international 56 planter

Anybody have any suggestions to make a international 56 planter pla t better! Its the only planter I have and don't see me buying a newer heavier planter this year! Been hiring a guy for the past two but I think it will be better to get my corn in 2 or 3 weeks earlier than the past two years but that isn't gonna happen with him! I know I'm not going to have the stand with my 56 as to his 4 year old kinze but think I may gain my stand loss if I get in earlier! The last time I planted with my 56 I had trouble with the fertilizer hoses pinching off on 30 inch rows! And I need it to cover better! It has disc openers and the cover arms but they seem to have trouble in stony ground! Could I put drag chains on it! Or maybe sounds dumb but run over my stony ground after planting with a roller like rolling oats! Or maybe I should just wait and hire it done again! Trying to do what's smarter with what I got!

Yetter made some add-on attachments to address some of the issues you describe for the 56 and 400 series planters. By some luck on the order of winning the Powerball maybe you could find a parts unit that had those add-ons. Specifically, they offered a depth wheel unit that controlled depth at the disc opener along with a disc-closer unit similar to the original IH built unit that were on the 800 series planters. It sounds like you need the disc closer assembly desperately but they nor the IH built units liked rocks.
Any chance you have a tractor you do not need that could be traded for a better planter? We all hate to give up tractors from a collector's stand point but if the farm is the greater business or the cash generator a sacrifice needs to happen from time to time. By not matching your competitor's efforts in terms of planting puts you at a disadvantage in terms of matching cashflow. A top notch planter is something that should be viewed as essential for a row crop farm. White planter's may be "the wrong shade of red" for some but the 5100 series were very fine planters with a simple row unit to maintain. They normally are had for quite a bit less than a Deere or Kinze.

around me the 800 series planters are selling for a song. look around for one thats not worn out and adjust it up. best planter out there!

They are hard to find here and a lot of other places anymore. He will be going to the field within a month most likely so that leaves very little time to find one never mind servicing it. Rocks make the frame jiggle on a cyclo affecting the seed tubes and therefore spacing.

Have it custom planted with the Kinze. I planted with a IH 58 for twenty years and I never could get a picket fence stand no matter what I did. Here in Northwest Iowa we don't see a huge yield loss in corn till the last of May for planting depending on the maturity of the corn, the weather during pollination and the fall weather.

It's always better if you can do it yourself. Gets planted at better time and conditions. We used a couple of 56 planters before the JD 7000 we use now. Never had too much trouble with it. For harder/stony ground set it a little deeper than you think you should and worked fine for us. Just be sure the gound is warm enough and the weather forecast is good for a couple-five days (temp). As for the fertilizer hoses - replace them as they have probably gotten weak, you can also tie them in postion to get fertilizer flowing better on narrow row. Yield also seemed to improve a lot if I set population just a little higher than dad liked ( I ran at 32,000 - dad liked next setting lower till harvest came and he saw the results on what I planted ). Our last 56 planter was set on 34 inch rows.
Also a couple things that often get overlooked, make sure the seed opener discs are together tight enough, as they wear they need moved closer together to make a nice "V" in the ground not a "W". And level the planter with the tractor your going to use while planting. The levelling alone will make a big difference in seed placement. All that should be in the manual if I remember right.

I have a 56 now for the same reason, cant wait for ever for the custom guy to show up. Ive been a heck of a lot happier with the stand I get from my 56 than I did with his newer Kinze. Just make sure everything is in good shape and don't get in a hurry speed wise.

I use a 56 set at 30" rows every year. I plant about 20 acres for my beef cattle.

I use a ground speed of about 3.5 MPH, I have seed depth set to about 3/4 - 1" depth. You MUST to make sure the planter is level when planting - the covering discs/shoes and press wheels will not cover and press properly if the planter is not level. Having the covering discs works the best. The shoes/shovel/arm type will drag your stones around, messing up your planting.

How are your row openers? If they are worn out, they will not open a slot for the planter unit to drop into properly. Ditto for the fertilizer openers - need to be the correct size, and not worn out. The drop nozzle can plug if you are running worn out discs. Also, if the flighting on your fertilizer auger is shot, it will not feed properly. Not sure how a tube gets pinched - are the hoses too long, or something?

The old planters, regardless of make, do need a very well prepared seed bed. The newer machines are much more forgiving on poor seed bed preparation.

I love mine - simple, does a good job when set properly. They made quite a few of them, so used parts are around.

Best of luck.