Claydon depth control?

[s86t]

Hi all got a 3m claydon sr great piece of kit got us onto the strip till ladder anyway. Does anyone else think that they need some form of depth control on them when drilling i remember thinking some were very deep 3/4 inches down and some were just rattling across the top, the crops planted deep are incredibly good where as the barely touching ones some are there but others didn't grow it was all planted cross over to the wheelings at 30 degrees ish but you can still see the difference between high spots and low just think if they all had individual depth control it would have been a very even crop. Is there a kit for the claydon apart from the bodged looking car tyres one?

 

[SilliamWhale]

Apparently it doesn't matter... - see comments on independent depth control.

 

[s86t]

Well in not so sure on that i think it does matter going to have to get it in the workshop and build some form of depth wheel for it. In the lighter land it doesn't matter at all hardly but on the heavier clay where the combine or muckspreader have been its more notable but still got a good crop growing on it

 

[MDA]

@Tractor Boy

 

[Andrew K]

Hasnt your drill got adjustable depth wheels on it?

 

[Clive]

I'm not sure it matters much on a strip till drill really unless your looking at wide widths on undulating land

no depth control is better than retrospective depth control

if depth control isn't at the same point as the coulter then your best without it

 

[s86t]

Yep it has 2 wheels for the ripper legs and 2 wheels for the seeding legs to adjust the depth which works great in theory but not in a unlevel level field i think its missing a trick as all the other manufacturers have a wheel per leg making it much more uniform

 

[SilliamWhale]

Well in not so sure on that i think it does matter going to have to get it in the workshop and build some form of depth wheel for it. In the lighter land it doesn't matter at all hardly but on the heavier clay where the combine or muckspreader have been its more notable but still got a good crop growing on it

I was being sarcastic sorry it didn't come across properly. Yeah it does matter.

 

[Tractor Boy]

@Tractor Boy

Solve the unlevel ruts problem first.

 

[Tractor Boy]

Yep it has 2 wheels for the ripper legs and 2 wheels for the seeding legs to adjust the depth which works great in theory but not in a unlevel level field i think its missing a trick as all the other manufacturers have a wheel per leg making it much more uniform

Get the field level first. No point in drilling up and down over ruts year on year. Sure fire way to fill the combine up with dirt. Once the field is level, why do you need independent depth control.

 

[Niels]

Get one of these if you must:

Same colour as the Claydon and can level all sorts of ponds, ruts, heaps etc.. Ran by RTK-GPS.

As Tractorboy said, no point drilling into rutted land. Better spend the money on a good pre-cultivation, no matter what drill your using.

 

[s86t]

Yep no point drilling ruts i agree you must think in a rite rough arse if they are big enough to get into the combine bed ruts aren't the problem any ruts are taken out by the discs then power harrowed flat before drilling the problem is combine wheelings barely visible until you drill over them then you might have one leg 3inches down and the other scratching the surface where the wheels have been it's fine in the easy land but the really heavy clay i just think if they all had individual couture following it would do a much more uniform job. The claydon has worked really well for us over the past 2 years that's my only observation about it. Wider tyres on the combine would probably help the problem

 

[Tractor Boy]

Yep no point drilling ruts i agree you must think in a rite rough arse if they are big enough to get into the combine bed ruts aren't the problem any ruts are taken out by the discs then power harrowed flat before drilling the problem is combine wheelings barely visible until you drill over them then you might have one leg 3inches down and the other scratching the surface where the wheels have been it's fine in the easy land but the really heavy clay i just think if they all had individual couture following it would do a much more uniform job. The claydon has worked really well for us over the past 2 years that's my only observation about it. Wider tyres on the combine would probably help the problem

I would class the difference of 3 inches almost as a rut. I don't see the point in using a drill with coulter following just to go up and down wheelings. When will you ever level them out? If you don't want to level them separately then you will have to put the Claydon in enough to level them and put up with some seed deeper/shallower. This IMO is still better than using contour following coulters and never levelling them anyway!

 

[SilliamWhale]

I would class the difference of 3 inches almost as a rut. I don't see the point in using a drill with coulter following just to go up and down wheelings. When will you ever level them out? If you don't want to level them separately then you will have to put the Claydon in enough to level them and put up with some seed deeper/shallower. This IMO is still better than using contour following coulters and never levelling them anyway!

If you leave things alone it levels up fairly well over time. But if you keep cultivating don't be surprised to rut to the level you've cultivated next time.

Why you would want not want the feature of independent coulters is beyond me. It works well , its available on lots of drills and is a good extra.

 

[Tractor Boy]

If you leave things alone it levels up fairly well over time. But if you keep cultivating don't be surprised to rut to the level you've cultivated next time.

Why you would want not want the feature of independent coulters is beyond me. It works well , its available on lots of drills and is a good extra.

Because they are an unnecessary complication and expense. There are parallel linkages or bearings to grease or go wrong, or bend or break. I don't feel you need them because using a strip til or no til system you don't sink in or create unlevelness, so after the initial first year I feel independent coulters are unnecessary. It is my opinion, and if people don't agree they are free to buy a different drill rather than continually criticise the one they have.

 

[SilliamWhale]

I'd prefer to plant every seed the same depth and get nice even emergence any day of the week.

 

[Fuzzy]

Hi all got a 3m claydon sr great piece of kit got us onto the strip till ladder anyway. Does anyone else think that they need some form of depth control on them when drilling i remember thinking some were very deep 3/4 inches down and some were just rattling across the top, the crops planted deep are incredibly good where as the barely touching ones some are there but others didn't grow it was all planted cross over to the wheelings at 30 degrees ish but you can still see the difference between high spots and low just think if they all had individual depth control it would have been a very even crop. Is there a kit for the claydon apart from the bodged looking car tyres one?

Have you spoken to Claydon's about the problem? @charlie@claydon

 

[Andrew K]

Fact is most tine drills have no coulter suspension to speak of, other than the spring which holds the point in the ground.
I dont think the Claydon is any different depth control wise to a Horsch CO/Sprinter, or a host of other drills such as the T sem, KV tineseeder, Simba Free Flow etc.
Set any of them up well, in suitable conditions and they will do a good job.

 

[s86t]

Yep i mentioned it to them but they are very stuck in their ways which is good that they have belief in the product and it does work just could be better i think the likes of a dts or a mzuri leave a much more uniform job and yes in time the field will level its self but unless your drilling onto a snooker table there's always going to be low and high points

 

[Tractor Boy]

I'd prefer to plant every seed the same depth and get nice even emergence any day of the week.

Best use a trowel and hand dibbler then.