The Rural Voice, 1989-02, Page 24TUNING UP FOR YOUR CORN CROP
$50 a Row Keeps your Planter on the Go
friend of mine is a really
good mechanic. I've seen
the big tractor in his home
shop, his spraying tractor, the plow,
the ATC, the snowmobile, but I've
never seen his corn planter in the
shop. The other day, being nosey, I
asked him why. "It's workin' fine,"
was his reply. "I set her for 27,000
seeds four years ago and she's still on
the money."
Dropping 27,000 seeds per acre is
one thing, dropping them in the right
place is another ballgame.
In my last article I mentioned that
I've seen too many corn fields with
poor seed drop and plant spacing —
too many doubles, triples, and big
gaps. I've also seen fields planted too
shallow because of severely worn disc
openers. And this year it really cost
you.
Another common problem is badly
worn fertilizer opener discs that leave
the fertilizer high and dry. It might as
well have stayed in the bin for all the
good it did.
I'd like to give you some planter
tune-up tips that can make you $1,000
an hour for every hour you spend
under your planter fixing it.
A corn planter is one of your
cheapest implements to maintain —
$300 to $400 a year ought to do it. If
you've been neglecting it, be prepared
to spend $1,500 to $2,000.
But that's still a lot cheaper than
trading it in, and you'll basically have
a new planter.
The most common parts needed
are: bearings for opener discs and
packer wheels, seed tube protectors
and seed tubes, finger pickup units,
bushings, disc scrapers, and possibly
the seed opener discs themselves.
Everything on my tune-up list
centres around the disc openers and
the seed -metering units. If you don't
get a tight, crisp seed slot, loose dirt
can fall in and affect your seed
placement. You also have to make
sure your depth -gauge wheels and
Mervyn Erb is an independent
crop consultant and agronomist.
press wheels are providing good seed
to soil contact.
Those of you (and that's most of
you) who can't get the corn planter in
the shop are in real trouble. And don't
give me that "I'll do it next spring
when it gets nice outside." We both
know it will never get done. Maybe
you've got a buddy or neighbour with
a shop and shop door wide enough.
You could work on your planters
together.
What about taking it to your
dealer? A dealer probably sees many
planters and has a good idea of what's
going to be worn. There's much to be
said for knowing where to look. Deal-
ers do a good job of explaining what
needs to be done, but that doesn't
mean it gets taken care of.
This is one job I'd like to see the
owner and operator work on. It'll give
most farmers a new appreciation of
the function of their planter.
As you are tearing the planter
down, line the pieces up in rows be-
hind each unit so that everything is
matched as you rebuild it.
After replacing worn-out bearings
on the double disc openers, adjust the
units so they run exactly where they're
supposed to. On a John Deere planter,
the disc openers should have 2" of
contact in the front at the 4 o'clock
position. You need to check the angle
and distance between the opener disc
and the frame to make sure each one is
running the same.
In IH planters, the opening discs
are offset and should have a .080" to
.090" gap between them. The same is
true for other planters with offset
opening discs.
John Deere gauge wheels should
be adjusted with shims so they just
touch the opening discs. If it takes all
of the shims on the inside of the gauge
wheel to align it with the disc, you
should swap gauge wheels with other
row units to get a better fit. Also
check the press -wheel bearings and
the bushings on the two bolts that
attach them to the frame.
The heart of John Deere and other
planters of a similar type (Kinzie,
New Idea) are the forger pickup units.
Loose fingers and worn springs are
best replaced as a unit rather than by
trying to rebuild the originals.
Finger pickup units and backplates
receive the most attention on a John
Deere, but it's the manifold and seed
drum that get close scrutiny on the air -
delivery system of an IH Early Riser
planter. It's critical that the manifold
picks seeds up from the drum in the
right position. Usually you'll find
some adjustments will be needed. The
drum must turn freely. If it drags, it
jumps and causes erratic spacing.
Once you've got the seed -metering
units and the disc openers adjusted,
look at alignment. Look for anything
within the drive mechanism that could
give problems.
A planter drops 12 to 18 seeds a
second for each row. A split second
hesitation causes quite a gap. Check
the air pressure in gauge wheels to
make sure they're the same, and look
at all bearings and chain tighteners as
well as the planter transmission.
22 THE RURAL VOICE