Club member Patrick Veale writes. “Thanks for a good Club magazine, with lots of interesting articles. However, there is a topic that would help me a lot. You obviously have several experienced ploughing persons and I require advice on how to set up a Ferguson plough and how to keep it at its best when ploughing a field. What happens when you lengthen or shorten the top link, how does the plough behave when you alter the twist on the drawbar, etc. A detailed article from someone would be great.
I live on the edge of Exmoor, and have a TEF20 and three-furrow plough. I have very little ploughing within driving distance of home. I don’t have a pick up and double axle trailer to cart it around the country, and there seems to be few working days in North Devon or Somerset that I can reach”.
We asked ploughing expert Basil George for his advice.
A TEF20 with a Ferguson two-furrow plough at the Ryedale working weekend at Marishes near Malton back in 2014. Alwyn Pickles
Harry Ferguson designed a plough long before he designed a tractor to pull it. When he did, it was designed to be part of the tractor through his three point linkage and the design of the top link when pressure from the working plough would transfer the weight through the top link onto the back axle, giving better traction. He published the Ferguson (mould board) Plough Manual in 1947 (priced at the time at 2’6). If The Ferguson Club can not supply a copy of this manual I am sure it can advise where it can be found. It makes good reading for those long winter nights!
From time to time I have been asked how to set up the Ferguson two-furrow GP plough onto the rear of a T20 tractor. The first thing that should be tested is that the hydraulics are working correctly: fit the plough onto the tractor, lift the plough up to its transport position and the large spring fitted to the front end of the top link system should be able to turn by hand (or the spring must have no more than 020″ end play). If this can not be achieved and the spring is solid, then look into the tractor manual for all the instructions needed under the heading ‘Hydraulic System General Description’
Regarding the setting up of the plough for work, I set out below some points which might help.
Once the hydraulics have been tested, always start with a new pair of plough shears/points for the 10″GP plough. The tractor wheel setting should be 48″ track front and back. Recommended tyre pressure on rear tyres should be 12lb.
The top link setting is important using the Ferguson Top Link. The two marks on the top link shaft should be level. However, if ploughing with a three-furrow GP the top link might have to be lengthened by one hole.
Ensure the cross shaft is correctly set looking from the rear of the tractor the right lower link fitting must be down while the left one is up. Welded to the bottom of the bar to the right side is a small length of square bar. This is set to rest alongside the U bolt on the right hand side. If, however, that has gone missing, the best way to deal with the problem is to measure the distance from the shaft on the left side of the cross member from the inside of the ball hitch to the outside of the plough frame: for the two-furrow GP it is 9 7/8th inch (240mm) and for the three-furrow it is 5 1/2″ (l40mm).
The setting of the coulter on a two and three furrow ploughs is 1 1/4″ to 1 1/2″ from the top of the new shears and would need to be adjusted as wear develops. If the plough is fitted with a front furrow adjuster set the cross shaft with the right hand side pointing straight down and left side up and pinch the lock nuts on the adjuster handle straight up, which will give equal movement back or front. The coulters should be set to cut the furrow in line with the land slide on both furrows to give a 10″ furrow. Land slides are fitted to the plough body frame to match up with the side of the plough shear and can be adjusted to suit soil conditions etc. If the plough has skimmers fitted to the coulter stems set the point of the skimmer close to the coulter blade with a gap on the top of the blade of about 3/8th inch and set to cut off about I II2″ off the corner of the furrow.
A single furrow plough being used at the Humberton Working Weekend back in 2002.
A two furrow plough being used at the Humberton Working Weekend back in 2002.
Many years ago I was at a farm sale and amongst the implements was a Fergy two-furrow GP plough which was weathered but looked in good condition. While looking at it, a young lad I knew said they had never had any luck with that plough over the years they had it. Not being put off, I bid on it and bought it ‘for a song’. I took it home on the trailer and it was parked in the shed for years. One day there
was a ploughing job to do and I fixed the plough to a TEF20 and that was when I found out why the previous owner had had no luck with it – the cross member was upside down!
As mentioned earlier, if you get a copy of the Ferguson ploughing manual you will be up and running, and we might see you at the next ploughing match, who knows?
Basil George : Published in journal No,106, Summer 2023
