Minneapolis-Moline Grain drill question

I would like to know what openers will interchange and fit my P3 design M-M grain drill. I have a 12' grain drill with the grass box. This unit has double disc openers some of which are bad. I would like to switch them all out and replace them with single disc openers. I assume that New Holland, Ford and probably others will interchange and would really like to know for sure That way I would know where I can source some good used parts top rebuild the planter openers. I will have some spare double disc openers to trade or sale if I can find suitable single disc openers. Does anyone know what the reason for single disc would be and why double disc? I can post pictures if needed to show what I have.
Alan

Another question about the P-3 design M-M grain planter. Were these planters built by someone else for M-M or were they an in-house design proprietary to M-M?

Single disc openers were valuable for penetration in places (headlands and field edges) where tillage of the seed bed may be less than desirable as done by field cultivators and tillage discs. Another place where they were good was in the case of wet areas that couldn't be tilled and seeded on an initial pass in the process. After those areas had dried (even after the first planting had emerged) a pass with the single-disc drill could penetrate and plant saving another trip in with a primary tillage tool thereby doing less damage to the surrounding emerged areas.

Hope that makes sense. Dad had a single disc drill and I have first hand experience having planted many acres with it.

Interesting. Love only seen 2 single disk opener drills here; 100s, maybe 1000s at farm sales and in action, everything around me is double disk. The single opener was not liked here for some reason. Clay wet soils and rocks here.

Sorry I know nothing about switching brands of openers, would think holes, brackets, and geometry would each be different but maybe it works?

Paul

"I have only seen" I can't say I love a drill... Sorry for the typo I noticed as I pressed send.....

Paul

I think MM only. Entirely different than Oliver, McCormick and Deere. Only ever used single disk but all new no till are double disk so evidently work in hard ground. I bought a double disk version of the McCormick I had before but quit farming before I got it rebuilt for use. It had stagered openers while the single were all in line. The single were usually set to throw the dirt to outside for each half of drill and that setup would leave ridge and valley for each pass and that was the way my McCormick was, The Deere all threw one way. With that if you drove round and round you did not have the ridge-furrow but if you went back and forth you did just the same as the one with the openers both throwing out. The double would not to that. And I always planted round and round, never back and forth as we always pulled a packer offset to side that would get rid of the wheel track on planted side and leave the unplanted side with a good guide as where to drive for next pass. Always had a flexiable spike tooth back of that packer. The stagard I would think would pass trash better. The packer did what the press wheel drills do and that spike tooth made a smooth field for the mower following wheat or oats. Also made for smoother cutting of beans without picking up ground. Even with the packer and spike tooth the throw to both sides single disk would leave enough hils and valleys to at times interfeer with the mower. That is whay I wanted to switch from single to double.

In my area, every one farms on ground that is leveled to grade and fine tuned with a laser leveler. This allows for flood irrigation. We have no rocks either. Most of the typical older design grain drills are single disc and I assumed it was to minimize the furrowing potentially left by the double disc design. Now for parts interchangeability. I have, on my planer, what I assume would be original openers that are red. Then I have a few that are red but a different design and also blue openers that fit and work but look different. Next some of the support flat irons that positions the openers are J-D green, (Maybe Oliver but I doubt that as we do not have much Oliver equip in our area). My digital camera gave it up so I need to get a replacement. When I get a new camera, I will post a few good pictures that show the differences I have mentioned. Maybe this group of farmers can help me determine what the different openers are and head me to a few spares that will work on the M-M P-3 planter. I would like to put it back in service. Alan