrote:The bad news is £160 each plus VAT.

Ouch !! That seems alot for EPIC boards. 183 boards maybe, as they are the match plough favourites, but not many people using EPICs - apart from you and Brian!

Went and picked up the boards yesterday. What a place! a shed full of 40s & 50s tractors inc at least 3 E27Ns, a couple of acres of ploughs, parts and other impliments, and four shop soiled but NOS Ransomes 665 boards,(They have NOS Kristeel 41k and 39s as well) possibly the last in the country? They will last me out and are probably better than repro (which are not available for epics). If you are ever near Peterborough don't miss a chance to pop in, I had to keep the wallet firmly in my pocket!

The 665s work well on the clay here, and I remain unconvinced that fashion doesn't have as much to do with choice as functionality. Anyway, I suspect it makes my PM rarer than some.

Brian and I are obviously trend setters. If anybody wants me I shall be in the workshop with a paint brush in my hand.

Put the new 665 boards on my plough over the weekend, newly painted and greased. One had the original Ransomes sprayed on stencil makers name in white. The good folk at Angliagraphicsigns.com made me two very nice replicas in vinyl which add a really nice touch. At £10 the decals were much easier on the pocket than the boards, but I now have a plough that should last until I am 133 years old before it need new boards again!


ransome mark 001 by CraigWales, on Flickr



665 Mould board stencils 001 by CraigWales, on Flickr


665 Mould board stencils 002 by CraigWales, on Flickr

I notice there is no heel at the rear landslide. Is this correct? Mine has a DMD4 heel

http://www.westlakeploughparts.co.uk/16 ... parts.html

henk wrote:I notice there is no heel at the rear landslide. Is this correct? Mine has a DMD4 heel

http://www.westlakeploughparts.co.uk/16 ... parts.html

Good Morning Henk;

I assume the heel is held on using plough bolts so that the face of the landslide remains smooth? I will go out and have a close look later, but I am quite sure the landslide is not drilled at all.

Novice question: What does the heel do??

It could be that early ploughs had them and they were found to be unnecessary, or that they are on later ploughs after the rear of the landslide was found to need reinforcement? The Westlake diagram can only be a "snapshot" of the most usual parts when it was published. For instance, it shows 39 and 41 boards, but not 665s, hence my confusion last month.

Brian's PM looks almost identical to mine and can't see any heel on the one photo I can find of his plough working. Perhaps he can comment?

By the way, does anyone have the original users handbook for the PM? They seem to be as common as rocking-horse manure.

porteous wrote:

henk wrote: I assume the heel is held on using plough bolts so that the face of the landslide remains smooth? I will go out and have a close look later, but I am quite sure the landslide is not drilled at all.

You are correct about the bolts. I notice you did not have the holes for it. Could be an aftermarket or self-made landslide.

porteous wrote:

henk wrote: Novice question: What does the heel do??

It keeps the underside of the landslide free so it will not wear and it's twice so width as the landslide so it will slide smoothly on the soil.
Maybe there's another reason. Experience ploughman can tell you.

I would have thought the land slides compacted the vertical outside edge of the furrow, so that the wearing surface would be the outside vertical one? I am pretty sure this is an original item on my plough, and have now found two photos of other PM ploughs which seem to show plain landslides with no heel. Perhaps it depended on soil type?

A friend of mine has a PM and it uses the heel. So there could be a difference between models.
There must be someone who can come up with the right answer.

When a plough is properly set the landslide should just leave a mark on the bottom of the furrow. If the plough is tilted too far forwards the end of the landslide won't be touching the furrow bottom and if it leaves too much of a mark the plough is tilted too far backwards and it will be difficult to get it to penetrate.
Properly set there will be wear on the bottom corner of the landslide. A renewable heel saves the cost of replacing the whole landslide.

Thanks.