Old Moore Drill calibration

[del_boy]

I'll try and have a play in a bit and see if moving the rear discs forward has helped. When the transport wheels are carrying the drill the machine is pitched forward with not much ground clearance under the front discs, when the drill is in work it pitches back with the most weight on the rear discs and the drawbar lifts to the top of the pick up hitch hook. I will try and put a spacer on top of the ring hitch so it cant raise up which will help a bit aswell

 

[towbar]

you will definitely have the drawbar trying to push high on the hook so anything to keep it down will help. The drawbar adjuster should be screwed so drawbar to the top which I think you have in your picture and you can turn drawbar upside down if it helps push down on it more. But if your pushing to the point that the rear press wheels are so high in field to get front down it will put a lot of pressure on the machine and in particular the new rear discs.

 

[del_boy]

you will definitely have the drawbar trying to push high on the hook so anything to keep it down will help. The drawbar adjuster should be screwed so drawbar to the top which I think you have in your picture and you can turn drawbar upside down if it helps push down on it more. But if your pushing to the point that the rear press wheels are so high in field to get front down it will put a lot of pressure on the machine and in particular the new rear discs.

Went and tried it this morning, ive moved the rear discs forward and put a other thin ring on the drawbar to keep it down on the hook when in working position and its deffinatly helped alot but rear are still deeper and the drill is still pitched back.
On the concrete when its on the floor the rear discs are on floor as are the press wheels and front discs at least an inch off the floor.

 

[towbar]

You know what why don’t you put the old 15” discs on back and the new discs on front and when you have an inch off the new discs swap them to back and put the new on the front .

 

[towbar]

Also you might consider turning the drawbar upside down although it might not lift high enough then to transport the drill

 

[del_boy]

You know what why don’t you put the old 15” discs on back and the new discs on front and when you have an inch off the new discs swap them to back and put the new on the front .

Thats not a bad idea. These notched discs dont half cut in well.
I could drill some fresh holes in the rear of the dram arm and lower the rear press wheels but thats a bit of work.
Ive tried it with the transport wheels in float and it surprising how much that does pitch the drill forward a bit more.
I looled at turning the drawbar over but i dont think I'll get enough ground clearance on the front discs

 

[del_boy]

Would lowering the rear coulters down help keep the drill out of the ground or would too much weight on them be a bad idea. Thought if i raised them up would the discs go even deeper.
Its all new to me so apologises if it all sounds daft. The rear coulters are pigs to alter so id rather do it the right way 1st time.
We're only looking to drill grass and roots so not looking to go too deep.

 

[towbar]

I don’t understand what you mean by lowering rear coulters. Your key problem is getting three wheels flat on the ground when the discs are too big. So the rear disc are acting as a pivot for a see saw effectively. If the three were flat then slight pressure down at front should give good penetration and maintain good closing of the slot.

 

[del_boy]

I don’t understand what you mean by lowering rear coulters. Your key problem is getting three wheels flat on the ground when the discs are too big. So the rear disc are acting as a pivot for a see saw effectively. If the three were flat then slight pressure down at front should give good penetration and maintain good closing of the slot.

I see what you mean and my idea wont work!
Anyway ive tried the drill this afternoon, few teething problems and some small adjustments and i think I'll get away with it.
Drilled a bit of grass. Was getting grass wedged between disc and coulters which then doesnt place the seed correctly, this did improve when the paint had come off but ive still got 1 playing up after 3 acres. The rear discs are going a bit deeper but i think it'll be ok. The press wheels are turning but fear they're not doing alot.
Ive added a few pictures. Not sure weather to roll it or maybe harrow it across? View attachment 807790

 

[towbar]

Yes I only see one picture but yes clearly the deeper slot not closing. I think I would roll it. Is the front slot closing?

 

[del_boy]

Yes I only see one picture but yes clearly the deeper slot not closing. I think I would roll it. Is the front slot closing?

No neither slots are really closing but i have no experience of these drills so unsure how much the press wheels should be doing.
When looking in the slots its quite easy to spot the grass seeds

 

[Joe]

Got some redstart in, hopefully grows think little deep but we ll see. The seed charts are way off and seems to be working correctly anyway.

 

[Joe]

Update on Moore, have done 10 acres Swedes, 8 redstart, 10 grass cross drilled and 33 acres stitched that was last years drought affected reseed. All looks to be going well and hope to get 20 acres stubble turnip in over next month. Some pics below Swedes first

 

[del_boy]

Bit of any update. We converted our drill to a accord air drill hopper and metering system, much more accurate for the smaller seeds.
Few pictures of it drilling stubble turnips into an old permanent pasture with alot of grass in places, drill preformed well and didn't block once. Hope it grows now

 

[DrWazzock]

Good job. Biggest mistake I made was paraplowing before drilling. Depth was then all over the place. also I struggle with turnip and OSR seed through the sulky metering. Try as I might, the rate always ends up off target by a big margin.

 

[del_boy]

Good job. Biggest mistake I made was paraplowing before drilling. Depth was then all over the place. also I struggle with turnip and OSR seed through the sulky metering. Try as I might, the rate always ends up off target by a big margin.

This was the main reason for changing from the moore drill box, it was very worn and the seed rate was all over the shop and it can never be all emptied out from the bottom. Alot of our work will be small seeds and grass so hopefully it'll pay off in saved seed.

 

[Nearly]

I'm looking to leave the combi drill in the shed a little more so this is all interesting.
How big are the discs when new? I've been looking at a few pics online and all the discs look damn small / worn. ;(

 

[del_boy]

I'm looking to leave the combi drill in the shed a little more so this is all interesting.
How big are the discs when new? I've been looking at a few pics online and all the discs look damn small / worn. ;(

I think off the top of my head they were 18". There are a few options regarding notched and plain and grass land discs. They are seriously sharp at the moment and i was amazed how well they cut into the sward with alot of grass, it managed brilliantly and never blocked a disc once

 

[oakleaf]

I'm looking to leave the combi drill in the shed a little more so this is all interesting.
How big are the discs when new? I've been looking at a few pics online and all the discs look damn small / worn. ;(

Depends on the model. Older ones had 16 inch discs
Newer were 18. You could fit 18s on older drills but IIRC there was some issue about penetration or something
( sorry cant remember exzactly) so it wasnt recommended even though they would fit straight on.

 

[clbarclay]

The old style Unidrills were designed for 16" discs. The later variations with press wheels infront of as well as behind and a lot more weight were designed for the 18" discs.

I put 18" discs on mine when I got it and had issues, mostly with penetration drilling cereals. After a few years it seemed to penetrate and maintain depth better, so I measured them and found they had worn down to about 16". I think they are down to about 14.75" now and still working fine.

Discs are only one wearing part. I have got through two sets of coulters on these discs and the bearings could do with replacing. Most are still good, but some aren't. There are quite a few other wearing parts on them too what may well need replacing too.