difference between plows?

whats the difference between say a 53 plow and a 63 plow?  i bought a 3-14 SC plow and i believe it to be a 53 but want to make sure before i start looking for a manual.....both lift arms have adjustments and the bottoms have moldboards and shins as opposed to just moldboards...i can post a pic later on

thanks Mike- i actually just found your post with pics on YT...i definately have a 53

Mike described the plow FRAMEs well. Plow bottoms fit all plow frames and were sold independent of the frames. At least the 60 through 80 families are covered in the same parts book while the associated plow bottoms (frog, landside, moldboard, shin, and share) are covered in a separate parts book. Its not possible to know which plow bottoms you have by knowing the model of the plow frame. Plow bottoms were made with different shapes for different soils and working conditions. Likely just for different local preferances where sometimes there was little difference in performance. Landsides tend to interchange the most, frogs, moldboards, and shins the least. Shares are sometimes shared between different plow bottoms, but not to a great extent. There were many different shares made of different materials and shapes for rocky or clean ground, with agressive tips to suck in better or short tips to keep from sucking in. Taking the available widths and share variations there might be a dozen share numbers to fit a popular bottom. And maybe ONE of those will be found in stock these days in the world.

Plow bottoms are occasionally identified comparing pictures with the plow bottom bookss, but more often by finding an AC part number on some component, like share, moldboard, or frog. At least one plow bottom has three vintages and three ways of holding the share on with both a welded and a cast frog that take different shares. The 125 which would be contemporary with the 60 plow family.

Gerald J.

Jeff(WC)(MI) wrote: thanks Mike- i actually just found your post with pics on YT...i definately have a 53

A 53 plow is correct for a WD45, should look something like this one.

ok now since we know i have a 53...were cover boards ever available for them?  i looked in my plow parts books but didn;t find anything

Cover boards I think were called moldboard extensions and would be in the plow bottoms book. Probably nearly common for all bottoms, but there might be variations in the mountings. Won't be in the plow frames parts book.

For rocky soil you'd want a share made for rocks, probably not a deep suck but steel rather than cast iron. And maybe not hardened steel. The other changes in shape probably were more local tradition than provable differences in plowing efficiency. I don't know where my plow manuals are at the moment, so I can't look up specifics. And with the plow bottoms book in hand I'd need to know what bottom because shares usually didn't share between different numbered bottoms and in the case of the 125 bottom, there were three different mouting methods for the shares, some didn't take wrenches to change. Shares were different for each of the mouting methods, sometimes and different for cast or welded frogs.

The common element is that the 9/16" bolts that hole the landsides and frogs to the plow frame shank have the same spacing on all plow frames so the plow bottoms can be moved around to find if there is really a difference in plowing from the shape of the moldboard.

Coulters were also in the plow bottoms book and came in a few styles that fit all plow frames between the frames having the same width bars and the coulter mounts being made to be very adjustable.

Gerald J.

Is the trash clearance the same?

I was considering height also in trash clearance. Didn't they change that in the different models?

Gerald...i looked in my plow bottoms book...i have moldboard extensions on the plow already..the wings that come off the back of the moldboard...see Raikens picture..thats my plow i bought from him....but i think they call them in the book "trash coverer boards"  but it only lists them with the 60 series stuff...were they not available for the 53 plows?

well i see they called them shares, bullets, etc....but the trash coverer boards were always called that and illustrated for the bottoms they were available for..but it seemed to all be for 60 series stuff....now would 60 series bottoms bolt to the 50 series plow so i could use those cover boards?   also i originally thought that the 50 series was for the wd and wd45 but i see in the book under 60 70 and 80 series they list all th tractors they are for and even include the b, c, ca, and wd's...probably for the 1,2,and 3 bottom 60 series?  so would a 60 series also be correct for a wd45?

This is my 1953 WD-45 and a #73 SC plow.  It has a tailwheel but you can't see it in the picture.  However, it does have the coverboards and moldboard extensions.  This was at the muddy Rantoul show last year.