Old moore unidrills

hally

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
cumbria
I use an old Moore Unidrill for direct drilling arable crops and also for drilling into cultivated seedbeds. I have never used it for grass reseeds but have drilled chicory and stubble turnips into grass leys with good results.

If drilling small seed at shallow depths the coulters need to be in good order and set about 1/2" from edge of disc or even less.

Setting up the coulters to get them nice and flat against the discs is very important but does take a fair bit of time and patience. It's well worth the effort though. In this respect the drill isn't a machine for amateurs in a hurry.

Attention to drilling depth is also important in the field. It's easy to end up putting the seed too deep or sprinkling it in top. I'd go for a model with a ram in the drawbar to give on the move adjustment from the tractor, otherwise, with variable soil hardness results will also be variable.

The disc bearings also need careful attention. Best way is the take the entire coulter/ disc unit off the drag arm and set it up in the vice. The disc bearing needs a certain amount of preload in my experience. When spun it should exhibit a certain amount of drag, not spin freely.

It's a good old simple drill that will work well and do as good a job as a machine ten times the price but it really does need attention to detail to serve you well. The Sulky metering is fairly foolproof.

I cannot imagine how a tine drill could possibly cope with the level of trash and stones that we have here.
You’ve pretty much summed up the unidrill imo
 

hendrebc

Member
Livestock Farmer
Thanks for starting this thread @hendrebc - I've been thinking along similar lines. I now know not to bother with an MF130, which has at least ruled something out. I've seen a few Moores for sale here and there, but there's not many about at present it seems.

I did find this though: https://www.agriaffaires.co.uk/used...51/simtech-aitchison-grassfarmer-gf3014c.html - it seems very cheap for a 2017 machine?
Your welcome @New Puritan (y)
That does look cheap out of season old stock sale maybe? They are usually 16k ish new i thought. Maybe its an ex demonstrator?
 

Fuzzy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Bedfordshire

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
A cheap old Moore Unidrill could need quite a bit of time and money spending on it.

Replacing and setting up the coulters isn't too difficult.
Changing the discs is easy.
The disc bearings can be a bit more tricky. I used a large diameter threaded bar with nuts and washers to pull the new bearings in, that way you can pull them in nice and straight. I think I tapped the old ones out with a punch. The disc hub shafts can sometimes wear if the bearings have seized at some stage. Then it needs a new hub or the shaft building up and the costs escalate. Worth renewing all the friction nuts that hold the bearings in if you are doing a full refurb. Nothing worse than one that keeps loosening off. A bit of loctite helps as well. Tighten so that the bearing just begins to drag , in other words has a small amount of preload. Worth checking everything after a a few acres to check things have bedded in. Prize the bearing end caps off by sticking a small sharp screwdriver through them. Put a dab of grease over the inside of the hole to keep the dust out when you reuse the cap.

The other thing to watch for on an old drill is twisted drag arms at the front end of the units as if a big tractor has pulled it round a corner with the coulters in the ground and twisted them. Also check the wearing plates up behind the rear press wheels where the tail of the unit slides up and down against the springs under the back step.

It does make tine drills sound easier, I agree.

I'd pay £1500 for one that needed a refurb, maybe up to £4K for one that has been refurbed. The 25mm square box section seed tubes won't take beans and struggle with Lupins. They are really for grass, cereals, OSR etc. I think some later drills had 30mm square tubes but know nothing about those. I don't think a retrofit is possible.

3m drills make as much as if not more than 4m drills as they are handier to transport.
 

KennyO

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Angus
@hendrebc spotted this on Facebook
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hendrebc

Member
Livestock Farmer
Thanks @KennyO thats very reasonably priced looks a decent drill must be quite an old one. I actually paid a deposit on a new 3metrr grass farmer on tuesday pending my grant being approved so hopefully ill get a new one for a reasonable price i can afford that way (y)
Shame i cant ask these people selling this to keep it till i find out about the grant :rolleyes:
@New Puritan might be interested?
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Thanks @KennyO thats very reasonably priced looks a decent drill must be quite an old one. I actually paid a deposit on a new 3metrr grass farmer on tuesday pending my grant being approved so hopefully ill get a new one for a reasonable price i can afford that way (y)
Shame i cant ask these people selling this to keep it till i find out about the grant :rolleyes:
@New Puritan might be interested?

I wouldn't lose much sleep over it. The first round was undersubscribed by several million, so the surplus was rolled over to make the pot bigger for round two. The second round was (surprisingly) undersubscribed by even more, so presumably that surplus will be rolled over to round three as well, making a huge pot. It would need a massive about turn in take up for this round to be oversubscribed and for low points items like your drill to get knocked back IMO.

Good luck.(y)
 
neilo, do you put fert in with the seed in the simtech or does your new drill have a separate box? I thought about doing this with fert and slug pellets but worried that the smoother fert might make its way down to the sponges quicker than the seed.
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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