The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

Hi I'm after a bit of advice on which plough to buy, Ive currently got a six cylinder major running on 16.9 30 tyres and I wanted to know what would suit my tractor best, I want something with a depth wheel don't mind 2 or 3 furrow it'l only be used for my own ploughing and there is one local plough match I wouldn't mind going to only In novice any suggestions cheers

With six pots up front you could probably draw a couple more furrows if you wanted. A browse round ebay or youtube might give you some ideas although they don't all identify what implements are being used on videos and auctions alike.........

Anyhow, thought you were probably going to finish off with a BIG Boughtons winch to make use of all those horses jumping up and down inside

I have got a 3 point winch for her ,but I wanted to use her for more than just winching once you get the boughton bolted on rear it's too much hassle to take off, so I wondered what plough I need would a 14" do or did Ransomes make a wider plough I don't want more than 3 furrows I've got some steep banks cheers

Ah, thats why I said Boughton - just been re reading the timber extraction / haulage books by Maurice Sanders and there doesn't seem much a well placed Boughton and ex military wagon can't move and most of the tractors during 'the period' seem to be Majors. Yes a TPL mounted winch may give you some weaknesses against a built on job but as you say you can use her for other things besides.

I'm no plough expert (probably know more about steam ploughs than tractor! my direct use has been mostly single furrow in bogland or over ironpan !) but our old Ransomes was a 3 furrow with long iron flame cut down to 2 before Dad got it and because so much of the use was through tree roots or iron pan, clogging between furrows was a serious problem so he ditched the 2nd (which I think the metal fairies may have nicked) set leaving the downcomer of the frame there and by using an old scaffold clip in the home at the bottom was able to use a 2 wheel trailer behind it avoiding the need to drop the plough off each time. One think I can attest to, there is not much on a Ransomes that you can break without really abusing it.

With those great wide boots on the back you are going to need something giving wide furrows - probably makes sense to see what older type plough neighbours used as the variety of coulters shares and mouldboards Ransomes alone made to suit different types of land beggar belief ! http://www.digitalagrimanuals.com/ranso ... -198-c.asp shows the front page of a number of ploughs, I have found it handy when someone has mentioned a particular sort by model.

I take it you don't have enough ground to need or justify a reversible ? then its a case of ad in the parish mag / gumtree / preloved or the comics and see what turns up at the right price - whatever you end up with hung on the back its not likely to hold her back much.

BTW as a woodman one of the Sanders stories might amuse, some outfit ran a competition in one of the farming mags with a prize for whoever ended up having the biggest Walnut tree, hundreds of hopefuls wrote in and they used the resulting list over the next decade or two to go round buying the best up to mill (probably rifle stocks) nice bit of low cost market research

I always fancied one of those disc ploughs as something different but as it looks like I shall soon no longer have the land or timber to maintain and the old Major will actually retire at last, its academic

One of the six cylinders that I built went to work on a three furrow Lemken reversible. We took her out for the first time on the plough and she ploughed, three 14" furrows, around 10" deep in fifth gear easily. The Lemken was a nice light plough, far lighter than a three furrow Ransomes.

I've still not found a plough yet, So has anybody got one that's not too far from me they would like to sell

The search is over I picked a plough up tonite two furrow ts59 don't think it's done much work but it's been stood many years and is quite rusty going to take a bit of shining up, the disk seem ok but there's no skimmers will I need these or will it still plough tidy without? Il get some photos as soon as I get chance

Err.. it'll plough...

Skims would've been more use than discs I would have said, although probably depends on your soil type?

I would expect a similar result to this - although given the amount of stubble here, he's doing ok, and I wonder if he took his skims off to prevent choking?

(same plough as yours, by the way?)

I spoke to westlake ploughs he got the bits I need but he wants £200 so I think il just make do with what I've got and hope sum cheaper ones turn up

You can still do very tidy ploughing without skimmers, Woodcutter.
I haven't even seen any since we came to Canada, but can plough and bury most stuff without. Most of my ploughing is hayland that is needing to be turned under.
I can not understand folks using a chisel plough on hay-land. terrible mess and takes ages to break down!
Ploughed under, and leave the sod buried. Work it light. after a year, it's no bother to cultivate.
My tractors all have 16-18" tyre width, but work well with a 14-16" plough.
Pleased you got one! (plough) I would still like one for my FSM or PM!! Have an old Oliver 2 x14" pull type, but mouldboards are Very short and tight.