Cheap Narrow Row Soybean Planter

Cheap Narrow Row Soybean Planter PLANTERS Planters 32-2-33 Old Deere 7000 8 or 12-row, 30-in. planters can be converted to low-cost, 15-in. narrow row soybean planters, says Edgar Phillips, Marshall, Mo. He recently sent FARM SHOW photos of an 8-row, 15-in. Deere 7000 planter that he bought from a neighbor, who had converted it from an 8-row, 30-in. model. "I have a small farm and can't justify large, expensive machinery. This 8-row conversion is just what I needed," says Phillips. "Old Deere 7000 planters can be bought cheap because they're rigid, non-folding models that require a trailer for road transport. I've used this modified planter for three years and it has worked great. The narrow 15-in. rows have increased my soybean yields by six bushels per acre compared to the 36-in. row planter I had been using. "The older 7000 series planters aren't in much demand any more," says Phillips. "My neighbor had bought the planter from a Deere dealer, where it was rusting away on the lot. A few years after he converted the planter to 15-in. rows, he bought a bigger Kinze skip row planter and sold this model to me for $2,000. It came equipped with bean meters, which were worth almost as much themselves as what I paid for the entire planter." To make the conversion, the planter's main toolbar was cut off on each end to a 13-ft. length. Then the row units were moved in. The planter's transmission was originally located on back of the toolbar between the two center row units. With the row units moved in, there wasn't room for the transmission so it was cut off and welded on top of the toolbar. An idler sprocket or jackshaft was fabricated below and in front of the transmission in order to drive the transmission from the front. The planter's lift wheels and drive wheels were also moved to the front. The seed boxes were originally driven by a wheel on just one side of the planter, which could cause problems with the seeding rate when planting around terraces. The driveshaft system was modified so the seed boxes are now driven from both sides of the planter. That was done by moving the wheel sprocket and drive apparatus from the right outside wheel to the left inside wheel. When Phillips bought the planter the insecticide boxes on back had already been removed. There wasn't room to stand between the row units on back in order to load seed into the boxes, and on front the toolbar was in the way. "I had to walk across the top of the planter behind the seed boxes," says Phillips. To make loading the seed boxes easier, he welded expanded metal platforms behind each seed box, where the planter's insecticide boxes were originally located. "Now I can lower the planter until the platforms are even with my pickup's tailgate and walk right onto them from the pickup," says Phillips. "I can see the row unit components right through the expanded metal. The platforms flex with the row units according to the ground conditions." He says he'd be willing to put plans together if there's enough interest. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Edgar A. Phillips, Rt. 1, Box 196, Marshall, Mo. 65340 (ph 660 886-6130).

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