| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| B-16_IC |
Posted - 08/07/2012 : 23:12:49
I've had the idea rattling around in my big noggin for a while now of building a potatoe plow for use on one of my machines. I've seen them for others, never seen a factory one for Simplicity, so if it can't be found, build it! I have a decent inventory of spare parts gleened from years of swap meets and auctions so I had options. I had started to use a beam from an old horse drawn but kept having the nagging feeling it should adjust. No idea if that is truly important, but it looks cool!
I had a Simplicity 8" plow some misguided soul had modified to fit that goofy Sears/David Bradley three point hitch. I bought it for future parts use and glad now that I did. Here it is sitting next to an unmodified 8 that needed the rolling coulter assembly.
And a pic of the mods done to the poor thing.
I then removed the added "stuff" and the coulter and moldboard parts. I then attached a large furrower steel I had bought at a flea market and a clevis hitch from a junk disk I had salvaged for parts.
I tried it out in a row where I had previously pulled onions and was not satisfied. I then went back to the garage, pulled the furrower and attached the steel from an old horse drawn potatoe plow that I had feared might be too agressive, what was I thinking?
That's the way to dig taters! I had heard several people saying rotting was a problem this year apparently due to the extreme heat, I'd say 1/3 of mine I left out there. Oh what a smell those bad ones offer! But I did get quite a few good ones.
I still have two rows left, they are quite green still. But now I can harvest them in a few minutes, that awefull utensile with the wooden handle can stay in the barn now. I need to pretty up some of my running mods I made and clean it up a bit, but it functions and gives me another reason to run a tractor! |
| 4 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| B-16_IC |
Posted - 08/09/2012 : 22:05:21
Thanks Chris, I'm pretty proud my cobbling worked! |
| Cvans |
Posted - 08/08/2012 : 20:34:26
Looks like it works just fine. Years ago I used an old John Deere 2 bottom plow with one bottom removed for digging potatoes. Worked OK and the Kids thought it much better than digging by hand. Something like yours on a garden tractor would have been a much better answer. Congratulations on a job well done. |
| B-16_IC |
Posted - 08/08/2012 : 19:34:14
You wouldn't want to pick up my leftovers this year! Sounds like a neat memory, kinda reminds me of picking up the dropped ears of corn in the fields after harvest when I was a kid. Not much of that to do these days the new combines leave precious little behind. |
| Talntedmrgreen |
Posted - 08/08/2012 : 06:38:35
Very nice Rich! A back saver for sure! I've never tried taters, but I sure do love eating them. We used to collect the leftovers in the potato fields behind my grandparents place. The area is heavy in potatoes which are used by Frito Lay. |
