John Deere 494 corn planter

Hi I'm looking for a little advice on A John Deere 494 corn planter.
I'm 15 And Farming on my own and going to start planting corn this spring. And came across this 494 Corn planter for A decent price. I Would probably only use it for this year and get something a little newer if possible. It is a four row wide planter. And I would be pulling it with A Farmall H. So any advice would be great. Thanks. Colin

Collin you will need an operators manuel. I have a 494a we pulled out of the fence row last spring, hadnt been used for 20 years. Take the boxes off and look down the throat, bugs, muddobbers like to fill it up, then the seed will not drop. Open up the bottom of the boxes and make sure the spring loaded little roller moves up and down. oil and grease everything liberally. have fun

First thing to do would be to lay out a budget for what you can spend. Second would be to find sources of seed that will work with a plate type planter and yet deliver top yields. Locally, I see the area Amish shop adapting JD MaxEmerge units to horse drawn planter frames so I am thinking plate seed varieties are not keeping up in terms of yield. Unless you are not confident in your mechanical abilities I would look at other options in terms of planters and find a guru here or elsewhere that can help you trouble shoot it. I know that it is not always possible to get somebody to help do field work but maybe getting somebody with a modern planter to put your crops in might be the best thing to do for this year. The best non-JD alternative out there in my mind would be a White 5100 and it may be possible to find one at a good price. Then after that would be to get somebody to help you prepare to use it. After that it is a toss up between an IH Cyclo or AC Air Champ.

This one was used last year and Works vary well. no rust and has never sat out side over night. But thanks for the info.

Thanks for the device!

(quoted from post at 19:14:44 02/25/17) Hi I'm looking for a little advice on A John Deere 494 corn planter.
I'm 15 And Farming on my own and going to start planting corn this spring. And came across this 494 Corn planter for A decent price. I Would probably only use it for this year and get something a little newer if possible. It is a four row wide planter. And I would be pulling it with A Farmall H. So any advice would be great. Thanks. Colin

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Colin, If the planter is in good shape and free of rust, then it should serve you well for a few years. When you buy your seed corn have the seed dealer help you with the plates to be needed. If he knows nothing about plates maybe consider a more knowledgeable dealer. You will need "sized seed", meaning you should not plant seed for plateless planters as those hybrids are a mix of whatever seed sizes the seed company needs to put together for any given year. DO NOT let seed size influence
you in any way regarding yield....all seed from a given hybrid are the same for vigor, standability, yield, etc. There is no validity to the notion that sized seed yields less than plateless seed or vice versa.

Please get an Operator's Manual if you do not have one. The manual will show you which "driver sprocket" needs to be aligned with a certain "driven sprocket" to attain the plant population you want. Without that knowledge, you are "flying blind". A poorly planted field will haunt you all season.

When first starting to plant, drive a short distance, get off the tractor, grab a knife or trowel and dig for the seeds you just planted to see what depth and how close together the seeds are. This little exercise can be very valuable and might stop you from making an expensive mistake on all of your acres. Your seed should be about 2-2 1/2 inches deep....if very dry then see if you can get the seed a little deeper to get to moisture. I suggest you not plant deeper than 3 inches.

Any other questions you might have we can help you. There is also a lot of poor advice available so you need to sort that all out.
LA in WI

Thank You! I Can get seed vary easy. I Also had a call today of someone having A IH 800 cyclo. any Thought's on one of those? As Of right now i'm just looking around and seeing what people say about planters I find. Thank. colin.

(quoted from post at 12:29:28 02/25/17) Thank You! I Can get seed vary easy. I Also had a call today of someone having A IH 800 cyclo. any Thought's on one of those? As Of right now i'm just looking around and seeing what people say about planters I find. Thank. colin.

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The cyclo planter will need a much larger tractor than a Farmall H.

The H WILL handle the 494. It will be a load, but the H will do it. I've done it myself. You'll probably be in 1st gear most of the time.

Your big problem will be population to get enough plants you will need to drill so make sure you have the owners manual so you can make the settings

While true that all seed of a certain variety have the same yield potential that does not mean that a seed company takes the trouble to sort the seed so as to be able to be utilized in a plate planter as that segment of the market is currently small and shrinking. One of the most capable small farmers around here parked his plate planter as he felt he was losing out on access to top varieties. If a farmer could be assured of top end varieties available for plate-type planters then I would look at an IH 800 plate planter as you have the plate system plus depth control at the seed drop point along with a better closing setup.

It is difficult to switch row spacings, planting, spraying, cultivating, and harvesting equipment must match up.

Be careful of 'getting in cheap' for a year or two with wide row equipment, and then wanting to switch to 30 inch rows.

You might be ahead starting out with the 30 inch equipment right away. My words of experience/advice.

If you are planting corn and beans, I would consider double planting the beans at 1/2 rate. Plant down the field with your hitch set off to one
side 9.5 inches, and come back in the same tracks, so you end up with 19.5 inch rows. Wide row corn works fine, but beans waste a little
opportunity most years over 30 inch rows.

As to your question, the JD 494 and the H tractor will be a pretty nice setup for you. They should work well together and if you find seed sizes
to match your plates; or plates to match your seed sizes it will do a good job. The H likely won't pick up a JD7000 planter, so you are going with
the next best option there. I would not mess with an old Cyclo planter, people hated them around here, one of the reasons chi went belly up, no
one bought they never got that design right until the 1200 models came out. Now they are pretty good, but those 400-800 models weren't much
for corn. The 56 IHC plate planter was more popular in its day than those Cyclo planters.

The Red tractor with the Green planter you are planning on was -very- common around here in the 60s and 70s.

Paul

Most importantly plateless units offer superior spacing over a wider set of conditions which should be a primary consideration. Acquisition of such a planter does not have to be expensive as one does not need to buy a MaxEmerge system to have it. The White 5100/ 6100 planters will run with the JD and Kinze but cost far less to buy. If a person has a good understanding of mechanics then he could think about IH Cyclo but be advised that the long seed tubes and somewhat rough conditions/ rocks will affect spacing in the seed trench.

They're a good planter. It's the planter I recall from my youth. Then when I started out on my own at age 30, I bought the neighbors 494A. My biggest complaint was the runner opener and depth wheels to the rear. Ground has to be fitted right down clean and level. My next planter was a beat up White 5100. I saw a yield jump from the newer technology, even though the planter was rough.

There were two axles for the 494. When I bought mine, I narrowed it from 36 to 30. I was lucky to find a narrow axle. If your wheels are nearly centered between the wide set units, it's a wide axle.

I was taught the planter was the most important machine in farming. You can only expect as good of a harvest as the planter was capable of planting. Shop carefully.

I agree with Red,,my advice is to get a good 7000 with disc openers and more options to grow with ,,sled runners are not that good

I agree wholeheartedly however the OP does not say if this is for playing around on under 5 acres or if he intends to plant dozens of acres or more.

I don't disagree with your idea but the OP does not say what his budget is and I am assuming that a 15 year old is normally operating on a shoestring budget. 4 row 30 inch 7000's bring good money here with not much selling under 2,500 dollars if it is near to good condition. Nice 7000 4-30's will easily bring over 4,000 dollars as there are plenty of guys looking to go away from plate units on small operations. I think that the White 5100 planters are good machines and could be had for under 2,000 dollars for a pretty good unit. They are not that hard to understand and with any planter having an owner's manual is a must for good field operation. 494's and 56's were pretty good planters for their day but there is a reason they only fetch 500 dollars per unit on average. I saw a very nice 494 sell for 700 dollars a couple of years ago but that was a case of condition plus the buyer having nostalgia value as his grandpa had one back in the day.

Don't take this the wrong way but you should tell us the full story as to what you are doing. 5 acres to play around or planting 100 acres for a commercial effort? Barely 500 dollars to buy an old plate planter or a few thousand dollars to buy a unit with modern features? Cyclo's can be made to work but are not my first or second choice for a planter. My first planter starting out was a 400 and I can tell you from experience that unless your ground is smooth and free from rocks the seed tubes will shake enough to affect spacing in the seed trench. If somebody has given you 3,500 dollars to work with I would advise a JD 7000 4 row and use a cylinder with a wide bore to increase the lifting power of an older low pressure hydraulic system. Hopefully, the Lift-all on your H is not wore out.

If that H would have to be in low gear something is radically wrong with that tractor. It is the same size as a late B John Deere and I pulled one for years with that B in fourth that is the same as fourth In that Farmall And I also had an H at the same time as that B, the only reason could not use the H on it was did not have hydrolicks on it. The only problem will be the drawbar on the H as it does not have a hole drilled in at the exact spot the Deere has that you need for the control for the markers. And I pulled it loaded with fertilizer and insecticide and herbicide.

I'm planting around 14 acers of None GMO corn because that is where the market is for pork and beef. My budget is under a 1'000. My H is my Big work horse. and my baby. It is fully restored and if there is the smallest leak of oil or anything it is fixed. and gets washed and waxed once a week at least in the summer. I know I'm crazy. the Hydraulics are brand new and lifts a 9ft haybine like a feather. and its all weighted up and set up for plowing. so weight will be no problem. I'm vary mechanical able. that is all I do in the winter is maintenance all the Equipment at the dairy and beef farm I work at. and have gotten vary good with
the old iron and love farming with it. it may be a little slower and more work. but its more fun for me. so that's why I want a older planter like a 494 or a 56.

I used a 494 set on 40" rows for corn and beans for years, later got a second 494 set on 30" for bean and at the end and I still have all those planters but am now retired the 494A I was using at the end was set on 30" rows and putting all the corn and beans in with it. Depending on the axle in it you might need to go with the small boxes on the outside rows if you go down to 30" rows. And when I was planting corn on 30" rows I never had a problem using a 3 row 30" corn head. And if I was still farming the 494A as it was a better version of the 494 is what I would still be using, NO 7000 series Deere for me ever, would not own one.

The first thing you need after the planter is a soil test. No matter the technology or row spacing, if the soil needs attention, the harvest will suffer. You don't mention if the 494 has a fertilizer attachment. Consider equipping it with liquid fertilizer system. It is not complicated. John Deere's original system for this planter was gravity feed. Adding a pump and valves takes only slightly more effort. Liquid is substantially cheaper and is available to the plant immediately whereas granular fertilizer takes time to dissolve. Unused liquid can be stored year to year in a tote. Or it can be mixed in a sprayer with herbicide, and it doesn't kill off beneficial soil life like anhydrous does. I was forced into liquid fert. in 2016, because I was short of cash. The savings was $1300 over the dry, and paid for the liquid attachment on my 5100. Go to your Extension Office and get a Field Guide, a booklet showing all the crops in their various growth stages with color pictures showing, for example, what corn looks like when there is a phosphorus deficiency. There are sections on weed identification,how to prevent them,what to do if you have them. Also there is a section on various crop diseases and how to deal with them. Then it covers the insects, both good and bad, how to monitor them, how many is too many, and what to spray them with to get them under control. It is like the coolest book ever. Whenever a local seed company has a seminar at the town hall, go to it! There is always a few gems of knowledge to picked up at these events, and plenty of people to answer any questions you might have. If a fertilizer/pesticide license is required in your area, pursue it even if you are under the required acreage. It's only $30 (ours in Ohio is good for three years) and there is much to be learned at these meetings, and your license will be valuable if you ever go to work for another farmer who does his own spraying.

With that acerage and your budget a 494 will be fine. Just look for good graded seed corn which many smaller companies still have. Check the plates to make sure what they call for is correct. Plant a few passes in the drive way and get a tape measure and check that your population is what you want. I use a Deere 7200 but still have a 494a in the shed as a toy that we sometimes plant a few acres with for fun.Tom

I'm taking a class in soil sampling. and manure sampling. all of it will be cultivated and no spraying unless there is bugs. then it will be a organic spray. The 494 and the 56 both have fertilizer boxes. and I can get a 56 with liquid tanks. all of it will have composed manure on all 14 acers and shouldn't even need fertilizer. fingers crossed. Thanks for all of your advice!!

Most top varieties have GMO factors of some type but still if you can gain 10 plus bushel per acre going with something that is only available as a plateless variety but being non-GMO versus settling for a plate type seed being non-GMO is 30 dollars per acre with corn at 3.00 per bushel on a conservative basis or 450 dollars for 15 acres. Yes, I know you get more for organic feed but the values vary based on the buyer. They could give you 4.50 per bushel or 6.00 per bushel if regular number 2 shelled corn is 3.00 per bushel based on the Chicago board. I understand the classic nature of a JD 494 or 494A or IH 56 but I would still look around for a White 5100 as they could be bought at auction for around the money you mentioned and have flexibility in seed selection. Your situation is one of the few times I would look at an IH 800 4 row plate planter if you are adamant about using plate-type seed as you get modern style depth control and closing mechanisms. You also need to consider how it will be harvested and the size of the equipment in terms of it being capable of wide rows or narrow rows. If it is to be a one row picker then it does not matter.

Depending on how much pressure your H makes it may not have enough hydrolic power to lift either. Some of the older tractors had very low pressure systems and the lower the pressure the bigger diameter cylinder you will need and the bigger the cylinder the slower it will operate and you get too big you will have to stopat each end and wait for it to raise the planter. If you have 900PSI then you should be able to get by with a 2 1/2" culinder on the Deere, the IHC I would guess you would need a 3" cylinder, Now first thing you need to check is what pressure your tractor will put out. That can be your deciding factor. I don't know if liquid is avaible around you or not but when I was still farming it was not around me and think only saw a planter or possibly 2 in scrap yard with liquid attachment because of the liquid.

OK, you have got some good advice already. Shoe/runner planters don't have the
ability to establish soil to seed contact as good as a disc opener planter. So,soil
must be fit better to help get essential contact. Many crow about seed spacing
but EVEN plant emergence is far more important to a successful crop. Remember that it is
your crop and plant when it is best for your soil type/conditions. Higher soil temps
will help a shoe planter achieve even emergence. Good luck and report back on how it's going.

Alright Thank you all! I'll Let you guys know what ends up happing. There is a white 4 row coming up on an a AUCTION I will have a look at it and talk to the old owner. thanks again.

I do not know about the 494, but my H would not lift the marker arms on 6 row 7000, until I put live hydraulics on it.

Actually on that planter the shoe will cover better than the disk openers. I know this first hand as I changed my shoe openers over to the disk openers and unless the ground was in perfect condition the disk opener trench would not fill back in. I ran a spike tooth harrow over many an acre because of this happening. With the disk openers you need the covering disks to close that seed trench that I did not have on. I had one set of covering disks but different planters. And the set of covering disks had stuck bearings that at that time I could not replace.

Markers on all the planters before the 7000 series like up to the 12xx series were all mechanical lift, no hydrolicks to them. Just need one cylinder with enough power to lift the planter. The only down side to a 494 except getting old and warn is getting harder to get parts for. The other thing is getting a seed corn supplier that realizes there is still a big customer demand for graded seed, In fact the area I get into all the time there are more plate planters than plateless. Thousand of plate planters. Fact is just a week ago I was told by the person that I buy machinery for the IHC horse drawn 2 row planters the demand for them has gone way up in last couple of years. And the larger farmers only want a McCormick 449-449A or 450 planter that was built in the late 50's and very very early 60's before anybody thought about a plateless planter. And that is the only planter made with a clutch lift and able to be set on 30" rows. And get plates for.