Whirlwind Terrace Plow

1984 - Volume #8, Issue #6, Page #23

[ Sample Stories From This Issue | List of All Stories In This Issue | Print this story | Read this issue]

"I think it's as good as any commercial terracer on the market," says John Moellering, Grinnell, Iowa, about the "whirlwind" terrace plow he built from a stripped-down moldboard plow and some spare parts.
The unique terracer, which can also be used as a ditcher, has two high-speed 14-in. dia. augers mounted vertically behind two cut-down plow bottoms. The bottoms slice off as much as an 11-in. slab of dirt and feed it to the augers which then throw the dirt as far as 30 ft. away.
"I started with an old 3-bottom International plow and cut off one of the bottoms. Then I mounted two heavy belt-pulley gearboxes from an old International W9 tractor above each of the moldboards and modified them so they could be powered by a shaft that runs back from the tractor pto. The augers ù which I made myself ù are hard-surfaced and mount into the bottom of the gearboxes," says Moellering.
To modify the plow bottoms, Moellering cut off the rear half of each plow bottom so they would simply slice off the dirt without turning it over. However, he left the leading edge of each bottom at its full 18 in. width. The two bottoms together cut a swath 36 in. wide.
Moellering can change pulleys in the gearboxes to change the spinning speed of the augers but says he generally leaves the high-speed 1000 rpm pulley in and simply varies tractor speed to vary the throw of dirt. To make terraces, he makes a series of passes.
Moellering says he got the idea for his terracer from an old 1-bottom International Harvester terracer manufactured years ago that had a similar auger throwing device. "Besides working well for terracing and digging drainage ditches, we've found it also works well for fighting fires. We leave it hooked to a tractor when we're combining wheat and, if a small stubble fire starts, we can quickly put it out by digging up around it and throwing dirt on it."
Moellering pulls the unusual terracer with a Deere 4430 125-hp. tractor. It'll cut a 36-in. wide trench as deep as 11 in.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, John R. Moellering, Rt. 1, Box 40, Grinnell. Kan. 67738 (ph 913 824-3456).

Click here to download page story appeared in.

Click here to read entire issue

Whirlwind Terrace Plow TILLAGE EUIPMENT Plows 8-6-23 "I think it's as good as any commercial terracer on the market," says John Moellering, Grinnell, Iowa, about the "whirlwind" terrace plow he built from a stripped-down moldboard plow and some spare parts. The unique terracer, which can also be used as a ditcher, has two high-speed 14-in. dia. augers mounted vertically behind two cut-down plow bottoms. The bottoms slice off as much as an 11-in. slab of dirt and feed it to the augers which then throw the dirt as far as 30 ft. away. "I started with an old 3-bottom International plow and cut off one of the bottoms. Then I mounted two heavy belt-pulley gearboxes from an old International W9 tractor above each of the moldboards and modified them so they could be powered by a shaft that runs back from the tractor pto. The augers ù which I made myself ù are hard-surfaced and mount into the bottom of the gearboxes," says Moellering. To modify the plow bottoms, Moellering cut off the rear half of each plow bottom so they would simply slice off the dirt without turning it over. However, he left the leading edge of each bottom at its full 18 in. width. The two bottoms together cut a swath 36 in. wide. Moellering can change pulleys in the gearboxes to change the spinning speed of the augers but says he generally leaves the high-speed 1000 rpm pulley in and simply varies tractor speed to vary the throw of dirt. To make terraces, he makes a series of passes. Moellering says he got the idea for his terracer from an old 1-bottom International Harvester terracer manufactured years ago that had a similar auger throwing device. "Besides working well for terracing and digging drainage ditches, we've found it also works well for fighting fires. We leave it hooked to a tractor when we're combining wheat and, if a small stubble fire starts, we can quickly put it out by digging up around it and throwing dirt on it." Moellering pulls the unusual terracer with a Deere 4430 125-hp. tractor. It'll cut a 36-in. wide trench as deep as 11 in. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, John R. Moellering, Rt. 1, Box 40, Grinnell. Kan. 67738 (ph 913 824-3456).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.

SUBSCRIBE OR RENEW NOW