Howard 350 Plough - do they work!

Cleaning, fixing, using, repairing, best and worst of your mechanical aids in the garden...

Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter

User avatar
dovesails
KG Regular
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2006 9:53 pm
Location: Devon

Hi,

I am very new to the forum and would appreciate some advice from the more experienced! Has anyone got or used a Howard 350 rotovator with a plough attachment? I have approx 1/2 acre inside a walled garden to get under control and wondered whether a plough would help. What are the advantages and is it worth trying to find one! Many thanks.
User avatar
peter
KG Regular
Posts: 5842
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2005 1:54 pm
Location: Near Stansted airport
Has thanked: 18 times
Been thanked: 33 times
Contact:

I have been trying to source one for a while.

An important point 99% of those on e-bay will be useless to you as they NEVER EVER include the special hitch which bolts onto the gearbox by replacing two of the bolts with extra long ones.

Without this adaptor / hitch / tow-point you will have a useless lump of metal.

As to use, it will depend upon your soil, I do have the furrower attachement and it works well if the soild is loose and friable, but not at all if my clay is wet.
Do not put off thanking people when they have helped you, as they may not be there to thank later.

I support http://www.hearingdogs.org.uk/
User avatar
richard p
KG Regular
Posts: 1573
Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 1:22 pm
Location: Somerset UK

cant be specific to garden ploughs , but ive got "proper " ploughs and rotovators. 70 inch
Howard rotovator and 4 furrow 12 inch ransomes plough, they both need 40 horsepower and work well with 60.

a plough does 2 things it burries vegetation so it rots thereby giving a degree of weed control and it inverts the topsoil.
a properly set plough cuts a slice of soil and turns it over, any short vegetation is completely burried in the bottom of the furrow. a plough with a long gentle twist at low speed will turn the furrow without breaking it up. a shorter plough with a more abrupt twist will break up the soil and can leave a seedbed with no further work. long vegetation is difficult to bury properly, a plough is ideal for turning over grass turf to kill the grass.
a rotovator chops both the soil and any vegetation leaving the vegetation spread through the soil depth.
adjusting the rotor speed and travel speed will alter the number of cuts per foot traveled and hence the amount of cultivation. a low rotor speed traveling fast will give a rough dug surface and a high rotor speed travelling slowly will give a fine seedbed. agricultural rotovators have a top hinged flap on the back which holds the soil against the rotor increasing the pulverisation, leaving it open allows clods to fly out in one piece. fast and slow means of the order of 4 to 1/4 mph!

we bought the howard some 30 years ago to replace a garden rotovator! (there wasnt much difference in cost cos we allready had tractors) the old munro is still in the shed but rarely (cant remember the last time) gets dragged out. the tractor rotovator does the whole garden in minutes and is a sitting down job.

if you are cultivating the whole half acre do consider one of the small mini tractors, 15 to 20 hp jap or chinese, a good used one will cost a bit but make the rotovating much quicker and easier, and will run a four foot topper for large grasss areas.
User avatar
peter
KG Regular
Posts: 5842
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2005 1:54 pm
Location: Near Stansted airport
Has thanked: 18 times
Been thanked: 33 times
Contact:

Landies57, how far did yoy put your clock on last week? :P
Do not put off thanking people when they have helped you, as they may not be there to thank later.

I support http://www.hearingdogs.org.uk/
User avatar
peter
KG Regular
Posts: 5842
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2005 1:54 pm
Location: Near Stansted airport
Has thanked: 18 times
Been thanked: 33 times
Contact:

landie57 wrote:Dovesails.
I have no experience of the Howard 350, the reply from Richard P will give you an idea of what a plough and rotavator can do.
I use a Trusty two wheel tractor and plough the disadvantage of this machine is it does not have a rotavator attachment. My preffered machine is a SIMAR Rototiller 56,(1948 vintage), this can be fitted with either a plough or rotavator and produvces a very fine tilth.
Other machines to consider are the Clifford machines.
An alternative would be to get a local friendly ploughman in to use you 1/2 acre as practice. Once ploughed should only need rotavating in th efuture.
Best of luck.
Oops, naughty website is intelligent enough to order the psotings by date and Landies is marked as "Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 12:40 am"
Do not put off thanking people when they have helped you, as they may not be there to thank later.

I support http://www.hearingdogs.org.uk/
landie57
KG Regular
Posts: 21
Joined: Sat Oct 07, 2006 8:42 am
Location: nr Bath, Somerset

Dovesails.
I have no experience of the Howard 350, the reply from Richard P will give you an idea of what a plough and rotavator can do.
I use a Trusty two wheel tractor and plough the disadvantage of this machine is it does not have a rotavator attachment. My preffered machine is a SIMAR Rototiller 56,(1948 vintage), this can be fitted with either a plough or rotavator and produvces a very fine tilth.
Other machines to consider are the Clifford machines.
An alternative would be to get a local friendly ploughman in to use you 1/2 acre as practice. Once ploughed should only need rotavating in th efuture.
Best of luck.
GrincheyOne
KG Regular
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Dec 03, 2016 3:53 pm

Hello, New member here. The YouTube vid. of the Simplicity 4212 plowing, peaked my interest.
I own 2 4212LTGs, a 1988 and a 1990, both are 5 speed manual trnsaxles. the 1988 is down for repairs, and the 1990 is acting as a parts source. I noted the plowing in the video, and was amazed to not seeing any traction slippage by the tractor. Perhaps the transaxle is a hydrostatic one. I also own 2 Simplicity 2110 Landlords, a 1968 (undergoing a complete rebuild, incl. a 14HP repower, an add of hydro lift addition. The 1969 had a repower last spring with an Allis 12HP. So it is more like a B12. I have a 32 inch HD tiller to use on the Landlords, using a speed reduction kit for the 3 speed transmission.
I have a constant supply of used coffee grounds from the monthly church breakfast, wood ash from the wood fired house heater, and a wood stove on the 1st. floor of my house.
I would like to use the 1988 4212 to turn the soil, and the 1989 landlord to rototill for a finer seedbed. Does anyone have any information on a source of Howard 350 plough, in the USA?
Thank You
Wayne
User avatar
peter
KG Regular
Posts: 5842
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2005 1:54 pm
Location: Near Stansted airport
Has thanked: 18 times
Been thanked: 33 times
Contact:

Wayne, a bloke about twenty miles away from me here near Stansted (London) Airport specialises in Howard Rotovators, he is on ebay and can probably ship to the USA.
Do not put off thanking people when they have helped you, as they may not be there to thank later.

I support http://www.hearingdogs.org.uk/
GrincheyOne
KG Regular
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Dec 03, 2016 3:53 pm

Thank You Peter
robo
KG Regular
Posts: 2808
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2012 10:22 pm
Location: st.helens
Has thanked: 9 times
Been thanked: 56 times

I've just sold a 20h.p. Mitsubishi tractor with a five feet rotator on the back , I originally bought it to take to Spain but our plans have changed, a couple of months ago I was asked to rotavate a friend's plot I did it
In around ten minutes when I started it was covered in grass when I finished it was a fine tilth ready for planting into, Howard's I know nothing about sorry
thebigflyin
KG Regular
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2016 3:22 pm

Hi there, I am in a similar situation, looking at machines, however I have been buying mery tillers and fixing them up, but they are now long in the tooth and not quite man enoph.

so was thinking of secondhand again but am now fed-up with fixing machines, and just want something that will work. but will not break the bank.

Titan Petrol Cultivator TP1000

any one had any experience with this maching and plow?

Kevin
Post Reply Previous topicNext topic