John Deere finger pikup units????

JD Seller · Mar 13, 2016

I am going through a friend's JD finger pickup units off of his JD 7000 corn planter. I got to thinking about how many of them I have refurbished over the years. I know it would have to be in the thousands. I can remember when I first started at the JD dealership that we would do nothing else for weeks in the spring.

Here are some pictures of what leaving seed corn in the units does to them over the off season. The seed treatment is corrosive and will rust the plates. Even if you clean the plates up they will still have rough spots from the rust pits. These pits will damage the kernel and make it more likely to have germination issues in tough growing years.

So clean them out before storing them. Even better remove them from the box and wash them an let them air dry. Then store them in side where it stays warm. The belts will last years longer that way.

Bob Bancroft · Mar 14, 2016

Whole lot of reasons there to have an air/vacuum planter! My first planter after the old 494A plate type was a beat up White 5100 air planter. I liked it so much that when I went to replace it several years ago I wanted a new White. But the local dealers were all gone. I would have had to travel two hours to find a dealer. So, I gave in and bought a JD vacuum. I still like the pressure system better.

Mike M · Mar 14, 2016

Those 7000 planters. We sold tons of parts for them. Seemed like everyone had one. Many people it was the only JD piece of equipment on their place too. Must of been very good machines though.

Dave H (MI) · Mar 14, 2016

Musta been a real scoundrel, that one! I didn't know you were working on somebody else's too! You boil the tar, I'll gather some feathers...we'll make sure he knows not to do it again.

Have a safe trip.

JD John · Mar 14, 2016

Rust in those meters can be very tax-ing sometimes, can't it!

Dave H (MI) · Mar 14, 2016

Feels like an audit!

fixerupper · Mar 14, 2016

People don't realize a precision instrument needs to be treated as such. A good friend of mine has a 12 row finger planter he bought in 1982 and has run somewhere around 350 acres of corn through it besides the beans every year. Each year when he is done planting he takes the units off the boxes, removes the covers and blows them out thoroughly. Then he sprays them with fluid film and stores them away in a dry place. Next spring he removes the covers again and wipes out the fluid film. When he has them run by the dealer each spring the dealer usually doesn't have to do any repairs to them, testament to how well a machine can operate when taken care of.

A few years ago I saw a farmer's finger units in a pile just inside the machine shed door where they could get rained on and I know the door is open year round. Uffda!!!!!

Frank 41 · Mar 14, 2016

I had a White 6531 that I had to make a drawbar support for my 4560 two wheel drive. The Friesen bar was VERY heavy and had as many grease zerks as the planter. My biggest problem was seed corn coating would build up gum on the plates from humidity and cause poor population count. We use a 1770 Deere now and have the best drop than that of White and CIH (500, 800, 1200). The Kinze 2300 16/31 did a good job at FIVE mph on corn but they were made cheap. Bean hulls would flaten the brushes and lower population. The markers were real good but mechancial.

John 37A · Mar 14, 2016

I am rebuilding my units currently on my 7000. Corn left in the units by the previous owner. Only a couple of them were damaged though. One was just starting to put in several small spots. Another was rusted badly and even rusting away the fingers. The other four were like brand new.

John Deere finger pikup units????

JD Seller

Well-known Member

Bob Bancroft

Well-known Member

Mike M

Well-known Member

Dave H (MI)

Well-known Member

JD John

Member

Dave H (MI)

Well-known Member

fixerupper

Well-known Member

Frank 41

Member

John 37A

Member

Similar threads