Plow - now perhaps a 4 lettered word

Depends on the soil and what you call "pulling." My JD 4020 pulled 4x 18 monobeam, but with the front wheels in the air in 3rd gear sometimes, especially in damp ground cutting alfalfa roots. I took off a bottom, added tractor front weights, readjusted the hitch to move it over 18" and down several inches and pulled 3x18 in 5th gear most of the time, got a better plowing job at 5.5 instead of 3.5 mph because the ribbon hit hard enough it crumbled and I covered more ground in a day.

Depends on the bottom also, mine are 392.

Gerald J.

Western PA 15 Hp per bottom 16 "  about 8-9 deep.  You may get by with 12-13 Hp. but you better be on level ground and not too stony.

I pull a mounted #64 4-14 6-7" deep in N.IL. clay loam with a WD45 in second gear, should be about 3 1/2 MPH with 14.9 tires.  The 45 diesel pulls a late 74 semi-mounted 4-14 about the same.  ( video on u-tube under Matt pehl)

I use a 190XT and a 2000 monobeam plow 4-16 and most ground it is 2nd hi, 2 of our farms we can go 3rd low or hi  the ground here is just real hard .

We pulled 3 16's in red clay here in Oklahoma, mostly in 2nd gear with a WD, sometimes having to drop to 1st if you hit a real hard spot. later, Dad got a 2 16 and put it on the tractor. Stayed in 2nd gear all day long. Plowing about 8 inches deep. Pulled 2 14's with the 8N Ford, 2nd gear constantly. Pulled 5 16's for a neighbor with D19 diesel when I was a kid- don't remember what gear. 5 16's with 4020 John Deere, WIDE OPEN THROTTLE, 3rd gear, black smoke just  rollin'. Funny thing is, Dad had an old 830 2 cylinder that would pull the same amount of plow, just it was a wheeled plow instead of the semi-mounted one on the 4020, and it'd plow on half the fuel as the 4020. Proved to me a long time ago that newer doesn't always mean better. 

Our 190XT came with a set of AC 5-16s when it was bought. Dad kept both when the farm sold in 1989. Haven't seen much use since then. Dad said many times how he would get bored plowing all day in 3rd low because he never had to do anything but turn around at the ends. The old girl was working with the black smoke rolling but she never ever thought about faltering either. This was in upstate NY clay soils.