Lovely to see the old girl at work! It ploughed a whole lot better than what I thought it would have without a toplink. Get the 178 on it give her a good workout 💪 👌
My Dad had the first 1200 sold to a UK farmer in 1972/3. It had a Dowdeswell DP2 (I think) 5 furrow reversible, double offset like a crawler so as to plough with all the tractor wheels on land an none in the furrow. Unless conditions were very good, this was a disaster. In the end the plough got swapped for a 4 furrow Lemkin ploughing with the tractor wheels in the furrow. This worked very well indeed. Having had another 1200, we eventually got a 1250 and a DP5C+1 4 furrow which was the doggies dangly bits ploughing. You very soon get used to using an artic tractor. Being a reversible she had a top link and the top link sensing was bang on. The tractor would pull a house down if you asked it to I’d say you are making a superb job. But I think she would go a lot faster! The 4WD 178 would pull, it but very slowly.
@@jamesmccabe1702 Who is we? Can assure you MF specially arranged the first 1200 to be sold to any farmer, was through F A Standen to my father. It was all over the press at the time and a special presentation was made at Kilmarnock to celebrate the fact. Massey took the tractor back in a year later and deliberately took it all apart and smashed every bolts to see what stresses they had suffered. Lending us another 1200 that was one on the prototypes, having PAVT wheels. It had pressure gauges all over it and for some reason was seriously lacking in power compared to our own one, Which we couldn’t wait to get back. It came back with modifications all over the place, especially the shaft and flanges between the engine and clutch housing.
Nice one Dan. You're living Uncle Ian's dream (farmer Phil's Uncle) If ground conditions were good it would be very satisfying Well done multitasking, ploughing and video making
I have plouwed with 1200 about 42 years ago with 3 point hitch 7 furrows plow rumsted Dutch made ,depends what kind of grond and condition the field is wet or dry ,fantastic machine the massey 1200 for plowing and drilling seed.
My dad was ploughman with the Massey 1200 Dowdeswell 4 furrow reversible plough back in the seventies. Used to do relief ploughing myself with this rig. Almost impossible to plough a straight furrow. . Great to see again.
This Chanel just gets better and better. Give the 178 a run Dan and have some more fun. It’s a long time since I drove a tractor, MF 185, must be getting on 50 years, back in 1973. Wow where did that time go?
In all honesty, it actually looks better than what was done with the reversible 😲 I'm sure the more narrow furrow width is the reason. Plow manufacturers make a big thing about the importance of the right ratio between plowing depth and furrow width, you seem to have hit the sweet spot with the old one 👍
Brilliant video. Great job ploughing. I think the 178 would pull it but you don't want to kill it in the process. Keep it on the 1200. Ps we once borrowed a 6 furrow semi mounted plough and used it behind our MF 390, I ploughed a 7 acre field in 2 hours 10 mins!!
Nice 🙂. We ran the 6-16 semi mount on the 1135👍🏻. Hp never a problem…always traction and steering. The 1200 solved that. We used a quick coupler to transfer draft to the toplink 👍🏻. All in all, looking great 🙂.
Great video Dan 👍 the old Perkins was just purring along there no fuss 💪💪 always liked a Dowdeswell plough an that one was working well 👌 bit of ballast on the 178 an should manage it as well 👍
Hi Dan, well for someone who has never used that plough before and knew very little about it you did a very acceptable job, great job well done, glad you had fun.
Cracking video Dan, the thrill of getting older machines into work must be very satisfying. Reckon you ought to mark and cop a field out with your 2furrow, then just march on with this lovely combination!
Its done very well Dan !! 👍 not sure if the 178 would pull it,1200 with turbo 120hp? 6Cly vs 178 4Cly 73hp? Not sure? It might 🤔 Mr Fud-Weasel would know?
Thanks for the video as something new I think you did well. It’s a shame the plough is 12” and the tractor tyres 16” you can see where the tractor is compressing the previous furrow. Needs a 16” furrow plough.
That is a very nice combination you have. I enjoyed watching your video, it reminded me of earlier this year when I plowed with a tractor for the first time.
Hello CowDantheFarmer spiffing video and you are thrill seeker I bet it’s Action Action where you are jolly good dear fellow Jethro Tull once said “ Looks like Rain”
We call that bread and butter ploughing round our way looking good for an olden , many years ago dad gave me the job of driving the tractor on the plant setter one old chap commented a blind man would be glad to see it, have a nice day👉
I am sure the 178 would pull that plow handily. I wish they would have sent 1200’s over here, it would be fun to run one. Nice job btw! The MF plows were setup for top link sensing, worked great.
Not so sure that an MF 178 would pull 5 furrows in that soil, plus the Dowdeswell is a heavily constructed piece of kit in its own right - would take some pulling. That MF 1200 was not struggling at all, great to see such an iconic tractor, despite its several faults and foibles, at work. The work looked good too, all things considered.
@@elginsparrowhawk7203 I’d love to! Problem being, it’s not my land to plough up lol. Did ask the neighbours if I could have a go in there field but there usually done by the time I ask
178 will handle it no problem with the 4 wheel drive and weights on the front.your ploughing was looking tidy Dan you didn't need the side brakes to get round the corners.
Good job tidy job, try putting a pitch furrow around the headland two reasons getting a headland the same width and if the ground is hard better to enter the start of the run
The FUTURE - Small Tractor , lower link sensing , SAT NAV - set the field out to come right , vari-width no stress on hyds, no hyd turnover problems , alot cheaper to buy (or is it we always done it like that)
Great video Dan, if the headland was wider than what you’d have for the mounted plough then that would sort out keeping the ploughing straight before lifting , the old Massey looks lovely in the drone shots and congrats on the plough, both plough and tractor compliment each other and I may be wrong but I thought the old ploughs work was better than the new plough
Bloody nice ploughing, one of my jobs, however, l can’t help but look at your cows grazing, an amazing thing to see especially at this time of year, producing milk at its cheapest, you do notice the different smell in the parlour don’t you when the cows first go out to grass?
MF used an intermediate 'A' frame between tractor and plough, for their MF 86 semi mounted plough, so that, as you say, the plough draught could be transferred through the top link, to the internal draught control mechanism. A certain amount of weight transfer would also have occurred. The intermediate 'A' frame was not required on tractors equipped with lower link sensing or Fords Load Monitor, for example, but weight transfer was then not available.
We used to pull a 4 X 14" conventional with a 175 or 168 quite comfortably but of course not in wet sticky conditions. Trying to plough using position control must be damn frustrating. Lower link sensing is a much better idea, the ironic thing is apparently Harry Ferguson himself toyed with the idea before settling on using the top link to do the draft sensing.
On shorter ploughs such as Ferguson used, the centre of rotation and centre of gravity is much closer to the tractor, which was of benefit to the top link sensing. Since tractors can pull more than they can lift on the linkage, semi mounted ploughs were developed. Their centre of rotation is basically non existent and the centre of gravity is further back. As you say, semi mounted is much better suited to lower link sensing. MF marketed a semi mounted plough, the MF 86, which utilised an intermediate 'A' frame headstock between tractor and plough. The actual plough attachment point was slightly below the rear link ball ends such that the horizontal pull below the level of the lower links forced the upper half forwards, and thereby sent a signal, through the top link to the internal draught control mechanism. The rear end was controlled by an auxilliary ram. Fords Load Monitor was quite a clever invention inasmuch that when using a semi mounted plough, the whole plough beam, front to rear, maintained a quite a parallel attitude, regardless of working depth, when set correctly. Since Load Monitor sensed draught through a resistive mechanism just ahead of the crown wheel and pinion, if one were to encounter wheelslip, things wouldn't go quite so well, so obviously, a differential lock was a must. Not sure how much extra cost having Load Monitor installed was, but Lower Link sensing eventually won out I believe.
How about a reversible plough for the 1200? Do you remember the MF Diamond plough CowfarmerDan? Changing the subject slightly you could give “The Funky Farmer’s” contractor some tractor driving lesson.
I think the 178 would be too light as it is to plough reasonably but there's only one way to find out. It's a shame they both aren't lower link sensing but they're before lower sensing was about.
Lower link sensing was available on some tractors in the US at the time of the MF 1200s introduction over here in Britain, but it was still in its infancy. With longer ploughs and larger tractors, it was definitely the way to go though.
@@roberthiggins6401 Thank you also. With the rapid acceptance of more modern machines, their increased size and output, it's unlikely any forward looking farmer would want to revert back to the older methods.
It’s making a really good job considering you can’t use the draft control. This is easily overcome with a quick attach coupling. Massey Ferguson and KV manufactured them you can see it working on my KV 7 furrow and MF 1130 . It will be a lot more enjoyable and make an even better job with this hitch ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-p1jufnB3rD4.htmlsi=vMfFa6Vng0TnlROs You can see the draft being utilised, the plough cross shaft is 5-6” lower than linkage arms , this tilts the coupler forward and exerts a force on the top link.
