Disc Plows (vs Moldboard Plows)

big_red_man · Jul 21, 2012

Unusual for this time of year, but we got over five inches of rain in south central Texas about a week ago. Ground was terribly cracked and virtually none of the rainfall ran off. I've been plowing with my '39 H and a two disc plow. Wow, it pulls hard! I can only go in second gear for about a half-round and then have to stop and let 'er cool or it'll boil over. Do disc plows normally pull hard?

rhtx55 · Jul 21, 2012

Disk plows actually pull a bit easier than molboard plows especially in this "like concrete" clay we have around here. Any plow will pull hard in dry clay, it's much easier to turn the soil over in the spring or fall when soil moisture is much higher.

CNKS · Jul 22, 2012

Moldboard plows are made for wetter soil, disk plows won't shear in wet soil. You said central TX, which to me means Waco and clay. I grew up about 80 miles north of Laredo. Pulled a 3 disk semimount HM 150 with an H in 2nd gear. We had mostly silt loam, much easier to pull. I would say your conditions are normal. Don't try going so deep. Our H would pull maybe 6 inches in hard, dry ground, as much as 10 if there was much moisture. Raise it an inch or so.

CenTex Farmall · Jul 22, 2012

I'm a bit north of Waco on black clay. 3-12's on a moldboard is all a regular M wants! I have one of each and if the moisture is not just right the moldboard has trouble scouring. The disc plows were pretty popular around here and a lot of old ones around. The disc plows seem to handle the clay easier but leave a rougher field. The moldboard seems to pulverize more when it does work. It's sort of like a pizza cutter vs. a regular knife. The rolling action seems to help in sticky stuff.

CNKS · Jul 22, 2012

Yes, the disk plow leaves clods. There were scrapers for the disks, but if they were needed it was too wet to plow anyway. In silt loam like in western KS, the moldboard does pretty good in fairly wet soil. There are zero disk plows up here, for that matter no one plows anymore, possible exception is turning alfalfa under to plant corn. Luckily I never had to fight clay.

CenTex Farmall · Jul 22, 2012

Yeah, the scrapers are either long gone or badly mauled by now. I agree, if you need the scrapers it's too darn wet.

I have a couple of patches of more mellow soil and it's fun to watch the moldboard do it's thing in that stuff. Really goes to town and pulverizes the dirt really well. Most of what I have on this place is 12 o'clock soil. At 11 o'clock it's too wet and at 1 o'clock it's too dry.

Disc Plows (vs Moldboard Plows)

big_red_man

Member

rhtx55

Member

CNKS

Well-known Member

CenTex Farmall

Well-known Member

CNKS

Well-known Member

CenTex Farmall

Well-known Member

Similar threads