Combination drill with front tank

[Will 1594]

Who runs one , and which drill performs best from talcum powder blowing sand , through to heavy silt ,and very flinty abrasive sand
Looking to run front tank,and coulter bar on back of power harrow ,
And also put coulterbar behind a drill mate for the light land ,
Tim smith can supply accord cx2 disc coulter bar and all required , or we buy a krm maxi and make own up ,

 

[Robert K]

Who runs one , and which drill performs best from talcum powder blowing sand , through to heavy silt ,and very flinty abrasive sand
Looking to run front tank,and coulter bar on back of power harrow ,
And also put coulterbar behind a drill mate for the light land ,
Tim smith can supply accord cx2 disc coulter bar and all required , or we buy a krm maxi and make own up ,

Buy a KRM maxi

 

[KennyO]

Have a look at @Bob lincs set ups. They look good in the pictures.

Lemkin seem to be the drill of choice up here now. We have an amazon but prefered the lemkin when demoed just couldn't get a secondhand one at the time.

 

[cosmagedon]

I'm just putting together this 5m Kuhn, the front tank is made out of a old fert spreader but I haven't finished that yet. With a Kuhn you won't be able to go any wider than 5m otherwise there's a lot more involved in mounting it to the PH, 5m and bellow just go on 3point linkage so it can be used direct behind the tractor or drillmate.

 

[Brisel]

@Devon James has different rear toolbars for use with a front mounted tank.

 

[Two Tone]

I'm just putting together this 5m Kuhn, the front tank is made out of a old fert spreader but I haven't finished that yet. With a Kuhn you won't be able to go any wider than 5m otherwise there's a lot more involved in mounting it to the PH, 5m and bellow just go on 3point linkage so it can be used direct behind the tractor or drillmate.

I run a 4 metre version of this type, but not with a front tank. I am very pleased with it and it will drill all the types of the OP has got. With the tank over the power-harrow, it is quite heavy and a front tank would solve this issue. Fitting Dual wheels has helped me get over this issue.

It copes with the many varied soil types we have from blowing sand, to very stony, to heavy Warwickshire clays without having to make alterations to depth on the move.

The secret on my version to it is that the coulter depth is set by using the packer roller as the baseline, to which the depth of the coulters is adjusted and set. Then another adjustment levels the coulter bank for and aft in work. You know this 2nd adjustment it is set correctly when the hoops (unpainted/silver in the @cosmagedon photo), run level and parallel with the ground (both the front and back ones must be the same). If they point uphill at the back of them, deepen the power harrow to loosen more soil.

This is how Kuhn get away without the need to alter roller depth behind the twin disc coulter.

One thing that needs checking if buying a second-hand version, is the plastic bushes that keep the coulters straight. They are cheap to replace, but it is a time-consuming job, requiring every coulter to be removed. It took me 2 days to do mine.

Replacing all the PH packer scraper blades at the same time is a good idea as you have plenty of room to do so, without taking the entire drill off the PH.

Does this explanation help you @marcot?

Edit:
Don't be fooled into thinking that altering the individual counter springs will make the drill go deeper. It's effect is very minor and only really helps to keep the coulters at the correct depth when you increase forward speed.
I often find in really good conditions I am travelling at 14kph (usually 10-12). Stones slow me down the most (6-8). But this is an extremely robust drill, that suffers far less damage than a Suffolk coulter and guarantees accurate drilling depth and won't block the seed in difficult wet conditions.

 

[Spud]

It's worth a few sums before choosing the coulters of choice, especially on abrasive land. For example, my old Accord CX discs cost a fortune to keep running, £75/Coulter just in parts every 1000 acres. KRM discs on Farm Force drill about £30/Coulter every 1500acres.

What are you running now?

 

[Will 1594]

@Spud Amazon kg 4 m Harrow with wedge ring roller , ad 4000 box drill on rotec discs , it’s quite heavy , don’t need power Harrow on half of land , have a good Krm drill mate ,
Looking at front tank and a drill that would mate up to both
Keep looking at a rapid , but keep looking
Could use front tank to blow cover crop seed to back of cultivator ,

 

[Spud]

@Spud Amazon kg 4 m Harrow with wedge ring roller , ad 4000 box drill on rotec discs , it’s quite heavy , don’t need power Harrow on half of land , have a good Krm drill mate ,
Looking at front tank and a drill that would mate up to both
Keep looking at a rapid , but keep looking
Could use front tank to blow cover crop seed to back of cultivator ,

Front tanks are ok, but a pita if the drill needs to come off mid season for any reason.

How about a tine drill and keep the combi for the tougher going? Use same front press for both.

 

[Zebbedee]

I am a confirmed lemken user, the double discs are as good as it gets I reckon. Discs will last 10,000 acres on a 4m machine easily, the linkages on disc units can wear but bushes are easily fitted and again will do lots of acres. Had amazone and vaderstad previously they all have there good points but on the whole lemken is the better drill imo

 

[Will 1594]

Front tanks are ok, but a pita if the drill needs to come off mid season for any reason.

How about a tine drill and keep the combi for the tougher going? Use same front press for both.

Cannot see why a pain to drop off , would have front tank with press wheels under it and s row of tines or paddles , will end up making my own

 

[Spud]

Cannot see why a pain to drop off , would have front tank with press wheels under it and s row of tines or paddles , will end up making my own

It's not like a set of weights to drop off, lots of connections and pipes down the side. As I say, it's ok if it's on for a season. Bear in mind also that it takes longer for seed to reach coulters, can cause problems at higher speeds.

 

[KennyO]

Front hoppers are a bit of a pain not not really much of a issue to take off. Couple of oil pipes and the seed pipe. Leave rigid pipe on side if drill is going back on soon.

Press wheels under tank are not as good as a proper press though.

@Will 1594 I have used a 5 inch aluminium irrigation pipe for running along tractor side. Better flow than a 4" plastic and was lying about.

 

[KennyO]

@cosmagedon why didn't you use the df2 accord hopper that you robbed the fan off?

 

[Phil P]

After running a box drill with Suffolk coulters for many years going to a front hopper combi with disc coulters made drilling so much easier and much more efficient.
Mine is a df1 front hopper holds just shy of a ton, I also had converted to iso-bus, see https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/retro-fit-isobus-rds-artemis-to-a-df1.186400/
This make calibration super fast, easy and above all accurate. Probably takes less than 15 minutes to fit or remove drill and hopper, much better than having to drop on a low loader every time I change field as well!

Horsch pronto coulters with I’ve found will bury seed into pretty much anything other than the worst of conditions. We have pretty much every soil type across our farm, sand, clay, brown and black soil, moss (peat), and stone. I’ve been very happy with the coulter setup and it’s depth consistency, the ware rate is excellent also.

Only thing I’d change is the power harrow, the KV ngs is extremely heavy and not the most reliable ph I’ve owned but other than that I’m very happy with the setup.

 

[Will 1594]

After running a box drill with Suffolk coulters for many years going to a front hopper combi with disc coulters made drilling so much easier and much more efficient.
Mine is a df1 front hopper holds just shy of a ton, I also had converted to iso-bus, see https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/retro-fit-isobus-rds-artemis-to-a-df1.186400/
This make calibration super fast, easy and above all accurate. Probably takes less than 15 minutes to fit or remove drill and hopper, much better than having to drop on a low loader every time I change field as well!

Horsch pronto coulters with I’ve found will bury seed into pretty much anything other than the worst of conditions. We have pretty much every soil type across our farm, sand, clay, brown and black soil, moss (peat), and stone. I’ve been very happy with the coulter setup and it’s depth consistency, the ware rate is excellent also.

Only thing I’d change is the power harrow, the KV ngs is extremely heavy and not the most reliable ph I’ve owned but other than that I’m very happy with the setup.

Who’s drill is it Phil or home made with borsch coulters

 

[Phil P]

Who’s drill is it Phil or home made with borsch coulters

Brocks put it together, I know of a another chap locally who’s fitted the same horsch coulters to a machio ph and really likes it. The machio is much lighter than the Kv.

 

[cosmagedon]

@cosmagedon why didn't you use the df2 accord hopper that you robbed the fan off?

A few reasons really, the Kuhn spinner was just sat there, I only needed a single hopper and not the twin setup of the df2, the df2 is also wider so a narrow single hopper would be easier getting into tight fields. Lastly I'm pretty vain in this regard but a Kuhn front hopper would match the Kuhn drill.

 

[KB6930]

I run a 4 metre version of this type, but not with a front tank. I am very pleased with it and it will drill all the types of the OP has got. With the tank over the power-harrow, it is quite heavy and a front tank would solve this issue. Fitting Dual wheels has helped me get over this issue.

It copes with the many varied soil types we have from blowing sand, to very stony, to heavy Warwickshire clays without having to make alterations to depth on the move.

The secret on my version to it is that the coulter depth is set by using the packer roller as the baseline, to which the depth of the coulters is adjusted and set. Then another adjustment levels the coulter bank for and aft in work. You know this 2nd adjustment it is set correctly when the hoops (unpainted/silver in the @cosmagedon photo), run level and parallel with the ground (both the front and back ones must be the same). If they point uphill at the back of them, deepen the power harrow to loosen more soil.

This is how Kuhn get away without the need to alter roller depth behind the twin disc coulter.

One thing that needs checking if buying a second-hand version, is the plastic bushes that keep the coulters straight. They are cheap to replace, but it is a time-consuming job, requiring every coulter to be removed. It took me 2 days to do mine.

Replacing all the PH packer scraper blades at the same time is a good idea as you have plenty of room to do so, without taking the entire drill off the PH.

Does this explanation help you @marcot?

Edit:
Don't be fooled into thinking that altering the individual counter springs will make the drill go deeper. It's effect is very minor and only really helps to keep the coulters at the correct depth when you increase forward speed.
I often find in really good conditions I am travelling at 14kph (usually 10-12). Stones slow me down the most (6-8). But this is an extremely robust drill, that suffers far less damage than a Suffolk coulter and guarantees accurate drilling depth and won't block the seed in difficult wet conditions.

Keep an eye on the A frame that the drill sits on cracking we broke 2 on our 3m LC wait till you get the latest type been around for 4 yes ish they're a cross between the nc and lc so stronger than lc but lighter than nc and just one adjustment for seed depth so no more faffing around with both adjusters

 

[Ruston3w]

If you're used to the wedge ring packer be careful a scraper packer doesn't play you up.....we spent years trying to find scrapers for maxi-packer after we traded the amazone tyres - though when we had a front hopper less weight on the packer did help but on a bad day we were washing the packer at lunchtime to keep drilling, damn sand !