Just passed a newly-ploughed field, and very nice it looked, too, in an earthy sort of way.
Got me wondering what vehicle could drive across it?
Bear in mind the furrows (agricultural term, that) were quite deep and the sods (another one) were quite large.
I reckon anything short of an agricultural tractor would struggle.
Land Rover with chunky tyres, perhaps?
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I would say yes with the right tyres, but i wouldn't unless you want to see the business end of a 12 guage at the gateway.
Just possible said farmer may go and get his jcb and dig a hole some 20 feet deep in middle of said field.
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A 2CV, legend has it, plus top hat & box of eggs...
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In a large, powerful car driven brutally enough, yes. In a small feeble one driven by someone trying not to harm it, no way.
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>In a large, powerful car driven brutally enough, yes<
Been into a ploughed field (by accident) on a rally, and if its wet, sticky, recently dug etc, then no is the answer!
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B (1984/5) Austin Maestro 1.4 A series 14.
Drives like a tank....
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Did it once quite along time ago in a Golf GTi without meaning to. It coped remarkably well and must have covered at least 200 yards before grinding to a halt. Trouble was it involved not negotiating a bend properly and travelling through a hedge and over a small ditch in order to find this out. Managed to drive it out but it took a lot of cleaning and liberal applications of T-cut to get it looking right.
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Do a search on 'production car trials' to see what can be done.
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Likewise. If its wet you are stuffed. 4X4 with off road tyres and low ratio might stand a chance.
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The Model T Ford was designed for pulling a plough or as a car.
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Shire horse? Not sure what annual running costs/depreciation/emmisions are like though.
Edited by craneboy on 06/04/2008 at 22:24
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Many years ago, when I was into hang-gliding, I drove a Renault 4 with two occupants and a hang glider on the roof, across (and up) a quite steep ploughed field. it coped very well.
P.
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I would willingly try it in my 2CV - just to see if Pierre Boulanger's (sp?) design theory worked. But I fear the farmer would be chasing me in his shiny Range Rover ('cos farmers are soo wealthy ;-) ) shouting GET 'ORF MOY LAAND!!
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"Got me wondering what vehicle could drive across it?"
Well the tractor that ploughed the field would be the obvious vehicle I'd say. Then any tracked vehicle like a tank I would think.
I'll get my hat before bed ;-)
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A lot depends on the sogginess of the field. The 2CV claim was doubtless based on a nice dry French field rather than a sodden British one. Two vehicles that would find it difficult (through lack of clearance) are the X5 and the Range Rover Sport...
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I remember it being said in a road test of the time that a Rover 2000 could drive across a plowed field because of its enormous suspension travel - 9 inches, I believe (could it have been plus or minus 9 inches?).
Edited by wildcolonial on 07/04/2008 at 08:10
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It depends on the field.
Thick, east Anglian heavy clay soil, sodden after a month's rain, you won't get even an inch, in anything - even a tractor. Tractors get stuck in fields. Possibly a tank, but even tanks struggle under such circumstances. (Is it Cliff who has a tank-rescuing device?)
Fine French till mid summer, ploughed without big furrows, then that 2CV will be fine.
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It depends on the field. Thick east Anglian heavy clay soil sodden after a month's rain you won't get even an inch in anything - even a tractor.
Yup. A lot of tractors in our neck of the woods have (and need!) caterpillar tracks.
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A friend of mines' brother (a farmer) has built himself a new toy. Its a Range Rover chassis with Range Rover cabin but Landrover front end and a LR rear pickup. It has a 3.5 litre V8 runnning on LPG and an automatic gearbox.
He has fitted 12" wide by 40" high Michelin XL tyres with 6" wheelarch extensions each side to cover the tyres. Its about 10" wider than a landrover to make the track the same as a tractor, so that he can drive up fields without disturbing the crops.
Thing is it is road legal, he's painted it in a sort of desert-storm-esqe camouflage paint scheme, I imagine it could give you a surprise if you met it on a quiet country lane!
On their farm they have had tractors stuck in fields before, so it does depend on the conditions..
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It also depends on how/what you are ploughing.
Ploughing a field of closely-cropped grass means flipping each neatly cut furrow of turf upside down into the next vacated furrow. The entire topsoil moves one furrow right, but then lies flat with the grass buried and the roots exposed. You could drive an invalid carriage across it.
But "ploughing" as in churning up a clay bog may well need an ordinary tractor pulled by a crawler.
(pedant writes: "caterpillar" is a registered trademark belonging to the Caterpillar Corporation Inc. Tracked or crawler would be a more generic word. Not all Caterpillar vehicles have tracks)
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>"caterpillar" is a registered trademark
So's "hoover".. :-)
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>"caterpillar" is a registered trademark So's "hoover".. :-)
Hoover has entered the English language and is now in the Oxford English Dictionary. It can be used as a noun to mean any vacuum cleaner, and as a verb meaning to clean with a vacuum cleaner. Biro, which was the trade name of the first ball-point pen available in this country, similarly has entered the English language. I wouldn't be surprised if caterpillar track hadn't also entered the English language. This sort of thing happens all the time. Thermos is another example. tinyurl.com/6gzehp
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If you watch Police Camera Action you will see that any car can and does go across a ploughed field.
Possibly cream crakered afterwards though !
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Drive across the field in line with the furrows, or at right angles to them so that you're driving across the ridges?
I don't know why I'm intrigued, I'm sure the Golf wouldn't do either.
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I don't know but I'm happy to find out.
Keys?
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Like I mentioned further up PG. I did it in a Golf once. Just a bit unintentionally.
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If you drove a Golf, or any other car across a ploughed field, you would come to a quick stop. It wouldn't do much good to your car either.
If the field had been ploughed and harrowed and was dry, you could probably drive a car across. If the soil was wet you would bog down and get stuck.
It's the first time on HJ that we have had a farming question, I am glad to help!
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