Effects of a plough support wheel during ploughing

When the plough support wheel is in use, the quality of the ploughing and the mobility of the tractor is improved significantly. With the support wheel, the tractor power lift functions better because it foresees changes in the ploughing depth and in the field profile. A small change in plough support wheel force introduces a much larger force change in the three point linkage. The lift control system responds to this change much earlier than when there is a change in draught alone. When the support wheel was in use, the ploughing depth changes were reduced. Compared with the mean ploughing depth, the depth changed without the support wheel from 13 to 33% and with it from 9 to 20%. The tractor wheel slip when the support wheel was not in use was between 10 and 11% and when it was in use between 7 and 9%. The ploughing draught changes were reduced from 8 to 13%, when the support wheel was in use. (C) 1996 Silsoe Research Institute.