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John Deere 494A Planter Question

B

Beatles65

Member
Found an old John Deere 494A planter for sale nearby. He is asking scrap price for it. What do they weigh?
The man was thinking about a ton, so the price would be anywhere from $200-$250 for it.
Dont have any pictures but am going to try and go look at it Saturday morning.
This is what he told me.
His dad bought it new in 1967 or 68. He was using it up until about a year ago when it started to skip on one of the outer planters. He said that it would come with extra plates and it also has planter extension boxes and it has the liquid fertilizer tank.
My question is, is this a good value at the price he is asking.
What do these usually go for when they are working good?
Thanks for all the info!
From Nebraska,
Andrew Kean.
 
To rent an acre of land costs $200.00. Corn is $6.00 a bushel at the elevator today. You really want to chance planting it with a $200 planter?
 
These days you could probally buy em all day long for $200.but you have to consider your acreage.You dont want to use a $5000 planter for 20 acres.Flipside,you dont want to plant 200 acres witha $200 planter.Perspective.
 
I doubt if it weight's a ton. Let it go for scrap unless you want it for a antique, not to plant with.
Think Maximerge,has depth wheels rubbing on discs.
 
I'd say a ton is pretty close.. I think the one I hauled in was right around 1700.. but the fert. boxes were half rusted away, and some parts were missing.

I don't know what would cause it to skip, but I'd say the price is reasonable, considering I been looking for a 4 row wide planter here in SE Michigan (to plant a couple acres so I can pick it with my self propelled corn picker) and I can't seem to find even junk for that price.. But, I got wind of a 494 a bit back.. called the guy, he still has it, I need to go look..

Brad
 
A JD 494 is a good "old" style planter. If you are planting in a well worked seed bed then they will do a good enough job. Like others have said it is all about how much you are going to plant. I have one that I have planted my sweet corn with for twenty years or more. I also lay out my garden rows with it to. I can then cultivate it with my four row front mounts.
Would I plant 50-100 acres with one??? No You could pay for a good 7000 with that many acres.
 
skips on one row indicates jumping of teeth on the bevel gears from the main shaft to the row unit, you will probably find more things needing repair before you start planting
 
A working one around here goes for 2-600. Food plot guys all look for them . I got mine for free . traded owner a turkey hunt for it .
 
8row version selling at my neighbors on feb 12th near dorchester ne. it will bring iron price.
lots of parts there!!
see zaleskyauction.com
 

You might check with John Deere and find out if the parts needed to rebuild the seed metering system are still available. I forget now what the proper terminology is, but I always called those parts kickers, knockers, rollers, and I thing there was a spring or two in there also. If you can still get those parts and rebuild the boxes, that 494 will plant corn just as accurately today as it did back in the 60s or 70s, and back then the 494 was considered to be one of the best.
 
NEW IN THE 50'S AND FENCE ROWS IN SE IOWA ARE FULL OF THE 4 AND 6 ROW ONES IF THE SCRAPE MAN HASN'T BEEN THEIR.Some reason the upper case key was on.
 
Buy it. Good price, good planter as long as you don't expect it to no-till. I wouldnt be any more afraid to go plant 200 acres with a good 494A than with a 7000 max emerge. No-till would be a different story.
 
I bought the same planter last winter and planted 12 acres of field corn, 3acres of sweet corn and an acre of green bean with it. It didn't skip a beat. Sold an old moline 2 row for what I paid for the 4 row. Parts and plates are still avialible. For the price of scrap how can you go wrong. If you don't like it you can scrap it next year when scrap is higher and make money on it.
 
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