Agricultural Engineering
Serves the Farmer
TRACTORS • MACHINERY • DRAINAGE • IRRIGATION • SOIL CONSERVATION
BUILDINGS •    FARM ELECTRIFICATION    •   CROP DRYING AND PROCESSING
Purdue University
Agricultural Extension Service
Lafayette, Indiana
Mimeo AE-56
HITCHING A PLOW FOR LEVEL TRACTOR OPERATION
C. L. Hill, Agricultural Engineering Department
A plow presents no special problem of hitching to the experienced farmer who will regard it simply as a drawbar load.
Since the vertical and horizontal hitch positions of a trailing plow must be changed for
different cover and ground conditions, there are occasions when it will be useful to know how
to hitch the plow to a tractor operating with both drive wheels on the level or 'land. "
Here are some occasions for and advantages of hitching a plow for level tractor operation:
1. When long days are spent in plowing, operating the tractor on the 'land" relieves
the monotony.   The level tractor seat for the operator also relieves some strain on him.
2. When the furrow wheel is slipping more than the tractor's land wheel, they will both
have equal traction on the 'land. "  This reduces differential wear and fuel consumption.
3. Compaction of the soil in the furrow bottom is reduced by this practice.
4. Power loss due to furrow wheel "friction" is reduced, and wheel bearing wear is
lessened.
Figure 1.   In most cases, both tractor
and plow, when properly hitched for level
tractor operation, perform better than
when operated conventionally with the
right tractor wheels in the furrow. Once
an operator becomes accustomed to driving the tractor completely on the 'land,"
he can usually plow straighter furrows
than before with much less effort.