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I'm not really sure why I feel compelled to post this, and my daughter might kill me, but she finally got on the horse. It is a rule in the family that you cannot get your learner's permit for driving until you get significant seat time mowing. My 3 older boys had no hesitation, my younger 14 year old twin daughters have been getting some time, but 16 year old daughter has been reluctant to say the least. This has not been one of the forced chores, but a lesson in "If I want to do X, I'll need to suffer with Y". Well, the other day I asked if she wanted to mow, same question as all summer, and I expected the same answer, "No thanks, dad, I'm good." But, finally, she agreed. Took instruction with great care, listened intently, and did a great job. The 416-8 is not the easiest thing to master, but she had no problems with the clutch, or keeping the tractor on a good mowing path. Got confident going around trees. It was awesome.

I’m sure there have been threads started specifically for this topic on here and if the moderators want to combine this with one of those, please do. Per @Daron1965‘s request, I’ll start a thread about my personal favorite attachment for a Garden Tractor—the furrow plow. I want to state clearly here that I don’t claim to be an authority on this subject. Maybe like doctors “practice medicine”, I find myself “practicing with a Brinly” every time that I head out into a field. I’m going to tag a few of my buddies like @Achto @WHX20 @Shynon @prondzy @Stormin @WVHillbilly520H (If i’ve Forgotten you, not my intention, please join the discussion) Who are all “plow dogs” in that they enjoy climbing into the furrows and turning earth for extended periods of time! I hope that they will weigh in here with their experiences and things that they have done with their rigs and plows. Pictures will definitely welcome and encouraged in this thread, both for instruction and coolness factor. It is funny how people look at someone on a garden tractor turning under a field! I wish I had a dollar for every time someone uninitiated said to me, “I didn’t think you could do that with a lawnmower!” Many folks today have seen people blading with a GT, mowing with a GT, blowing with a GT, but when they see someone plowing with one—they are often shocked. Our culture has moved so far from the agregarian society that people aren’t familiar with it. I bought a 10” Brinly two weeks ago from a buddy who brought it to my Uncle’s Farm day. It was a vey cost efficient price. Apparently, he found it at a garage sale. The person had painted it all black and was using it for a yard ornament because they had no idea what it was for. The first thing I want to make clear about plowing with a GT: GROUND CONDITIONS ARE OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE! If you are trying to plow red or blue clay that hasn’t seen a drop of rain in two months—Don’t Even waste your time. You won’t have fun, you won’t have very good success, and you’ll probably break your tractor in the process! Also, be aware that a garden will traditionally plow easier than a field because the field gets compacted throughout the year with large equipment that weigh anywhere from 5 ton to 20 and more. If the soil is too wet when you are trying to plow it will stick to everything unless it is a real sandy soil. This soil here was quite sandy but was still as hard as a rock. We had trouble getting the plows to suck in. When a plow is only cutting a 2” deep furrow, the geometry of the plow isn’t correct and the next pass or tractor in the furrow is acting more like a chisel plow than a moldboard plow. One of the awesome things about GT plow days, is the opportunity to share the experience with some buddies. Rarely do we get together to blow snow or cut lawn. I like GT shows but I like plow days better. Why? Because not only do we get to look at cool tractors or show off our own, we get to use them and see them in operation. Here my Uncle Roger is using his 314-8 to turn my garden. He was cutting a 6-7” deep furrow with his 10” Brinly and it was doing a beautiful job. This soil is a sandy loam and the moisture content was perfect. One problem with most WH’s as a plow tractor—they are way too light in the front. If you want to do any SERIOUS plowing with one, you need at least a good 60-70#’s or more of front end weight. I’m running 3- 22# weights on my front attach-a-matic and a pair of cast front wheel weights on GhostRider. When I first plowed with him, I couldn’t keep the front down! I was tempted to sit on the hood and look backwards over my shoulder . Power is important and it is good to have a strong running engine. However, there is no need for 25hp when a strong K301 will pull a 12” Brinly in moderate soil conditions with proper adjustments and weight all day. Size your plow to your tractor and it’s power. Comanche is an 8hp Tractor and an 8” Plow is suited well to it. I regularly run the Punisher(my 12” Brinly) behind GhostRider (my 314-8). Conditions were nearly perfect this particular day. I was cutting a 6-8” furrow (notice the lean angle on the tractor) and the soil had just the right amount of moisture to scour really well. Tires are important. I like the modern Carlisle TruPower on the left but I know that Tom and Mike swear by Firestone 23’s and I can’t wait for them to weigh in on their experiences. Dan and I have been discussing the pros and cons of tire width. Too wide and your tractor floats more and then it takes more weight to keep it from spinning. Too skinny and you don’t have enough bite in the ground. A clean moldboard is also very important especially if the soil is sticky at all. If you buy a used Brinly and the moldboard and plowshare are all rusty, I’d suggest cleaning them up some with a wire wheel on a grinder or a drill before using it. The dirt in the field will do the rest. I love the mirror shine that Dan has on his plow here! You know the plowing was good when you leave the field and your plow looks like this and your rear tire like that! I have a lot more to say but I have a few other things to take care of right now and so I’ll check back in later...

Rather interesting reading that. Several differences to ploughing in and Not just the way we spell plow/plough either. Over here, if in competition, you'd only plough about 5 - 6 inch deep. For GT's, walk behinds. Also when you have turned the ground/sod, no grass or stubble should be showing. The Brinly ploughs seem to give a wider furrow as well. I use a plough off an Auto Culto walk behind. Ploughs a slightly narrower furrow. Unfortunately, courtesy of Photobucket, some of my photo's are unobtainable. This is my tractor I use for ploughing. The Black Horse. '78 C-121 12hp. The three striped poles, are sighting poles. First goes in front of the tractor. 2nd half way down the plot and the other at the far end. All in line. When you cut your first furrow you keep your eyes fixed on them. Looking neither left or right. Having someone remove them as you get up to them. Don't look behind on the move. You can pull the steering wheel and put you off course. Narrow front wheels. Modified scooter ones on trailer hubs on modified spindles. Rear wheels narrowed and fitted with 7.00 x 12 ags. Due to the 7.00's being two inch bigger in OD, the fender has been lifted an inch and the front spindles extended an inch where they fit into the axle. Home made wheel weights. Basically Land Rover Freelander brake drums filled with lead. About 53lb. It also has an electric lift for the hitch. A bit slow. May be modified at some future time. There are threads on myoldmachine on all these mods and more. Plus others of ploughing matches. If I knew how to put up links I would. Finally a photo of number three grandson. Ploughing with a friends tractor and Ransomes drag plough. That ground was very hard. My plough wouldn't touch it. The much heavier Ransomes cut in well.

My honey and I took the dog for a walk... Over three mountain peaks. We climbed Mt Osceola and it's east peak. Around 8 miles. Awesome trail. One of the best I've been on. Great mix of very steep climbing and flat spots to let you rest a bit. Some bouldering/ scrambling which we both love... And so does the dog. Here's a few views. Sorry they're sideways. My incredibly intelligent phone won't rotate them.

^^^^ CALENDAR CANDIDATE ^^^^

Mowing.

More work on this today.

Recovering today from our being first in line at Bethel Woods last night.

Putting all these tractors back in the sheds,garage,basement etc! That's what I'm doing!

Worked on the B100 automatic motor today. I changed the battery (old one 2012 and dead) , the solenoid, coil and condenser. My neighbor sold this tractor back tome for $60 ( he would not take the more I offered) after a newer bad hydro was installed. I have the original hydro he had in this tractor ready to install again. It had a bad needle bearing (busted out an bottom of transaxle) that I replaced two weeks ago. My my first time working on a hydro. Heavy things they are! Cleanest and most complete gears I ever saw I. The traxaxle on a WheelHorse! When I get two more guys over here some day I will install the revived old hydro! I think it will take two jacks and three guys to install! That is my Labor Day and finished motor work before 1$0:30 am!

No problem getting my butt to work. Like most every day since we bought this place I'm in the middle of a major remodel. Demo 95% done and will be building some walls today. Getting close to a complete tear out of all the old plumbing in the original half of the house and all new piping. My wife is a bit nervous about that. Could it be because I'm a retired...…...electrician?

My observations/learnings. The Machine is a 1257 with an 8 speed 8 pinion differential. I do believe that having more horsepower will make you plow better is not the true in my opinion . The Machine is a stock 12hp Kohler freshly built and used only for plowing and I have never ran out of power 2nd gear high full open throttle. One of my earliest observations was traction was king, I did a lot of spinning wheels, thus 1st things were to add more weight on the rear tires, next up as traction got better front got light, thus add front weight. I was pulling a Brinly 10" with Carlisle if I remember 8.5-12, Fast forward today The Machine sports inside and outside rear wheel weights about 125lbs per wheel, add front wheel weights 30lbs each wheel and a front weight about 70lbs hanging 12" in front of the tractor, Hy pump for lifting plow( gets pretty tough on the arm after a 12+hr day of plowing. Latest addition was the Firestone Full Floatation 23 bar tires and firestone 16-6.5-8 fronts. Tractor weights about 600 lbs plus 380 in weights so almost 1000lbs minus driver (no I won't answer). Plow is now a Brinly 12" with a guide wheel custom made by @wheelhorseman

Did this in 2009. Time flies. not a lot of pics but guys ask generic questions when building these. Used PK drawings but 3/16" steel instead of 1/4". Bucket is a scoop hybrid that the guy who welded everything recommended. Frame is a PK copy and clamps onto the tractor frame. Towers are the hydraulic tank. Arms are very heavy! Grease fittings in the pivot points. bucket: finished product First show Memorial Day 2009 Delivered a WH mower deck at the Steam Pageant.

Maybe this should be "Pinned" so when the newbie question comes up, "Can I plow a garden with my Wheel Horse", we can direct them to this!! Excellent post @PeacemakerJack

I am listening to my doctor...told me don't do anything if it hurts your back. Been doing back therapy for a couple weeks now, and it is working. So, I am spending the day watching Tiger Woods and messing with the puter.

One of these along with some long studs make quick work installing a WH Tranny. Plus they are handy for working on decks and all kinds of stuff. Mine has paid for itself 10 times over! https://www.harborfreight.com/1000-lbs-capacity-hydraulic-table-cart-69148.html

Here's the one I made for my 520 it's a copy of a Wheel Horse loader frame. Mounts to the mid mount and rear axle, has connection points to front of tractot for the tower stabilizers.

My honey used her 657 and the 1976 / 7 Ohio Steel trailer given to her by a dear friend to bring some gardening supplies from the upper driveway down to the garden at the back of the house.

So I went today to look at some wheel horse goodies. I ended up getting several manuals two totes full of lift arms, lift links, hydraulic lifts components, hydraulic pumps, plus way more. Also got a running B-80, Bronco 14 with snowplow and weights and a parts machine with no engine. Also got 2 brand new rims for some 8.50 - 12s. I'll post some pics as I bring it home and get it unloaded. But here's the manuals for now.

I'm following. I have a plow and I've plowed some gardens for buddies but I can't seem to get it set just right. I have plenty of power, weight, and traction so I look forward to learning from this great thread.

Awesome post, I'm going to grab a coffee and sit back and enjoy this.

Thumbs up! Daughter looks pleased, enjoying doin’ your wo....wo.....WORK. Another one of your chores, gone! Snow soon, coffee and buns while you watch the siblings plow or blow white wet cold nasty stuff this winter? Slippers ‘n robe?

As long as you get everything crimped! We got called to a school last Tues. They were getting new walk-ins and the refer guy didn't show up. Food was coming the next day so there we were 6:30 at night doing startups. Well the refer guy was using Zoomlock fittings on the refer lines instead of brazing. It's a crimp connection on copper a lot like a hyd. hose would have. Well the refer guy forgot to crimp a connection in the basement ceiling. They don't call it ZOOM lock for nothing!

I too am a retired electrician, but plumbing has always been a side line for me. Are you replacing it with PEX? I was old school copper all the way until I started doing plumbing for Habitat for Humanities as a volunteer and began using PEX, that changed my mind immediately.

Waiting for my Son to come over, we are going to buy some lumber and build a new bed today. I just bought a pocket hole setup by Kreg and dieing to put it to work! Randy

I go by the Brinly spacing in the manual as to say if you use the wrong hole on a 12" plow you really may only be plowing 10", I set mine up on flat concrete floor with the tail of the landslide about 1" off the floor and start with that, this is a starting point, when you get in the furrow you can adjust the as @PeacemakerJack says the suck of the plow. Usually once you get it adjusted there is really no need to adjust again based on dirt condtions, if it won't suck down the dirt is probably too hard, I see some add weight to the plow to help this, have never tried that. Another thing is if it doesn't suck down you may be going too fast.

Thanks guys for your input and the links already! Thanks @Stormin for checking in, not only with an informative post but also cool pics of your rig and a detailed explanation of some of the differences between plowing/ploughing for competition and plowing for “fun”. You guys do a great job over there and I love your plow tractor! 1. If everything is set as it should be, and you don’t ride out of the furrow at all, there shouldn’t be “missed spots”. One adjustment that I have found to be critical on keeping a straight line is the left hand bolt in the Brinly hitch. I adjust that out until it solidly contacts the hitch on the plow. Then I apply some pressure to the right side of the plow beam where it connects to the moldboard pushing it to the left which simulates the pressure of the ground working against it. While putting pressure on it, I eyeball the line of the beam to make sure it makes a straight line to the front of the tractor. Brinly’s website says to keep both bolts loose on each side of your hitch pin. I have not found this to work well in field plowing. 2. I suppose the holes make a little difference but I generally always use the middle one. Let’s see if our other plow dogs have a different take on this one. Brinly’s directions indicate which hole to use based on the spacing of your rear tires. From my “seat of the pants” testing, I generally stay with my hitch pin in the center hole. 3. Speed is dependent on conditions. I generally like 2nd gear while varying exact speed with the throttle. Sometimes it is necessary to plow in 1st. I’ve not personally ever tried to plow in Hi gear! 4. Above I listed what I was running on GhostRider for front weights. Maybe @Shynon or @Achto will check in with the amount of front weight they are using. I’ve been plowing with the CC100 in the above black and white photo for about 5 years now. It is a really good little plow tractor that holds its own well... however, I was at a big plow day in Iowa several years ago and Caleb was plowing on the Mule for about two hours. All the sudden I noticed that he was having trouble keeping the suck point in the ground. I had him get off the tractor and I took a round. I had to stand on the plow to get it in the ground. There was a clump of dirt that wasn’t coming off of the point and so I decided to investigate... Turns out that it had perfectly picked up a drag link on the point and it wasn’t allowing it to sink in the ground. This was the culprit! Who would think that little piece of metal would make such a big difference in the operation of the plow? I’m relating this story to let you know that sometimes the smallest thing out of whack can cause a big problem. Once the link was off, I was back in business! The adjustment of that suck point is a very important adjustment. I’ve seen many guys in hard ground (I.e. bad ground conditions) keep adjusting their point down without success. If the ground is too hard, you won’t get that point into the ground, and if you could—you likely wouldn’t have the power or traction to pull it! This is a close up of the three 22# weights I’m running. Here’s our favorite @stevasaurus getting some seat time on GhostRider a couple of years ago.

Great thread Josh!! I was well acquainted with plowing with farm tractors, I've used 3 point mounted, trailer plows & spent countless hours pulling 8 16's. GT plowing is slightly different but most of the same principles apply. I had a great time plowing for the first time with my Raider and I was glad that I used it before I set it up to be my dedicated plow mule. Using it first gave me insight on what I needed to do to get it dialed in, plus I was with a great group of guys that were more than willing to give pointers. As Josh said a clean plow is very important. My favorite way to clean up a rusty plow is with a Scothbrite wheel on an angle grinder. It leaves a nice clean surface and will not leave deep grooves behind. I'm also very anal about putting my plow away properly. After I get done plowing I clean the share & mold board up & wipe a layer of grease on them to keep them from rusting. The day this pic was taken there was also a farm tractor pulling 3 14's. His mold boards & shares were rusty when he started plowing & after making about 8 rounds ( about 1/4 mile each way ) he was still fighting with the dirt sticking to the plow. He was even stopping at the end of each round to clean the build up of dirt off from his plow. It kinda sucked following behind him because the pan in his furrow was full of clumps and was very choppy. The guys plowing with steam engines at this event were ribbing me because I was plowing deeper than they were. I was still nice enough to go back & clean up spots that they missed do to the guys running the hand trip platform plow picking up too soon.

Some basic questions for the more knowledgeable plow guys... 1. When I plow a row, shout there be any spots of undisturbed soil in between the furrows? 2, Do the three holes on the mount make a big difference in the mounting? 3. SPEED. At what speed (or gear) should I be aiming for. 4, Any suggestions on the amount of front weight needed? I felt as I was tractor pulling with the amount of times I spent leaning forward, or side to side in a failed attempt to steer with my tires in the air. I have to admit, I did enjoy the seat time while attempting to plow.

I changed the back rims/tires out for the ones off the Baby Farm tractor project so I get this one to roll. Fronts I think I'll have to buy a new cheap set of garden cart wheels/tires. I like the look of these 6/12 AG's much better than the 8.5 x 12 turfs that were on there.

We had planted a tree a few years ago in order to shade the west side of the barn. Well it has gotten so tall, it blocked the flag pole from view. So this morning I dug up the concrete base which consists of 3 bags of mix buried about 30" deep. Dug a new hole out in front of that tree and reset the base. That was enough for today. Like Mike just posted a picture of, it's a tad warm out there

I like that "family rule" you have there...it makes a lot of since, cents, sense. BTW, that is an excellent picture.

My honey and I spent an hour or so this morning disassembling the donor chassis that is going to become the new cinnamon horse. I'm going to vacuum it off and spray it down and degrease it a bit.

So, how'd she do with the parallel parking Jeff?

Less is more of that.

Heat advisory here. If the schools AC or coolers go down, no one's there including me. Going to finish up the cellar doors I put on last week and shampoo the truck seats and carpet before it gets too hot. After that ,sit in front of the Fedders!

Volunteer clean up day at a local church getting ready for big event next weekend. Putting the "LABOR" in Labor Day!!!

Does daydreaming about blowing snow with my WH today count?

@953 nut Couple more pics. The more I look at it, the more I like it

Starting to think about winter. Elvis' bucket needs a little TLC. put on a couple coats of Extend before a paint.

Finally! A question I can answer! That is the bracket used to mount an electric lift mechanism to a six or eight speed transmission. I just cleaned mine up and mounted it on my Raider 10.

Here is my plow tractor, much like my dads @Shynon it weighs in around 1000lbs without the driver, i am running a rebuilt 16hp kohler, inner an outer weights, hy lift and my front weight is made on an old snow blower frame to hang about 50lbs out another 12 inches from the tractor. Here is an updated pic i added a swept axle to get a wider front stance, i havent gotten to plow with this setup yet. I do prefer the firestone flotation 23deg tires over the deestone ags i was running in the beginning they make this thing dig in like a sherman tank! here is a pic of our plow ground, my friend allows us to plow here unlimited after crops come out. We average 15 acres between a couple tractors over the course of a weekend. This pic here is some of the blackest soil in the country, at around a 1/4 mile run for one pass. I also like to rough it sometimes and run with a simpler tractor my 856 pulling an 8in plow without weights. I one ran a 702 no weights for 6 hrs it was a blast! So rock on @Coulter Caleb w/ comanche it is amazing how much a little hp tractor can do! 1. No soil left unturned- its a party foul like spilling your beer 2. They do not make a huge difference, but it comes down to that unturned soil inbetween furrows i run mine to the far right so i can minimize that space (mostly from tire/axle offset between different tractors) 3. MY OPINION: 2nd gear/hi gear @ full throttle. Gotta keep air moving through those engine cooling fins. Especially with how hard most are working their tractors. 4. The only weight limit is when the front axle snaps or the spindles bend. I run front wheel weights @ 20lbs20lbs each and a 50lb weight haning 12 in in front of the tractor. The front end is planted pretty solid but can dance a little in sticky soil. @PeacemakerJack said it all soil conditions make the world. We plow very black dirt in MN. This stuff will make your tractor grunt all day pulling like your dragging a school bus behind you. We went to @WHX20 plow day thinking we have this in the bag. We will show them a thing or two in WI, nope not at all. I had all the power in the world, the sandy soil in WI proved to be its own challenge. As soon as the tires slipped in the loose earth you were spinng into a big hole. Soil is everything. There is a lot of information on this thread already. It is very easy to get confused or frustrated when plowng a small garden most of the time you dont have the run to get a good furrow so we compensate by tipping the point down as far as we can to get depth but it acts more like a shank ripper. These long runs allow us to dial in a plow to our tractors but if i stay in black soil condtions at home i dont make any adjustments to my plow from year to year. because in a large area you are going to get soil variations that make it a difficult to stay at the perfect depth all the time. So if it starts to go too deep or shallow dont get off and readjust all day you are going to get this.

Soooo Eric... If you get run over by that tractor being operated by Trina I would say it's your own fault ( assuming she rings the bell as she approaches you!)

Here's my new B80 and it does run!

Spending the weekend in Hemingford NE with the girlfriend at her sisters house...here for her brothers funeral tomorrow. Did get out of the house for a while this morning and drove over to Alliance...finally got to see Carhenge. Seen several pictures over the years but never thought I'd get to see it in person.

I'm a Laborer, Local #393 out of Marseilles, Illinois - used to be in Local #287 out of Spring Valley until a forced merger by the International. I have no real holidays here - yes, days off work, but that means just more other work to get done elsewhere. Got off work at 16:00 Friday - spent the rest of the evening working on the kid's house installing a new steel roof. Today - working at home, as always - got at least a 12hr day ahead rain or shine. I've literally had one vacation in my life - spent 4 days at an offroad park destroying my truck, helping others and in the evenings turning wrenches. If that's what vacations are like - no thanks. An old friend always said - "rest when you die", guess I took that to heart, lol. Btw - to the other Trades - It's Labor Day, brought to you by the Labor Union, not the Operators/Carpenters/Fitters/Boilermakers/Millwrights/ect....get your butt to work!!! Sarge

Whoa Whoa Whoa Whoa Whoa !!!!! Easy there Big Fella !!! Ain't wintah yet !!