[AT] Question about modern 4WD tractor (while watching Oliver Super77 Diesel)

[Francis Robinson]

	My rule of thumb (for field work not quick pulls) has long been it must pull it without straining (most of the 
time) at 5 MPH. I must be able to drop it a couple of hundred RPM and then have it recover quickly when I move 
the throttle back toward full. That doen't mean that I wouldn't do a field one gear lower if needed but I wouldn't 
do field after field at full load at much lower speeds. I don't do much "plowing" any more but when I chisel plow a 
field with my Deere 4020  I run about 5 MPH. I pull a 16' disk about 4" to 5" deep and my 24' field cultivator each 
at 6 MPH.
	My father got hung up in later years (as his mind was slipping) on deep plowing with a mold-board plow. 
He was running almost 14" deep with a 3 - 14" plow behind the MF-165D running only about 2 1/2 MPH and 
rolling a big cloud of black smoke. That MF ran best when about 2000 to 2100 RPM but he was pulling it down 
to about 1700 RPM. Nothing I could say would get him to back off on the load a little. It had to have both 
planetary final drives replaced twice. The multipower also had to be fully replaced. It got a new short block at 
about 2500 hours. When we first got it normal plowing was a 4 - 14" mold-board plow at about 4.5 MPH at 
about 9" deep It could hold full governed RPM in most soils with that load.



"farmer"


Francis Robinson
Central Indiana USA
robinson at svs.net