750a settings in different conditions and some wtfs

[matttargett4]

perhaps ill get the wtfs out of the way first

you cant get up the steps with the drill folded up? wtf

i have to take the air pipes off and hang a tray on a sky hook to calibrate it, then realise half the seed jumped out of the tray? wtf

the linkage brackets arent standard width wtf?

the following harrow? wtf

anyway, im a new owner, weve drilled osr, grass and cover crops and been happy enough but conditions are now getting tricky and like everything thats when you need to know what youre doing.

so atm drilling oats, vetch and mustard depth is in second hole, seed firming wheel on min pressure and closing wheel on max. seed ends up about 40mm deep, im thinking the firming wheel must be pushing it through the bottom of the trench?
at this depth the seed boot is only in thr ground some of the time, im concerned this isnt really right so will go deeper for cereal drilling, is that right?

we finished some cc into maize stubble in the rain and found the first issue was we couldnt close the slots behind the tractor, was also starting to pick up on the guage wheels, i get what will said elsewhere about mauling stuff in, with rapid that would stand water but it looks fine aprt from a bit slotty.
i also potentially have some cc which is welly boot high to plant, can i fo this when its wetter and hope the green carries me or is that dangerous?
im also interested to hear about section control settings if anybody has any? im finding the seed slow to start and stop?

thanks

 

[SilliamWhale]

Seed boot shouldnt be in ground. You will wear it out too quick and then you will be complaining!!

Im a fan of the firming wheel but it could ball up with mud. I use needham wheels and they dont mud up so badly.

Its not gonna be a perfect 750 year so remember that this time. 40mm is ok depth.

It will be a year when things are slotty my experience provided your slugs dont go crazy is that the slots will be ok because its so moist now. The firming wheel will have done a lot.

 

[Simon Chiles]

Seed boot shouldnt be in ground. You will wear it out too quick and then you will be complaining!!

Im a fan of the firming wheel but it could ball up with mud. I use needham wheels and they dont mud up so badly.

Its not gonna be a perfect 750 year so remember that this time. 40mm is ok depth.

It will be a year when things are slotty my experience provided your slugs dont go crazy is that the slots will be ok because its so moist now. The firming wheel will have done a lot.

Later seed boots sit further back in the shadow of the disc and pro series boots are also thinner. You haven’t the choice of three boot settings like your drill because the the boot would foul the hub. If he’s seeding more than 25mm deep the boot is going to be in the ground.

I wouldn’t be seeding in conditions that aren’t ideal if your on anything other that light land, it’s a recipe for disaster. If you’re going to use a 750 this year it’s best for inexperienced operators to grow a pair and wait until conditions improve.

 

[Simon Chiles]

perhaps ill get the wtfs out of the way first

you cant get up the steps with the drill folded up? wtf

i have to take the air pipes off and hang a tray on a sky hook to calibrate it, then realise half the seed jumped out of the tray? wtf

the linkage brackets arent standard width wtf?

the following harrow? wtf

anyway, im a new owner, weve drilled osr, grass and cover crops and been happy enough but conditions are now getting tricky and like everything thats when you need to know what youre doing.

so atm drilling oats, vetch and mustard depth is in second hole, seed firming wheel on min pressure and closing wheel on max. seed ends up about 40mm deep, im thinking the firming wheel must be pushing it through the bottom of the trench?
at this depth the seed boot is only in thr ground some of the time, im concerned this isnt really right so will go deeper for cereal drilling, is that right?

we finished some cc into maize stubble in the rain and found the first issue was we couldnt close the slots behind the tractor, was also starting to pick up on the guage wheels, i get what will said elsewhere about mauling stuff in, with rapid that would stand water but it looks fine aprt from a bit slotty.
i also potentially have some cc which is welly boot high to plant, can i fo this when its wetter and hope the green carries me or is that dangerous?
im also interested to hear about section control settings if anybody has any? im finding the seed slow to start and stop?

thanks

Lower link brackets are designed for Cat 4 two point linkage, set your link arms so that the drill can’t move from side to side.

In a wet year the press wheel settings are critical. You probably shouldn’t have any pressure on the press wheel.

I’m not sure what you mean by second hole depth setting. With new discs the shallowest seeding depth is 12mm, it then goes in 6mm increments up to 90mm. Are you sure you’ve got enough coulter pressure? Uneven seeding depth is a common cause. Don’t forget that if you reduce the closing wheel pressure you’ll increase coulter pressure and that may be your problem.

If all else fails call the 750 helpline.

 

[Farmer Roy]

In a wet year the press wheel settings are critical. You probably shouldn’t have any pressure on the press wheel.

the little in furrow presswheel is brilliant in dry or marginal conditions, at ensuring the seed is pushed into the moisture at the bottom of the slot & getting good seed / soil contact
However - in anything even remotely resembling “sticky” soil conditions ( even if dry in the surface ) we tend to just remove them completely as they cause all sorts of grief with mud sticking to them, picking up seeds out of the trench, or physically blocking up or reducing trash flow etc . . .
Would be keen to try some of the yellow polyurethane ( I think ? ) wheels from Exapta in the US which are claimed to not stick to soil

But yeah, wet sticky conditions, even having no pressure on the presswheel it can still be problematic. In those high moisture conditions, better to remove it altogether & run a spiked style closing wheel which is much better at closing the slot if conditions are a bit tight or cheesy

PS - heavy black alluvial clay soils, full zero till

not a JD750a, but a very similar row unit design
planting canola

 

[matttargett4]

sorry to sound negative, just think mr accord needs to ask hinself if thats his best effort for 80k.

seed depth - i would call the shallowest the first hole, then 1.5 with the handle turned then 2nd hole is both sides in the scond notch so 24mm.

i think my depth is consistent, in the conditions down pressure has been adequate, i recall simon saying you should just about be able to turn the guage wheel with your foot, ive also found excessive pressure makes it hard to close the slot.

ive heard lots of mention that the firming wheel can be harmful, what should i look out for? what does it do? ive not seen it pick seed up or get particularly dirty.

 

[Simon Chiles]

sorry to sound negative, just think mr accord needs to ask hinself if thats his best effort for 80k.

seed depth - i would call the shallowest the first hole, then 1.5 with the handle turned then 2nd hole is both sides in the scond notch so 24mm.

i think my depth is consistent, in the conditions down pressure has been adequate, i recall simon saying you should just about be able to turn the guage wheel with your foot, ive also found excessive pressure makes it hard to close the slot.

ive heard lots of mention that the firming wheel can be harmful, what should i look out for? what does it do? ive not seen it pick seed up or get particularly dirty.

Excessive downforce does make it harder to close the slot. You should be able to only just turn the gauge wheel. If your drill is new you’ve got pro series openers and would be fitted with the new slimmer flexible press wheel. It’s designed not to pick up mud like the old ones did. Consequently it’s probably harder to tell when you’ve got too much pressure on it, you don’t want to be forcing into the slot when it’s wet otherwise it’ll compress the bottom and sides. The rule is to use max pressure when the soil is dry, no pressure when it’s wet.

 

[Farmer Roy]

JD 50/60/90/Pro-series NT drill tips, Part 2:​

Continuing on from Part 1 in our previous email with seed firming and furrow closing steps: Many of you are in full swing of fall harvest and some have begun seeding, but it’s not too late to make sure your drill is up-to-par. If you are already in the field seeding, we encourage you to evaluate your drill's performance from the NT Drill steps provided in Part 1 & 2. Cover all your NT drill bases before seeding—it’s right around the corner for most of you!​

5) Seed firming is mission critical. Unless you’re willing to rely on a rain every time you seed (not wise!), you must achieve good seed-to-soil contact, and this is especially true for crops such as soybeans and peas. The very first JD 750s started out with an extremely wide seed-lock wheel (the vertical wheel that runs in the furrow), and they’ve been making them narrower ever since. The Pro-series seed-lock wheel is now the 4th iteration, and they still leave a lot to be desired—basically it’s a copy of Needham’s rubber-tire V8, which did a decent job of seed firming but had troubles with longevity as the rubber compound wore quickly. Also, the width of the wheels are still too wide, pushing out against the sidewall, making it challenging to adequately crumble the sidewall (which is imperative for root development) and close the seed trench. JD’s 3rd generation (90-series after late ’06) seed-lock wheel also has issues with the rubber tire pulling out of the rim. Truly superior results and wear-life come from a urethane (plastic-like compound that in this case is fairly hard but still flexes a bit) ‘tire,’ such as our DuraLok. Not only does the urethane have an insanely long wear life, but it actually sheds mud better than the rubber tires in most soils. Plus, in hard, semi-dry conditions, the denser urethane does a better job of embedding the seed into the soil, whereas the softer rubber compounds let the seed indent the rubber rather than the seed indenting the soil. Still not convinced? Try a couple DuraLoks to see for yourself—they’re simply amazing.​

This is the 2d-generation seed-lock wheel from Deere, from approx 1990 - 2006. They were much too wide and were lousy for seed firming in long-term NT soils especially in southerly areas with low OM because they'd ride on the sidewall and sometimes never engage the seed in the narrower furrow bottom. (Note also the seed boot is worn out here.)​

​

The sleek shape of the DuraLok allows it to stay clean when OEM & competitor (aftermarket) firming wheels are clogging with mud, pulling seeds out, and dragging mud against the gauge wheel. Even the SDX firming wheel was having more problems than the DuraLok.​

Are we concerned about wiggle of the seed-lock arm at its pivot point? No. Any play here just lets the wheel follow the furrow better. But you do need to keep them moving freely. If you’re tired of greasing them, or tearing them down to clean out packed dirt, have a look at our Aricks bushing kits that eliminate the need for greasing. 6) Now to the final step of closing the furrow: If you’ve done the seed-firming step adequately, you don’t want a lot of packing when closing the furrow—that just slows emergence, and may even prevent it entirely. The smooth cast closing wheels on the 50/60/90-series have a ridiculous tendency to hop if operated more than 5 mph, especially in corn stalks. Of course, they do nothing when airborne, and then they come down like a hammer—which again really hurts emergence. The farmers who bite the bullet and install our Thompson wheels are quite pleased (even ecstatic) about their performance. Of course, there are plenty of other aftermarket spoked closing wheels to choose from, but generally they are less optimal across the array of conditions most no-tillers encounter. Ranging from too heavy and thick, which causes too much packing and too much gathering of mud, to long-skinny spokes that go too deep, usually the results are better than smooth OEM cast, but not as good as our Thompson wheels—indeed, if we ever could find a design better than our Thompson wheels, we’d be selling them!!​

​

​

A south Texas customer sent us these, and said there were no problems with the Thompson wheels, while the other two competitors balled up.​

As to Deere’s new Pro-series opener, which comes with the option of a notched closing wheel—still cast iron, still much too heavy, and too wide. And there aren’t nearly enough spokes on it to do a decent job of closing, and the packing on those few points will be rather severe. Most of the aftermarket closing wheels will be much better than these, and Thompson wheels vastly superior. Another advantage of Thompson wheels is that their low mass greatly reduces wear on the closing arm’s pivot (certain other aftermarket wheels are also not so overweight, but they’re generally not as good at closing as the Thompson are—not only do our customers say this when they do comparisons, but also our Seeding School stand counts over the years prove this). Excessive wear on the closing arm’s bushings will allow the closing wheel to drift considerably from its optimum position, and it’ll be far less effective at closing the furrow and breaking the sidewall. More than 1/4 - 3/8" side-play at the closing wheel’s location is a significant problem, so the bushings should be replaced. Exapta offers Aricks bushing kits for this, which have superior seals so you’ll never have to grease these again! The Aricks closing kit uses Teflon bushings for silky-smooth action, with tighter tolerances than competitor kits. Built for severe Aussie conditions, these are worth every penny. 7) While you’re thinking about the next crop you’ll be planting, don’t forget to send seed samples off for Cold Germ and AA for all the seed lots you might be planting. Including wheat. Don’t let poor seed quality be the undoing of all that hard work rebuilding your drill. Read more here​

For more info on drill setup and adjustment, see the Tech Tips for Drills webpage, and our DVDs No-till Seeding Explained, and No-till Seeding School.​

​

 

[Farmer Roy]

This is Part 1
Sorry for being back to front, but some good info here
Remember - they’ve been using various evolutions of this disc opener for over 20 years in the US & there would be millions of acres covered by them. A LOT of experience . . .

JD 50/60/90/Pro-series NT drill tips, Part 1:
Aug 7, 2018 | JD 50/60/90/Pro-series drills, Newsletters
by Matt Hagny
All of our past newsletters and tips on these drills are compiled and updated here (if you hate reading, this material was also presented in a recent webinar, although there’s certainly some value in reviewing both). These things matter—the no-tillers who are consistently attaining the highest yields are meticulous about maintenance and adjustment of their seeding equipment. Can’t afford to do it right? Think about how much money you spend on seed—you might be able to knock quite a bit off that bill, and have more uniform stands to boot, just by some attention to the seeding equipment. Not to mention thin stands have more weed issues, and you know how much those cost to control!
1) For firm seedbeds, make sure the down-pressure is sufficient to keep the opener at the proper depth (this is especially important for crops such as winter wheat which can suffer more winter injury and winterkill if the crown is too shallow). For JD 50/60/90/Pro-series drills, this requires the rockshaft be sloped downward in the rear (see photo) by 10 – 15 degrees, occasionally 20. (The JD Owner’s Manual is wrong in specifying it be horizontal all the time, which is the appropriate setting only in tilled soils.)


Note, however, that the drill frame shouldn’t lift excessively when the openers are lowered and the down-pressure engaged. This typically requires additional frame weight to be added, and sometimes quite a lot (often many dozens of suitcase weights on 30-, 36-, and 40/42-ft air drills,* and the wings especially need a lot; 50- and 60-ft frames are enough heavier that they usually don’t need extra ballast). The extra ballast is far more effective the farther rearward it is on the frame: Due to the leveraging action of the opener arms, the rear of the drill is far more likely to lift than the front. The very best place is over the transport wheels, and Exapta will soon offer a bracket to hold suitcase weights at this location on the wings. (*We’ve put as much as 8,000 pounds on a 36-ft drill on 7.5-inch spacing in tough conditions, and this certainly wasn’t overkill.)

The key to understanding the down-pressure adjustment on these drills is that the torque on the rockshaft simply is compressing the huge coil spring on each opener, but only if the drill frame isn’t allowed to lift too much.** In fact, the easiest way to compare down-pressure in different scenarios (or with your neighbor’s 50/60/90/Pro-series) is to measure how much compression of the big coil spring you’ve achieved, and the large rod going thru the middle of the spring allows you to do just that (it protrudes out the bottom of the casting when the spring is compressed). In extremely mellow conditions, you might only need 1 inch of compression. In typical long-term no-till, however, 1.75 – 3″ is necessary. Btw, ignore all of Deere’s warnings about not operating in the red zone on their gauge—there are dozens of drills that’ve each ran tens of thousands of acres in the red (often at 1500 – 2000 psi), and there’s no premature failure of opener bearings or anything else. Indeed, running enough downforce reduces wear on the depth adjustment bracket (it’s not rattling around as much), the opener main pins, and all the other pivots because the opener doesn’t bounce as much; it also cuts down on the seed-lock wheel smacking the back of the boot so often. One weakness that does show up with the extra downforce, however, is the rockshaft (these can be beefed up—the first job of your seeder is to get a good stand, so do whatever it takes).

Ballast in a good location (over the transport wheels).

Farmer-built weight bracket that’s in a great location. Exapta will soon be selling these.
**Slight rolling-under of the openers is beneficial to seed placement, since it tilts the seed boot into a more vertical position so that the seed is dropping farther forward in relation to the blade (it’s the same thing we’re doing by running planter row units slightly nose-up, and the trajectory of the seed on these drills is much farther from vertical than it is on planters). Slight rolling-under means the frame has lifted a little. But too much frame lifting impairs the ability to compress the big coil springs enough to keep the openers in the ground at a reasonably consistent depth. Also, by rolling the opener under slightly, the big coil spring is more effective at creating downforce as compared to a flatter angle, assuming the same degree of compression for both angles (think about it this way: if the spring were horizontal, it wouldn’t supply any downforce at all; if it were completely vertical, it would be maximally effective, and at 45 degrees, it provides half of that) (incidentally, the 50-series drills operate with the opener more vertical than the 60/90s, so they develop downforce more readily, and do a better job with seed placement—but don’t have as much clearance in transport). But you don’t want the frame to continue to lift or else you don’t get as much compression of the springs as what you need, so use plenty of ballast when it’s hard and dry and you’re using both ranks of the drill. How much frame lifting is acceptable? If the rear transport wheels are off the ground, that’s a bit much.
2) Make sure the opener blades are sharp with a deep bevel (compare to new), and this is especially important for slicing thru tough stalks such as soybeans. For best results, replace 50/60/90/Pro-series blades when bevel is down to 0.45 – 0.5″ and definitely before you get to only 3/8″ bevel remaining which is as dull as they’ll ever get (and we were saying this long, long before we sold blades for these drills). When installing, be sure to put the bevel away from the gauge wheel (i.e., towards the boot). In other words, the bevel is towards the furrow being cut (this is the opposite of how double-disc planters are set up). Single-disc opener blades don’t cut well at all if they’re installed backwards. Avoid putting oversize blades on these drills. Stick with 18.0″—see our other newsletters on blade size and blade wear for more discussion of opener blades. If you really want to improve cutting action, as well as greatly improving depth control (while minimizing sidewall compaction and making better use of frame weight), see our UniForce hydraulic down-pressure system.

This blade is completely shot–hardly any bevel remains (it was 18.0″ new). This is with just under 3/8″ gone from the radius. When the bevel is only 3/4″ new, it doesn’t take much wear to make them super-dull.

This blade is also worn out. It may look like it has a bevel, but only half of what it should be.
Another highly important aspect of cutting the furrow is making sure the blade runs at something close to the angle when new (7° to direction of travel), so check your main pins (where the opener arm attaches to the rockshaft) for slop by shoving the entire opener side-to-side. A slight bit of play doesn’t matter, but if the unit moves more than ¼” side-to-side at the blade, this area needs attention. The first time around, the main pins can simply be rotated 180 degrees (loosen the retaining bolt, then use a pipe wrench on the end of the main pin). If that’s already been done and you still have slop, it’s time for a rebuild. Note that there’s a lot of variation in quality of pins and bushings out there—we carry the super high-quality Aricks pin & bushing kits from Australia, which will last at least as long as OEM, and offer smoother action in the meantime due to Teflon-coated bushings (better quality than OEM at a fraction of the price!). You won’t find a better pin & bushing kit anywhere. When finished with rotating or replacing main pins, be sure to re-torque the retaining bolt to spec (very high), or else the bushings may start turning in the arm and ruin the arm.

3) Make sure the seed boots aren’t starting to wear out (see photos). Check the up/down slop in the seed boot attachment point! Even on a brand-new 50/60/90 drill, this play is excessive and should be reduced by installing a metric bolt to take out some of the slop (note that you don’t want to eliminate all movement—there needs to be a little for the boot to align flush with the blade, and to let straw clear out). For drills that have substantial wear in this spot, rebuild it with one of the kits on the market—but be careful not to remove all the movement, which causes catastrophic plugging in heavy straw, and also makes the bolt more likely to shear in rocky conditions.

Worn-out 90-series boot. You would be wise to replace before they get this bad.

The 60-series boot had an internal channel that directed seeds onto the blade, which promptly flung them out of the furrow.
There are 3 types of repair kits for the boot attachment holes: A) The first requires drilling out the holes in the ears of the opener ‘shank’ to accept a sleeve. Use a drill-bit guide, as you must have the boots set up flush against the blade when finished! And use plenty of anti-seize on the bolt, or it will rust solid to the sleeve. Again, there should be at least 1/8″ (and possibly 1/4″) up/down movement at the rear edge of the boot when finished to be sure they don’t plug in heavy straw. B) Another is Pro-Stitch’s, which uses jacker bolts to hold the boot in alignment with the ears. However, don’t eliminate all the movement if you use this method (and don’t listen to the company about reducing down-pressure to prevent plugging). C) Probably the best method is to use a shoulder-bolt clamped tight thru the holes in the ears. The boot then rotates on this shoulder-bolt, rather than the bolt rotating in the ears. This method is used by Aricks in Australia and functionally the same as Needham’s in USA. Both Aricks and Needham’s might be a little tight, as they cut the up/down movement to 1/8″ (which is great for seed placement, so long as it doesn’t result in plugging). You can create a bit more wiggle by reaming the holes slightly.
Before embarking on the labor and expense of boot attachment repairs, I would investigate whether using a metric bolt will take up enough slop to be acceptable. On ordinary bolts, they need to be longer than OEM so that the nut tightens down on the bolt (runs out of threads) before it clamps down on the ears. Two reasons for this: clamping the ears tight can result in breaking them; and, having exposed threads on the bolt below the nut is a weakness that makes them much more likely to shear.
When replacing boots, beware of the many low-quality ones that don’t fit properly. Some are real junk. Deere, Aricks, and Needham are all good quality.
The leaf spring should have enough strength to snap the boot back against the blade with a sharp ‘clang,’ or else it is weak or broken. To check, lift the firming arm up, pull the boot away from the blade, and release it. Exapta’s replacement springs are 20% stronger than OEM, and more affordable besides.
Make sure the seed bounce flaps are intact on the back of the boot, as they’re very important in controlling seed bounce. If you haven’t yet upgraded to our Ninja flaps, check them out—a very simple, highly effective upgrade. JD is proud of their new seed flap on the Pro-series, which is thicker than their older version, but it’s still inferior technology. Our patented Ninja flap is miles ahead for seed placement—and the Ninjas never break off, and their wear-life is at least 3x longer than any other flap on the market (indeed, we don’t know of anyone who’s actually worn any out).

On air drills, keep the air velocity low to minimize seeds being blown and/or bouncing out of the furrow (or install air diffusers, such as our SeedVU, and/or diffusers in the secondaries), but not so low as to plug primaries (if you aim a secondary straight up into the air doing a test-run, the product should blow about 18 inches up; 60 inches is too much, but just burbling out a few inches is on the verge of plugging). Also, a lot can be gained by routing the secondaries to be more vertical—extra air must be used to push seeds or fertilizer out of sags in secondaries. Indeed, getting the secondaries more vertical is very important to getting the most from SeedVUs, but should be done even if not running SeedVUs (this is also why SeedVUs are rather useless on the 50- and 60-ft drills—too many secondaries are horizontal or even uphill in spots). Note, however, that I would get everything else as good as possible before deciding if you need secondary diffusers—fix the seed boot attachment point, install Ninja flaps, run enough downpressure on openers.
4) Another item that’s key to getting seeds to the bottom of the furrow is not letting the sidewall blow apart prematurely. Don’t use RID gauge tires. We prefer narrow, standard-shape gauge tires with no indentation whatsoever up next to the blade (see our newsletter for more discussion of the various types, including where urethane gauge tires are appropriate). Note that MudSmith’s narrow rubber gauge tires have the requisite softness, are 20% thicker (almost double the wear life), and have a nice shape—Deere’s have too much indentation and are too hard. The MudSmith gauge tires also fit on the standard (non-spoked) rims.
Make sure the gauge wheel is shimmed so it lightly touches the blade at the rear (where the blade is trying to lift the sidewall); if the gauge wheel touches at the front but is gapped at the rear, it means the arm holding the gauge wheel is bent.

Gaps far less than this will hinder your drill’s ability to place seeds. And will result in clogging with mud because the gauge wheel isn’t holding the soil down when it’s trying to adhere to the blade and lift.
While we’re talking about gauge wheels, we assume you use the depth adjustment occasionally If you have trouble with these seizing up, have a look at our newsletter about Fluid Film and other rebuild tips for the depth-adjustment shaft.
(to be continued—firming and closing steps)
For more info on drill setup and adjustment, see the Tech Tips for Drills webpage, and our DVDs No-till Seeding Explained, and No-till Seeding School (in-person on August 9th, or DVD).

Recent Posts

• STP ‘saw-tooth’ opener blades
• Introducing Exapta’s weight brackets for JD 3-section air drills
• Frame bolt breakage on JD air drills
• Do seed-applied fungicides harm mycorrhizae?
• Paying attention pays off!

 

[SilliamWhale]

Poor old Matt Hagny who wrote all that died the other day

 

[Farmer Roy]

Did he ?
He was a wealth of information

Always thought he looked a bit ill though

 

[SilliamWhale]

Did he ?
He was a wealth of information

Always thought he looked a bit ill though

He had cancer a while back but died in a rock climbing accident

 

[Farmer Roy]

He had cancer a while back but died in a rock climbing accident

Ohh - sorry to hear that
At least it’s better than dying in a cancer ward . . .

 

[SilliamWhale]

Ohh - sorry to hear that
At least it’s better than dying in a cancer ward . . .

Such a ray of sunshine!!

 

[Farmer Roy]

Such a ray of sunshine!!

My ideal ending is dying with my boots on doing something I enjoy, rather than in my pyjamas in a hospital ward
I watched both my parents die in nursing homes & I wouldn’t wish it on anyone . . .

Sorry to bring it down
Let’s talk about pro series openers & press wheel profiles again

 

[matttargett4]

so weve been drilling this morning,

we tried a few different settings, we ended up with a decent amount of downforce for the reasons above, it steadies the opener, this stops the press wheel coming into contact with the seed boot or the disc so much so it runs much nicer, we also tried max and min pressure on the seed firming wheel, max actually made it run cleaner as it held it deeper in the slot, trouble is on either setting the wheel adheres to the side of the slot and lifts it up and blows it out, looking at the jobs its doing at the moment im thinking of taking them off, the slots is lovely and stable and the seed tab keeps the seed down but the wheels lift it all back up.

the jd spiked firming wheel also seems to attract mud buildup quite quickly, all in i can see exactly what the exapta literature is getting at.
has anybody had anything from them? was thinking if i could get a firming and closing wheel in a few days i would try them.
i will get pictures later of the conditions, its not great and not easy soil but ive definately drilled worse with a rapid and had good results, id like to learn if im expecting too much.

 

[SilliamWhale]

so weve been drilling this morning,

we tried a few different settings, we ended up with a decent amount of downforce for the reasons above, it steadies the opener, this stops the press wheel coming into contact with the seed boot or the disc so much so it runs much nicer, we also tried max and min pressure on the seed firming wheel, max actually made it run cleaner as it held it deeper in the slot, trouble is on either setting the wheel adheres to the side of the slot and lifts it up and blows it out, looking at the jobs its doing at the moment im thinking of taking them off, the slots is lovely and stable and the seed tab keeps the seed down but the wheels lift it all back up.

the jd spiked firming wheel also seems to attract mud buildup quite quickly, all in i can see exactly what the exapta literature is getting at.
has anybody had anything from them? was thinking if i could get a firming and closing wheel in a few days i would try them.
i will get pictures later of the conditions, its not great and not easy soil but ive definately drilled worse with a rapid and had good results, id like to learn if im expecting too much.

I do need some more stuff from Expata but probably not straight away. Haulage is a bugger. Needham makes a very good firming wheel too - really good. But everything gets pricey with air freight

 

[cows sh#t me to tears]

My ideal ending is dying with my boots on doing something I enjoy, rather than in my pyjamas in a hospital ward
I watched both my parents die in nursing homes & I wouldn’t wish it on anyone . . .

Sorry to bring it down
Let’s talk about pro series openers & press wheel profiles again

I saw a 1590 box drill at the Elmore field days that had pro series openers on it. I was surprised to see that they had remote greasing on the gauge wheel axles.....wonder where they got that idea from

 

[Louis Mc]

I’ve a feeling the relative depth settings are deeper when you are using the spoked gauge wheels. I would generally find the depth working out nearer to @matttargett4 figures than @Simon Chiles ones. I find with new discs on the shallowest setting is plenty deep for OSr

 

[matttargett4]

probably should update this

on closer and nspection the seed firming wheel was doing lots of damage in some soils by lifting the sidewalls of the trench and throwing them into the air, the resulting crater was where the closing wheel runs meaning variable slot closure, also inconsistent seed depth.

so to stop that we tied the firming wheel arm up to the closing wheel arm and removed all the spring tension.

this helped but we found the jd spiked closing wheels were running too far away from the slot so there would tipbup the side of the slot as the closed it, leaving a hollow area where the seed was in some instances. the following harrow would the rip off this piece of sidewall which was sticking up.

on inspection the jd wheels have spacing washers so we moved the closing wheels in toward the seed trench in the one but closest position, this closed the slot nicely and left the surface flat, we also reduced the pressure on the closing wheels at this point as i was worried the surface was closed too tight and didnt like the idea of pounding on wet dirt unecisarily.

we then tried to space the following harrow tines so that they didnt do harm, which was hard and i think they will spend a good bit of time not ot work, they help in some areas but not in others and we couldnt seem to find a good compromise.