What's better for plowing Wide/Narrow?

Hi Farmallers,

Question: Does a tractor pull better with a wide front end or a narrow front end? Does it make any difference as with the wide front end you have one front tire in the farrow along with the one rear tire? Thanks!

Bob

I thought you were going to ask is a wide tread F 20 better for plowing than a Narrow tread F 20, Narrow is better on rear but on front end it makes no difference.

It dont make any difference to me, I have
plowed with both.

steveormary

Since the front wheels don't contribute to traction, it makes no difference.

The wide front may make it easier to aim for the furrow, but that's about it.

I've plowed with both. Identical tractors. one with a narrow front, one with a wide front. No difference

Yep wide or narrow both pretty much are the same for plowing

Guess I'll be odd man out.

Narrow fronts aren't much good fer nothin' anymore.

Allan

Either works just fine. Narrow front end is way more manuverable at the end of the field when you need to turn around.

And you don't need to adjust the width of a narrow front so that it rides in the furrow.

Use whichever you have, it will work.

The wide front makes no difference going down the furrow. The narrow front turns better on the end once you learn how to use the tractor to turn and straighten the wheels (with no power sterring). The tricycle front is less stable and more app to tip. For front mounted gangs, the trycycle front tends to bog up in sandy or soft soil worse than a wide front using more horse power for smoothing behind plowing or planting. Since we had sandy soil, we would switch out the front bolster for a Swartz wide front before using the front mounted planters on our 200. The wide front on the 200 was hard to turn and a bugger to operate.

I have both a John Deere G and a GW. The G is much easier to handle around the ends plowing but requires more careful steering attention as you go across the field to maintain proper furrow following with the wheel in furrow on the tractor. With the GW you just make your turn, rarely needing a brake to help you turn after the plow is out of the ground, just sweep a little wide with the front wheel then drop it in the furrow and hold a little pressure on the steering wheel to keep the front wheel lightly nestled against the furrow wall and enjoy the trip across the field, watching your plow and doing a good job of maintaining even plow depth as the soil conditions may change. (They sure do here in southern Michigan). Wide fronts like the GW take more turning room but you don't have to use the turning brakes nearly as much as you do with narrow fronts. Wide fronts are a little nicer when you're disking or doing any other operation on soft plowed ground...but you still need the added room to turn...and the brakes too. Roll-a-matic adds about 60 lbs. to the basic weight a G, GW's weight about 375-400 lbs. more than a plain narrow front G's. I imagine Farmall M's or any other tractor of this size would handle about the same with wide or narrow fronts. Narrow fronts are a lot less stable with loaders or the rear wheels narrowed up otherwise there's not a whole lot of difference, after all the front axles pivot a lot on wide fronts before the effect of the wide spaced front wheels really helps stabilize the tractor. On any tractor rear wheel spacing and center of gravity are the main factors for stability....along with traveling speed.

Bob: Plowing with narrow front you best pay close attention and have a good grip on the wheel. With right rear wheel in furrow, right front wheel takes more weight. If that steering wheel slips free in your hands, the spokes can crack you harder across the knuckles than any 5th grade teacher ever did with the yard stick.

This applies to most work with narrow front tractors and for some reason I've heard tell of more injuries from C, SC, 200, etc. than from the big tractors. When I was in high school had a friend destroy a wrist watch and another friend suffer a broken wrist both from the smaller tractor. We had an H and 300 at home, I've got wacked good by those but no broken bones.

You can relax a bit more with wide front, but it wont be near as manuverable on the headlands.

alan put the plow in the ground,look's like your city boy plowing.JUst got me a one owner 1066 2400hrs and the cab is coming off. I'll send you a picture when I get the cab an air off.Good luck Gene

That's the primary reason John Deere came out with the roll-o-matic for narrow front tractors. Keeps even weight on both front wheels and saves knuckles. I'd sure rather plow with a wide front.

I don"t see much difference running moldboard plow but wide front is a lot easier to keep over row when running cultivator. Guess I have been lucky but I started running H for real (12 hour days) when I was 11 and am now a senior citizen and have never had steering wheel to spin on narrow front H or M.

I seen a man with an 8N scratching around about like that. I thought a couple roosters tied together would have done the same thing. Hehehehe! Put that plow in the ground and plow. My old trikes will. Trike will do anything a wide front will do.

Just my personal feelings, the bigger the tractor and plow, the better the wide front worked. 3-4 bottom, not a whole lot of difference. Small tractors in small fields or spaces, the narrow front seems to be an advantage... big tractor/plows need more room anyway, so the turning radius of the wide front doesn't bother. I've plowed with both wide and narrow up to a 5x16 and would much prefer the wide at that size. We had a narrow Super C and an uncle had a wide, both with F-H 2x14s... prefered narrow by a long shot. Never plowed with anything big enough for an on-land hitch, but I would imagine anything 7-8 bottom, you wouldn't have a choice, the tractor would be wide front anyway.

A good draft line for the plow can make some difference to the steering. The F-20 and Regular I used to use were so wide that the plow was always hooked way over on the right. You had to fight that right-hand pull all the time. If you can hook near the middle and adjust the trailer plow right, there shouldn't be much of a pull to the side. Never used a wide-front F-20, H or M, so can't say anything about advantages for that configuration.