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Moldboard Plow Converted to 3-Pt Deep Ripper
Old moldboard plows can be converted to low-cost deep rippers, says Wally Smith, Crystal City, Manitoba, who turned an Oliver 5-bottom pull-type plow into a 3-pt. mounted, 12-ft. wide deep ripper equipped with five 30-in. long steel shanks spaced 30 in. apart.
Smith got the plow from a neighbor at no cost. It was equipped with trip standards that let the moldboards "kick back" whenever they hit a rock or other obstruction. Smith stripped the plow of every-thing but the main beam and trip standards. He salvaged a 4-in. sq. steel I-beam from an old Graham Hoeme deep ripper and welded it on behind the plow beam for extra strength, then bolted the trip standards on at right angles to the beams. He used scrap steel to build an A-shaped 3-pt. lift frame and welded it onto the front of the toolbar. He drilled holes into steel chisel shanks and bolted them onto the trip standards. He also welded a 4-in. long hard-surfaced point to the bottom of each shank.
"It works as well as any conventional deep ripper and cost only about $350 to build," says Smith, who built the unit three years ago with the help of Stewart Sonley. "A comparable size chisel plow would cost at least $8,000. I use an Allis-Chalmers 4494 4-WD 175 hp tractor to pull it. I think any moldboard plow would work as long as it has trip standards. Whenever my deep ripper hits a rock I stop and lift the shanks out of the ground, then let them fall back into place by gravity.
"I got the chisel shanks from a neighbor who had them custom built by a local blacksmith but never used them."
After welding the beams together Smith also bolted them together to help keep the welds from breaking. The shanks have a lot of suction force that could cause the ends of the beam to bend downward. To reinforce them, he ran a pair of steel rods from the center of the toolbar out to each end of the beam.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Wally Smith, Crystal City, Manitoba, Canada R0K 0N0 (ph 204 873-2352).


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1993 - Volume #17, Issue #2