Hi team, there's a JD 4-14 trailing plow for sale locally and he's asking $2000. It doesn't have any coulters but otherwise looks ok in the picture. I'm going to look at it tomorrow night and see how straight it is, wear, etc. He reckons coulters could be had for $50 each but that's vaporware until it actually happens.
It also needs an hydraulic ram, so with the lack of coulters or ram, what do folks think it's worth? I haven't seen it plowing - he uses his 4-16 behind his D2 (we have sandy loam here) - you can see it in the background of the last photo.
Around here hardly anyone uses a plow. Prices all over the board; whatever it is worth to the buyer! That IS a nice looking plow, many plows here have the coulters removed; unless you like the eye appeal, you should be able to flip some dirt without them anyways.
On the subject of plows; I retrieved my Atlas rollover from Santa Margarita this year. I am going to have new "deep suck" style shares installed. The current ones are well worn and do not perform. I do not know when ATLAS quit making plows, but parts are hard to source. I am hoping the similar ones from my JD rollover will work, and I am not sure if parts are available for that antique either. Majority of the old school blacksmiths are long gone here. JM might have to adapt something to make it work.
It amazes me how the folks talk about pulling 4-14's with a D2. 3-14's were a load for a D4 or Cat Thirty, 5-14's behind a Sixty or D7 in our rice country. I think most of the molboard plows in our are have either been junked or are yard art. One of the tools I never pulled behind a Caterpillar.
It's interesting the different applications in different regions. In my area, three point linkage disc ploughs were most prevalent on either MF or Ford wheel tractors. Some of the slopes that were worked were incredible and could only be worked downhill. This was in the time when the area was being cleared and developed for grazing or dairy.
Here on the west coast, a wheel disk is pretty common. Transport from field to field and covering some acres quickly. When I worked in the rice fields I was tasked with finish disking with a 26’ Towner drag disk. Imagine covering over 100 acres a day with a D7E chugging along at only 4 mph!
We have plow days over this way. Everything from lawnmowers to D8s moldboard plowing. It's an event like a show where a bunch of nerds get together to turn perfectly good diesel into smoke, noise, turned-over dirt and BS : ) You might see a disc or two around but those usually follow the plows. I have been known to take my lawnmower and tiller to some of these events too, to lay down perfect strawberry beds. Anything from 5 acres to 100.
Neil, maybe the seller missed the decimal point in the price. I bought a JD 3 bottom roll-over three point plow for the small 4020 to dress up some terraces and paid $75 for it and with good coulters. Location means a lot in price but in the Midwest I would expect to pay about $100 for the plow pictured
If you have much trash on the field, coulters are a must but with little trash they are not necessary but they do make a nicer looking cut.
Cats Forever
That is an early 1960s vintage John Deere plow. It looks like maybe a F620 model. I have had a couple of them over the years. They are one of the better trailer plows out there. I prefer the heavy duty F690 model with my D4. The price tag is about double what a really nice one with coulters and cylinder sells for around my area (Central IL). One thing we found is that Deere and other manufacturers used an extended hitch with plows used on crawlers. We have copied these and put them on a couple plows. It makes a huge difference in making the draft angles correct and makes the tractor much easier to drive.