Fast hitch VS 3PT plow.

I have been plowing with a Farmall C with a side hill (two-way) single bottom plow for about three forevers. It has been many years since I have plowed much more than a garden or two. Now I am beginning to renovate some hay ground that has been neglected for too many years. I guess I had forgotten, or maybe when I was 19 I didn't care, how long it takes to plow one furrow at a time. How about 13 hours to do three acres? Besides that, I think there is more welding rod in the bottoms than there was steel originally.

Now I do have a Farmall 560D, which I think should easily handle three bottoms in my soils. Will I hate myself if I try to use a three point plow with an adapter on my fast hitch, or should I wait until I can find a fast hitch plow? What am I likely to find for a fast hitch, and will there be parts available? Are they solid or trip bottoms or hopefully spring resets. I have watched my neighbors dealing with trip bottoms on some of this rocky ground and it looks like a lot of fun. Plow ten feet, back up and reset. I am probably dreaming if I think I can find a rollover, but that would be ideal. Most of my ground is sloped enough that I will still have to plow most of it one way, turning the furrow uphill, and dead head back across to start over again. Two bottoms wouldn't be much faster that way than one, so I need at least three.

Harold: I wouldn't buy either a fast hitch or a 3 point. 560 draft control wasn't much good when they were new. They will be even less good 50 years later.

Find yourself a good No.60 trailer plow 4x16 with super chief trip bottoms. A properly ajusted 60 with good wear parts will roll furrows up a hill, at least as steep as you want to drive the tractor on. The reason I said 4 bottom, is you said rocks. 560 will pull a 4x16 in 3rd gear quite handily on level sandy loam. In the rocky situation you can gear down to 2nd, beams will trip half as ofter per foot of furrow, and it will be much easier on tractor and plow.

If I were to go to a mounted plow on anything IH and larger than a SC, 200, etc., then if would have to be factory 3 point hitch, or fast hitch after 1963. Remember IH had the poorest draft control on market up to end of 460-560 production, and the very best draft control since.

Don"t know what kind of soils you have, but where I live it would take a hundred horse tractor to pull 4-16s especially in ground that hasn"t been broken in awhile. Maybe 3-14s would be a better choice and be easier on the tractor.

Get a 3 bottom fast hitch plow that fits the tractor. Some have gauge wheel on them and work fine. The 3 point will not work as well on the FH. Or you can do as Hugh suggests and get a trailing plow. I would keep it to 3 bottoms as well. Like Ferd said it takes 100+ HP to pull 4 X 16's around here in places.

Ferd: You must be one of those fellows that try and pull a plow at 10 mph. I wonder why some manufactures built 4, 5 and 6 bottom plows back in the days when 75 hp was the largest tractor they had available.

I pulled 4x16 behind my 560 for 13 years, then went to a 5x16 semi-mount behind my 656. I had my share of clay hills with rocks. My neighbor pulled 5x16 behind his Cockshutt 570, and his was all clay hills with rocks. That is what you do when you have rocks, add bottoms and slow down. Most of these plows will plow well at 3 mph.

Remember a 4 bottom plow at 3 mph will plow more ground per hour than 3 bottoms at 4 mph.

No, I'm just a guy that has lived in and plowed in more that one place. In my post, I said, "I don't know what kind of soils you have, but around here.....". I grew up pulling 5-16s with an R John Deere which is only 45 horsepower. In fact, the R replaced a D John Deere that pulled 5-14s. Plow speed was and is around 4 mph. Now I'm living in a different area of the country and it's as I said, it takes 100 hp to pull 4-16s and there is some bottom land that will make a 100 hp tractor work to pull 3-16s. We had plow day a couple weeks ago and the biggest plow there was a 4 bottom pulled by an 856 at around 4 mph.

I'm sure where you live it will work as you say, but where I live it won't. Better to pull a little less, do a good job, and take it easy on the old machinery.

Ferd: You should sell some of that hard plowin soil for black top. Farming doesn't have enough profit anymore to pay those kinds of tillage costs. I doubt if notill equipment would penetrate it.

Wewll if it was me and i had a 560 with fast hitch i would be looking for a set of 540 semi mounts in 4x14 and you will never look back. She will run with that plow behind ya and pull them as easy as 3 bottom mounted .

Well everyone has their own experience with this one. I would certainly stay away from trying a 3 pt plow with 2 pt adapters. We had a semi-mounted 4 X 16 that pulled very nicely behind our 806, but it was about all the 560 wanted. We had a Case pull type 3-16 that seemed to fit the 560 perfectly. Guess it all depends on your soil. Breaking up sod, I think I"d stick with the 3 bottoms with a 560. 4-14"s might work, but not based on the experience I had and our 560 was turbocharged.

I have the 412 16" that came home the same day as my 560D in early 63... My grandfather, father and uncle and now I have used it with that 412 since new. In everything from Lake Erie clay to my riddle / loam... In that clay my 560 spent most of it's life turned up to 660 rpms...

That plow takes a toll on the FH... getting the tail wheel out of the furrow unless you have a big headland really beats it up. My FH is thoroughly worn out and has been repaired several times...

FH equipment has been coming out of the woodwork at auctions up here this year.

Takes about 90-100hp here as well to pull 4-16's at 3-4 mph. 125 for 5-16's and 150 for 6. Just what it is. 856/886/986 4-16's. 1066/1086, 5-16's. 1486/1586/5288/7120, 6-16's. 7130/7140/7150 7-16's. That what guys use and do.