Backup corn planter

Went to the auction preview yesterday and looked at the IH 56 four row. All the lids missing from the seed hoppers. Looked like about 150 lbs of fertilizer in each bin. Asked the owner if he was planning on leaving the fertilizer in there cause it was rusting the crud out of the augers and he told me yes. Apparently it was in there when he bought it. Really not impressed with this planter but when the dust settled this afternoon it had gone home with someone for around eight hundred. Sitting right next to it was a very clean JD 7000. Didn't like the bidding on the IH so I tossed a bid in on the 7000...and they sold it to me. Just over $1400 including the premium. Guess I will make it and the Cyclo 800 ready to go, throw some corn in each of them and run a few rows when the oats come off the field. See what germinates. See what I like better. Nice thing is the 6 row 7000 matches my 6 row corn head. Make life a little easier in the fall.

Very curious to see if I like the JD.

I never had a Deere that new. I went from a 694AN to a White PlantAir. To tell you the God's honest truth,I get a lot better stand with the Allis I have now than I ever did with either of those.

I saw your picture of the Allis. Looked like a nice setup. Honestly, I have nowhere to go but up right now. based on what I saw on the JD at the preview and it's numerous rabid fans, I am hoping it will do a good job and maybe I will send the 8 row Cyclo to a new home. I'll get it working first so I can get my money out of it. Don't want to set some poor guy up to fail either.

We weren't allowed to have anything green on the place growing up - except planting equipment. The drill was green and so was the planter . It was a 7200 - basically a 7000 with three point mount. It did a great job. They are simple but reliable. I bet you like it really quick. I plant my sweet corn with a four row Allis. It does a great job. The mechanical markers work and everything. I can't image putting in 500 acres of beans, but with all of this rain I can't imagine getting ANY beans in the ground.

I use a 1760 planter and 750 drill now. I like both. I cuss the monitor a good bit on the planter, but I can't imagine anything that you set in the dirt and drag around a field has very reliable sensor on it. I've just spent four days taking each seed tube off and cleaning all of the sensors. I'd imagine it will work great for the first 40 acres and then back to the same.

JD Seller will be happy!!

Larry, the thought had occurred to me! MANY are the times he has told me to buy this planter. Just luck it was sitting there and no one wanted it.

Sell that cyclo and spend the money on making the 7000 right. A properly working finger pickup meter is hard to beat for corn. Good disk openers that are properly adjusted are equally important. Get your monitor hooked up and working and you'll never be sorry for it..

My brother hooked two 6-row planters together so he could plant 12 rows at a time. Cut tractor time in half.

Deere used to have that circle hitch that allowed a guy to pull two six rows or four rows. It was a heck of a job to bolt up to the tractor and not pleasant to hook the planters to the hitch. It dedicated that tractor to the planter for the whole planting season. I never did figure out why they didn't just make a tandem hitch of some sort. My father in law had one on a 4020 back in the early seventies. It was a huge planting outfit at that time.

You on 30s?

Good move!

You got a heck of a deal! Make sure the bushings are good in the pivot arms for the depth control wheels and that the press wheels have the proper tension and track straight alongside the rows. Check the metering mechanism in the seed boxes. Those that say they cannot get a good stand out of a brand "X" planter are either going too fast, are planting into a poor seedbed, or have an improperly adjusted or poorly maintained planter. With the above addressed, you will have good luck with the JD and have a 'picket fence' stand.

Ben

I bet you'll like it. Pick up a Shoup's catalog and go as far as you want.

Yes, I am.

The 7000 is real simple.

I have had a little trouble with markers. Interesting note on the hydraulics on the marker cylinders, H with lift all would not raise them, 4020 worked fine, 6610 blew a seal out. Keep the cable adjusted according to the manual, there is also a mechanism that alternates sides, it was worn and needed welded.

Dave I think you will like the JD 7000. Even if you spend a little to get it into shape. You got a pretty good deal on it. Your about as far away from needing a planter as you can get so now is the time to buy.

Here is a deal I will offer to you so you can get going easier. Email me so we can exchange addresses. Then when you finished planting whatever you want to try for this year, you take off the finger pickups and send them to me. I will go through them FREE for you. I have enough GOOD parts and some NOS parts that I can rebuild them for little to nothing, other than me fooling around with them. Two meters in a box will UPS pretty cheap. I go through my cousin's units every few years and he UPS them to me.

Here on my rolling hills and soil types I would expect you will be much happier with the JD if you get it running good and familiar with it.

In the 1970s everyone in my conditions were pulling green planters, with red or orange or green tractors.

Now, since the Case 1200 series planters came out, that has kinda reversed, and everyone is pulling a red planter with green, orange, or red tractors....

But, anyhow, for that era, the 7000 was a better rig.

The red ones from that era could handle notill a bit better if you get into that, on flat land. Otherwise, JD is much more popular from back then.

And yes, I run a 6 row 7000. Here they sell for $5000-$9000 in 6 row with fertilizer setup. You got a real steal.

Paul

I guess I don't understand the concept of a backup planter. If you are raising corn or beans, the most important tool on the farm is the planter, your entire year depends on placing the seed right the first time. Why pull a unreliable planter that you may have to go back and replant? Backup tractors, machinery, combines, yes. Planter, no way!! Chris

(quoted from post at 22:43:50 05/27/15) We weren't allowed to have anything green on the place growing up - except planting equipment. The drill was green and so was the planter .

Click to expand...

It was the same at our place, Ford and AC tractors and misc. branded other equipment, but green planters.

You explained the need for a backup unit in your post,it's the most important
piece of equipment during planting season. A fifty dollar repair can cost thousands
of dollars of lost production. Time is a precious commodity. Preventing one day's loss
of planting can pay many times over,especially for what he paid !

I don"t understand that concept either, and I"d expand it beyond planters. Why maintain two pieces of rusty junk, rather than spend money on a decent, dependable unit?

Dave, id vote you take that 7000 and go over it and make nice planter that is ready to go with it. Id think youd have to admit that a 7000 JD is a much simpler operation than a air planter. I have never been around or run a air planter, but we have a 9200 new idea (its a JD 7000, has JD bolts in it) and it has been a great planter. Worst thing you might have is to clean out the seed tubes when they get dirty. takes about 10 minutes or less each tube. Get the seed units checked out and your ready to go.

We have martin till closing wheels on one side in the back and drag chains. I like the job those do. Considering adding row cleaners up front on the no till coulter for no tilling, but does fine with out them. Id like having a clean "row" around the seed. (when I notill corn its into hay ground)

If you going to have a backup planter it should at least be of the same model. I like our IH air planters the do a good job for us and they are pretty simple. Biggest thing I like is you only have to fill one hopper. Some I know really like the individual hoppers so they can watch what seed goes out.

In your case though since you found a 6 row to go with your 6 row combine head I would sell the IH planter and put the profit towards repair of the deere. With the troubles you had this season I would assume that you will never trust your IH planter again.

Dave, like the others have said, you want one GOOD planter instead of two or more that are marginal. You simply can't have too good of a corn planter. Like has been said, you will buy a good corn planter one way or the other, whether you buy one outright, fix one up to good condition, or lose yield due to poor performance or untimely breakdowns. This being said, they will make replacement parts for your 7000 planter after we are all gone. There were so many made and still running that the parts are still in high demand.

JD's offer to you is a good one. The 7000 planter units can be made to consistently plant 99% or better with the proper parts and maintenance. (This is where a skip or a double is considered unsatisfactory. In other words, out of 1000 seeds planted the unit will plant accurately 990 of those 1000.) There are a few things you should do before you take your 7000 to the field. First of all, get a book. There are at least three different books for a planter your size, mostly due to the difference in the seed drive transmission. Next, at the very least, take apart the units and clean them out. Many of these never even have the seed taken out of them from one year to the next. You ALWAYS want to do this. While you have the units out replace the seed brush. This should be done every year as well, regardless of acres planted. It is such an important part (and inexpensive) that it's best to replace it often. Don't bet your corn crop on $30 worth of parts. There are not the only things to check but these are the most important and easiest to start with.

Depending on the seed size a regular 7000 unit will plant consistently around 96-98% accurately. The "sweet spot" for any finger pickup unit is a seed size of about 45-53 lbs. of seed per 80,000 kernel bag. Smaller size seed will double more where larger seed will skip more. Smaller than 40 lb. seed will double much more without modification to the unit. Seed larger than 60 lbs. will skip more as well. Also, a finger pickup unit does it's best work at speeds of around 5 m.p.h. or so. At about 30,000 population at 5 m.p.h. the finger pickup turns at about 65 revolutions per minute. In other words, more than a seed per second. In my observation and experience over the years the 65 r.p.m. is about the design limit of the finger pickup. They will still do a good job at this speed but fall off at faster speeds.

I apologize for the length of this post. I have worked on 7000 planters for many, many years and used to own a planter just like the one you bought. It served me well and I would still own it had I not wanted to update to a vacuum planter. With proper care they will still plant as good or better than some newer planters. I have worked on 7000 planters for many years and have rebuilt more finger pickup units than I could count. Like JD, I will open my email if you want to ask any questions. Feel free to contact me. Mike

I also have a 1760 and very seldom have any sensor problems with it. If your harness is ok with no pinched wires or bad connections you may have some sensors that need replaced. I run clear seed tubes with the sensor eye on the outside of the tube and very seldom even have to clean the tube, let alone replace a sensor. I replaced my first sensor this year in the five years I've had the planter. Mike

Yep, worship at the alter of the green planter but don't listen to those of us that tried to help you with the cyclo.
Never did understand the concept of planting with 8 and combining with 6.

Much appreciated! I will send you an email. On the chance that it does not work, because I have trouble sending forum emails for some reason, you can access mine easily enough on modern view in my profile...but let me try it...

I appreciate your comments Mike, and have posted them in my personal archives for later this summer when I pull this planter out and start looking at it. I'll try to shoot you an email. If you don't get one, look for mine on my profile and shoot me a quick note. Happy to have all the help I can get!

Oh PAH-LEEZE, give me a break. I listen to everything everyone tells me! And I am well aware of the need to match planter to head, I have experienced this first hand. The Cyclo is still sitting next to the shed. I fully intend to test it and repair what needs it and then run it beside the JD. What is important here is not color, it is what works for me the best.

Dave,

May I be completely blunt?


HOLY CROW! You got a 7000 6 row for $1400? Does it have dry fert? If so, if you hate it, I will seriously and honestly pay you $1000 more than you have into it, and I will send a shipper, with me in tow, in a nice comfortable Grand Marquis, to hand you money.

I cant tell you enough times that the JD 7000 has outdone every planter I have had. Let me go through them...


We got a JD 290 2 row wide in about 1965. It had a trip-rope clutch for lifting. I actually still have this planter. A nearby farmer who rented or farm for 2 years in the early 1980's had a JD 494 plate planter. He made a decent stand, but not as good as the 2 row 290. We used the 290 into the early 1990's. Then we got a Ford 309. It planted depth what was dictated by the three point hitch down pessure and we neverhad good luck with it. It made a messy stand, including triples and not just doubles, and very uneven depth on the stand. I keep it as a memento of what was... After that, we bought the 400 Cyclo-nightm-air, It lasted a few years in the 2000's. It gave a good population, it planted nice compared too the Ford, but it wasn't the prefect picket fence. It did ok, but the upkeep, and keeping the tractor revved up drove me nuts. I wanted to remove my ear drums and eyes, with a dull butterknife, listening to that thing whirl and watching the wig-wag to make sure the seed drum was turning. I could plant fast, though. I only had to fill the seed twice all year and the liquid fert once. It still was not what I wanted.


One day. More specifically, it was May 9th, 2012, I pulled the Cyclo-bear out of the barn, to wash it off and grease it for corn. I blew the dust off, and noticed that the press wheels against the drum had dryrotted, even though I had them pulled away from the drum all winter. when I engaged them, they just about fell apart, but weren't all that old. I called my local stealership an they told me they coul get them, but were backordered. I ordered them, and a few days later, called and they said they expected them in June. I told them that I would rather have an unclean yak sit on my dinner, or have Barbara Walters ask me about my childhood and how it made me feel. They cancelled the order and I got on craig's list of wonderful wonders. Within hour I realized Buffalo, NY was the only place to find one of short notice in good shape, and it was a John deere with bells, whistles and maybe a random French horn player imitating a dying elk.

I bought it and it showed up on May 19th via a super truck driver who didn't care about speed limits.

Yes, I put all new drive chains on everything. Yes, I shipped the precision meters off to the Growmark FS after planting and let them work them and calibrate them to 99.8%. I replaced the keeton seed firmers with new including liquid tubes for pop-up. I gave it a good shot.

That year, the drought year, I planted narrow 30 rows, 32,000 population, and even though we got hit by the drought, I made 170 bushel corn average, with my best 4 1/4 acre field making 268 bushel to the acre. MY worst was around 90, but it was dry sandy ground verse my best wetland sans cattails.

I think I posted a picture of me and my dad standing next tot eh carts and combine. 2 500 bu. carts topped off, and 166 bushel in the combine, all from just under 4 1/4th acres...

Anyhow, you will be fine and if you check shoup, you will find every part ever made. I find it is cheaper to buy the roller chain through shoup, precut and sized, than it is to go to Tractor Supply and buy 10 foot rolls and cut them yourself. Don't ask me why, but it is.


You will like the planter.

You will like your sanity also.


Post-script: There is at least a few on here who should buy your Cyclops based on their posts. They could probably love it very well and appreciate it! They seems to think yinz are doing it wrong and that is the reason it is not working. I'm not one... Check my other posts! Sorry for the quick jab, to those, but; again, if you can only see red and cant appreciate any other brand, you deserve to own even the ones that err worn aaht from so much love. Not every piece is worth saving if yinz do more than just collect and expect a yield.

(I apologize for the Pittsburghese, but 7 in a row from the Bucs? c'mon naw, yinz gotta be prawda that effort!)