John Deere Van Brunt problem

Owen555

Member
I recently picked up a Van Brunt for foodplotting. Its a FB137A. The farmer disabled the fert box when new, good move. The drill was stored in a barn for over 30 years. I have cleaned, painted, and moved all moving parts before trying to drill with it.

Allis well except for one issue. It is a split box drill, and when turning by hand the left hand side I felt a bind and stopped. I relubed, went in reverse and all was well. Then when turning forward the bind returned. In the first seed box, there is a stamped metal sleeve that the flute runs through, and the sleeve must turn with the fluted gear. The sleeve is not running with the gear, and begins to walk crossways when turning the gear shaft, all others are ok. It looks like I will need to tear down this one side and figure out a repair.

I have ordered a parts manual so I can see the exploded view to assist in teardown. Has anyone seen this issue before? The pic is not very good, but you can see the skewed metal sleeve, in fact you can see daylight between the sleeve and the housing. I'M not sure if the sleeve is supposed to be held in place by a clip, that may be missing, and guess the parts manual will show me.
mvphoto36869.jpg


mvphoto36870.jpg
 
You don't have to wait for the parts catalog, DEERE has them on-line. Go to the link below and enter "FB" as the model number.

It's been a long time since I worked on fluted feeds on a DEERE drill, but, IIRC, the "washer" that's scalloped internally to match the fluted feed is a part of the feed cup (13), and not serviced separately. (I don't remember how it's held in place as part of the "cup", but it must be as it's not shown as a separate part.

(I don't think you problem is Key # 14, that doesn't rotate, but needs to slide right or left when the feed rate is changed?)

It's going to be a LOT of work to unbolt all the feedcups, and remove the feeds and shaft as a unit, then knock out a whole bunch of pins to get all the other feeds out of the way to replace parts in the damaged one
Parts lookup
 
(quoted from post at 11:32:48 05/29/19) You don't have to wait for the parts catalog, DEERE has them on-line. Go to the link below and enter "FB" as the model number.

It's been a long time since I worked on fluted feeds on a DEERE drill, but, IIRC, the "washer" that's scalloped internally to match the fluted feed is a part of the feed cup (13), and not serviced separately. (I don't remember how it's held in place as part of the "cup", but it must be as it's not shown as a separate part.

(I don't think you problem is Key # 14, that doesn't rotate, but needs to slide right or left when the feed rate is changed?)

It's going to be a LOT of work to unbolt all the feedcups, and remove the feeds and shaft as a unit, then knock out a whole bunch of pins to get all the other feeds out of the way to replace parts in the damaged one
Parts lookup


I looked at the schematic. I don't have a problem with sliding back and forward for feed rate. Its when rotating the scolloped washer "walks" out of its groove and becomes crosswise creating a bind. I can slightly reverse and push the washer back in place.

I cant tell from the schematic if the drive shaft that slides into the gear is captive, or if it will slide completely out when all seed cups are unbolted. I dont see any other fix but disassembly, maybe someone else will chime in. At least the one I need to fix is on the end.
 
(quoted from post at 13:23:02 05/29/19)
(quoted from post at 11:32:48 05/29/19) You don't have to wait for the parts catalog, DEERE has them on-line. Go to the link below and enter "FB" as the model number.

It's been a long time since I worked on fluted feeds on a DEERE drill, but, IIRC, the "washer" that's scalloped internally to match the fluted feed is a part of the feed cup (13), and not serviced separately. (I don't remember how it's held in place as part of the "cup", but it must be as it's not shown as a separate part.

(I don't think you problem is Key # 14, that doesn't rotate, but needs to slide right or left when the feed rate is changed?)

It's going to be a LOT of work to unbolt all the feedcups, and remove the feeds and shaft as a unit, then knock out a whole bunch of pins to get all the other feeds out of the way to replace parts in the damaged one
Parts lookup


I looked at the schematic. I don't have a problem with sliding back and forward for feed rate. Its when rotating the scolloped washer "walks" out of its groove and becomes crosswise creating a bind. I can slightly reverse and push the washer back in place.

I cant tell from the schematic if the drive shaft that slides into the gear is captive, or if it will slide completely out when all seed cups are unbolted. I dont see any other fix but disassembly, maybe someone else will chime in. At least the one I need to4 fix is on the end.
/quote]

I just did a little more research. The seed cup in question is missing a metal ring on the outside of the cup, which must be a bearing race for the inside ring. All of the other 15 cups have the ring. It looks like I will need a seed cup. Does anyone know the part number and where I may find one?
mvphoto36878.jpg
 

Any one or all of the links can be separated by moving links at an angle to the other link then using hammer to separate. If you'll notice one end of link has a slit made into it. A special tool is utilized which makes separating chain easier.
 
I removed the shaft with the seed cups yesterday and ordered one from Burrells. I began disassemby today and found my seed doors in very
bad shape. Each cup at one time or another had been a mouse nest, and I guess the urine took its toll on the doors. I guess I could make
new doors, but this means the other shaft with 6 more cups will need to be reworked also. This is turning into a bucket of worms, but not a
big surprise with the age of the drill. I bet the pin that is holding the doors will be a bear to get out.
 
More complicated than you think. Most welding shops would not have the equipment to do that. Even the ones in commercial fabrication. You will have more invested in time and dammaged parts than to just buy them.
 
I finally finished the drill. Thanks to everyone that offered assistance. Ive been busy trapping coyotes but today I had time to hook it up and give it a mechanical test in the field. Everything worked perfectly, now I just need to find time to calibrate it for soybeans.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top