Narrow Row Bean Planter Built From Two IH 500 Cyclos

Narrow Row Bean Planter Built From Two IH 500 Cyclos PLANTERS Planters 24-1-37 Alan Nieman, Clarksville, Iowa, built his own 16-row, 16-in. soybean planter out of two used IH 500 Cyclo air planters. He bought an 8-row, 36-in. vertical fold, 3-pt. planter for $1,200 and a 3-pt., 8-row, 30-in. rigid frame model for $500 which he used for parts. The vertical fold planter was equipped with a 7 by 7-in. toolbar. He mounted 10 row units on a length of 4 by 4 sq. tubing behind and under the seed hoppers. The rest of the row units were mounted on wing frames. He moved the center air module over to the side and added a second air unit and hopper. The hubs on the planter's press wheels were wearing out and required constant greasing every two hours or so. To solve the problem he removed the original hubs and replaced them with the hubs and sealed bearings from used disc openers off the 500 planter. The hub housing on the disc openers had the same bolt pattern as the hub housing on the press wheels. He bought some round stock and some bolts and put two bearings together, using 3/16 in. spacers between the each pair of bearings. "It virtually eliminates the need to grease the press wheel hubs. Also, with the new hubs and bearings the press wheels run true so they aren't wobbling all the time," says Nieman. The planter was already equipped with Acra-Plant shoes. He added Keeton seed firmers to the shoes to keep the seed from bouncing out of the ground. Each planter was already equipped with an 8-row harness for its own seed monitor. Nieman had a "Y" cable made up to hook the two harnesses together so he can monitor all 16 rows at one time. "I had been planting beans in 30-in. rows. My partner had a 30-in. planter and also drilled beans. He didn't like drilling because he never knew exactly what seed population he was planting. With our air planter we know that we're always planting exactly the same population no matter what the seed size. "I wanted to build a planter with 15-in. row units but at 15-in. spacings the row unit mounting brackets interfered with the hinge where the toolbar folds on each side so I just went 1 inch wider." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Alan Nieman, 31473 150th St., Clarksville, Iowa 50619 (ph 319 276-4442).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.