Traction Problems

Ron..

Thanks for all the responses and ideas. Here are some answers to the points raised. The tires are 14.9x 28. The tread looks very good to me. It’s a staggered long bar short bar pattern and yes they are facing correctly. (see picture) Both front and rear has been widened since this photo.
The soil has a lot of clay in it but it has been abnormally dry here this spring. The plow is a 3 point hitch two bottom (converted 3 bottom) 14”. New points, landsides etc and I have a manual and feel its set up correctly although I am a novice. Not sure what is meant by the hitch going uphill? I have more problems with the disc than the plow but both are a problem. The disc has a self-leveling hitch. First time over it with the disc is very tough. You can’t go up hill at all with the disc down and barely can with it up at times. If fact this year I tried pulling it with my Cat D2. No traction problems but its an early model and doesn’t have the HP to pull it at a fast enough speed. Still it made the first go around easier. I have tried numerous combinations of throttle and gear selection. Usually the best seems to be 3rd gear with plenty of throttle. I checked the air pressure tonight and reduced it to 12lbs in each. One was 16 and the other 18. Tomorrow I am going to pick up an additional set of rear weights. Can I get wider tires to fit these rims? I think they are 13” wide. The wheels are power adjust. Can one put duals on such a setup? I just have never seen them on a tractor this small. Thanks again for all your help!
Tim

Lower air pressure will help.

Less weight on the front, a bit more on the rear will help for the disk. Duals will help in wet condion, but frankly in dry ground will decreace lbs per inch & not add a whole lot.

A 3pt plow should be adding wieght to the rear wheels, should have no problems there..... If you had a trailer plow on wheels, then it helps to angle the hitch from the plow up to the tractor drawbar - transfers weight from the plow to the rear wheels. Your 3pt plow should naturally be doing this.

How deep are you going with the plow? A 14" plow should be going about 7 inches deep. Has this ground been worked lately, is there a plow-pan you are catching. Was it used for a parking lot? My sis bough a place with a 4 acre bean field, could hardly work it up for her after the auction the previous owners had and all the pickups were in for a parking lot....

What size disk blades are on the disk? Some light duty disks are around 14 - 16 inch blades & a tractor hardly notices the thing, while some are breaking disks & have 22 - 24 inch blades heavt frames & weight added and a 150 hp tractor can be loaded with a 10 foot disk....

Difficult soil conditions can be a problem. Very, very, very dry ground can make my tractor stand up on it's hind legs when plowing, & I have a bigger setup with more weight all around.

Traction in loose ground with a disk can be 'interesting' depending on a whole lot of conditions - moisture, disk blade size, soil type....

--->Paul

There's a real quick, cheap, easy fix to your problem. Lose the front weights. The front is too heavily ballasted, and it's actually taking traction away to push those front wheels through the loose ground. Yeesh, there must be over 600 pounds on there. You should have adaquate weight on the rear now. The 14.9x28 DynaSlips should do the job, but they're nothing extra in terms of traction. I'd definitely take the front weights off, and see how that fares out. Good luck.

Rod

I was going to say the same thing.

No disrespect to Tim’s tractor, but the picture reminds me of the old story about the new bride who had just baked a pan of biscuits.

New husband comes in, grabs one and throws it over to their little pet dachshund. Dog catches it in his mouth and when he does, his rear feet come off the ground. :>)

Allan

That's just what I needed to hear today. ROFLMAO.
Have a good 'un.

Rod

Like Rod says, front end weights are a constant 'on again/off again' thing depending on the job you are doing.

Hope ya get 'er all figured out and runnin',

Allan

I know what you mean about no level ground. I've got a few hundred acres like that. Just ballast the front of the tractor enough to keep some steering. You're going to have to try and draw a balance between steering and traction. I would think that with the plow, you might need one or 2 blocks, with the trailing disc, none. The bushhog may require several of them. The proper weight distribution on a 2-wheel drive is 75-25 rear to front. Your's is approaching 60-40, which is roughly how I balast my MFWD tractors. Just remove weight, and be careful. Good luck.

Rod

What size tires are on it? Good ag pattern, aimed in the right direction right?

What kind of plow - how's it hook to the tractor. Are you transfering weight from the plow to the tractor (hitch going uphill when in the ground)?

What type of soil? I can spin out on my sand hill, spin out in my peat ground, and run all day without any wheel slip on my yellow clay. Unless it's wet of course! Took me an hour to get the big fellow out of the mud yesterday.....

--->Paul

Add your second set of weights and drop that pressure to 12 pounds. Then, just watch 'er bite.

Allan

Try letting some of the air out of the rear tires. This will get the tires to flatten out and get more of the tread in contact with the ground.

Also, try a slower gear and more throttle.

Maybe someone else will have a better suggestion. Good luck.

Is your plow 3ph mounted or pull type. Are you properly hitched? What about gear selection and throttle settings. It mabe you nedd to slow the engine down some and gear up. I would think you should be able to pull the plow and disk at about4.5mph. Good luck and be careful.

steveormary