Plow Day

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Flatbedford

Minister of Fire
Mar 17, 2009
5,252
Las Vegas, NV
I took my '72 IH Cub Cadet 149 out to Danville, Pa for a plow day last weekend. They say there were 175 tractors and we plowed 50 acres.
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My 149.
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Some good looking old iron. We have a similar deal around here, but it is the next step up in size. Old johhny poppers, case, IH, fords, etc. with 1 to 3 bottom rigs. Kinda fun to watch the old iron stretch its legs again.
 
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Looks like a good time, FBF! That'd be a site to see, all those small tractors working together to plow a 50 acre plot......that'd be something I'd enjoy doing!
 
Active 2-cyl. club around here, almost 100% Deere. I always wondered when I saw these little garden tractors pulling plows, how do they do it without a diff lock? One tire in the muck, seems like that would be a recipe for sitting and spinning.
 
Many of those old garden tractors actually had diff. locks. I know that bolens had a pin on one side of the axle that actually made the rear axle solid.
 
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No diff lock. Just requires the right balance of plow adjustment, throttle, and ground speed. We all spun out a few times, but only had to back up and get a little running start to keep on going. Some guys were doing better than others. At least these older machines have a bit of weight to help them out. Interestingly, I don't think there were any machines less than 20 years old there. Except, maybe some of the bigger green ones. I don't know much about the green models and what years they were produced.
 
Makes me miss my 1965 Cub 123... just sold it in March.
 
That is sad.
 
Nice pics. It is great when a group can get together and chew the fat. Here is a plow day two years ago a few miles up the road from me in NH.

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The smaller tractors were in the upper fields. The annual plow day should be coming up soon.
 
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Wow... still have a foot of snow here and ground will be frozen solid for at least another month! Dug a trench last year in mid June and I was still hitting ice.
 
That's cool, love the steel wheel tractor.

I've plowed a few acres with my tractor and being an engineer, had the plow set up and adjusted to perfection so that it would have the proper attack angle and a flat bottom when I had half of the machine on the dirt and half up on the sod. Anyway, traction is not a problem. That plow tries to suck itself to China so the plow puts weight on the rear tires. No diff lock needed unless maybe you stop and it's uphill or wet.
 
Those plows are set up perfectly! Some serious horsepower there too.
 
Those JD 430s are monsters. Hardly a garden tractor if you ask me.
 
Those JD 430s are monsters. Hardly a garden tractor if you ask me.
Interesting point. At what point is it a compact tractor and not a garden tractor anymore?
 
Interesting point. At what point is it a compact tractor and not a garden tractor anymore?
Personally I would say if it's backhoe capable , that's a good indicator that your no longer in Garden Tractor territory. That's not a hard and fast rule however. Neither is this one, if it comes with a mower deck (included in the price of the machine, not as a separate attachment) then it's a garden tractor.

These days the riding lawn equipment category (and a little beyond ;)) is broken down like this:

Rear-engine Riders (picture the Snapper riders that were popular in the 70's/80's)

Lawn Tractors, Front engined machines with mid mounted mower decks - NOT rated for ground engaging attachments like a tiller.

Garden Tractors - Also front engined machines (generally, Gravely just had to be different, :p) that ARE designed to run tillers and other ground engaging attachements.

Sub-Compact Utility Tractors - SCUT (Think Kubota BX, John Deere 2210, 2305, 102x machines) Generally loader/backhoe capable machines that also have mid-mount mowers available. Rear PTO and 3 pt hitch is present as well.

Compact Utility Tractors - Rear PTO/3 pt hitch, Definitely loader/backhoe capable, generally 20-60 HP. May or may not have a mid-mower option. Within this category there are three frame sizes, small (Deere 2x20 series or Kubota B3030 type machines), medium (Deere 770/790, 3x20 series), and large. (Deere (4x20's, 970/990, etc.)

Utility Tractors - Basically small farm tractors that may not have fully adjustable tread width, dual tire options, etc. Examples are the Deere 5000 series machines and the Kubota M series.
 
Stan Rogers, The Field Behind the Plow.

"... So ease the throttle out a hair, every rod's a gain, there's victory in every quarter mile."

 
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