Precision Planting planter parts

I am looking at some of the Precision Planting replacement parts for my John Deere 7000 planter
My question is are the fingers they make better than the original John Deere ones
My planter does a good job but some of the fingers and backing plates are getting worn
if that causes me to miss or loose a few seed per row that adds up over time
I want to use the best replacement for my money weather it be using John Deere or the Precision Planting parts
Thanks for and advice

Mostly they have a better brush setup, but the fingers and backing plate is a tad better too.

Paul

(quoted from post at 21:46:02 04/06/17) I am looking at some of the Precision Planting replacement parts for my John Deere 7000 planter
My question is are the fingers they make better than the original John Deere ones
My planter does a good job but some of the fingers and backing plates are getting worn
if that causes me to miss or loose a few seed per row that adds up over time
I want to use the best replacement for my money weather it be using John Deere or the Precision Planting parts
Thanks for and advice

Click to expand...

Russell,
Basically, all the Precision Planting parts are an improvement over the JD parts. Kinze parts are an improvement, also. The springs in the Precision finger sets are stronger, causing less skips with flat sized seed. JD is now using short fingers and I do not like them as much as KZ or PP. What is critical after you install the parts is you need to put the proper torque on the large nut holding the finger sets down; too much you cause excess wear, too loose and planting errors go up. I suggest you contact a local man who has a Precision "Meter Max" machine as he can run your meters with any seed you want to test, plus you get a printed read-out of the results of each meter.
LA in WI

I have a PP test stand and have worked on many meters over the years. Here is what I have found. The Precision parts are good parts, especially the back plates with the adjustable brush. The finger units are ok but are no better than Deere. I like the short flag finger units and they would be my choice but the PP units are fine. The only advantage they have (in my estimation, and it is slight) is the fingers are numbered so you can locate problems on the test stand easier, such as one spring or finger giving consistent trouble. Not a big deal. The PP finger units are vastly superior to Kinze factory fingers. On them, the carrier for the fingers is WAY to flexible and will really act wacky on the test stand. You can twist them in your hands. The Skip Stop is a good thing to have and work well. The cupped belt is a coin flip. If you have them, used them. If you have the regular belts, use them. I haven't seen a consistent advantage to them. One thing on a finger meter that is extremely important is to have the belt centered in the housing before installing and setting the finger carrier. If the belt rubs on the housing or cover it will mess up a meter very quickly.

With all this being said if your parts are worn and need replaced anything you do will help. I install Precision parts on most of the meters I work on. Factory parts work pretty well, too, but do not do quite as well if your seed sizes are very small or very large. And, contrary to what many think, the best planting job you do is when your seed is as close to the same size as possible. True, the finger units will plant almost any size and do a decent job, but if you want a "nice" job consistent seed size will really help. Mike