Spud planter tractor

[Will 1594]

@Spud tatie gang ,want 5 tractors , instead of hire ,
Wont be all new ,maybe one ,
Will it be too much hardship to have normal gearbox ie ,auto quad , on planters ,maybe separators .as they will be jd , or have auto power ,""" but these two planter tractors will get casual drivers on them for carting ,irrigation ,"""regular s will be on a harverster .
Power quad is usually bombproof , and any one can jump in one and find a gear and go , ,but ap can be abused

 

[KB6930]

Can't see the need for AP on a planter but on a separator I wouldn't be without it but saying that you need to be into making a job of it to get the best out of AP box with any machine

 

[AndrewB]

No need for autopower on the planter tractors, I planted for years with an power quad gearbox. However I wouldn’t like to go back to separating or harvesting with an non autopower box, we got our first autopower on a 2007 6930 and have never bought a tractor without autopower since on 6,7 and 8 series John Deere’s.

 

[Spud]

@Spud tatie gang ,want 5 tractors , instead of hire ,
Wont be all new ,maybe one ,
Will it be too much hardship to have normal gearbox ie ,auto quad , on planters ,maybe separators .as they will be jd , or have auto power , but these two planter tractors will get casual drivers on them for carting ,irrigation ,regular s will be on a harverster .
Power quad is usually bombproof , and any one can jump in one and find a gear and go , ,but ap can be abused

What are they used to? If they've had every bell & whistle they won't want Billy basic.
If the planter tractors have lots going on,like fert placement, nematicides etc, there is often a need for a fairly fixed, or at least a minimum engine rpm, but still a need to adjust speed to conditions, so a cvt box is handy. Not essential, but much better. Seperaters and tillers again, a vt is good, but a pq will do.
Can you put the harvester tractors on the planters?
AQ on seperaters and trailers, ap on planters and harvesters.

 

[nib4722]

Hi , the 2 tractors for planting will be fine with auto quad gearbox as working at a constant speed , for carting , irrigation and casual drivers . Auto power best for harvesting and destoning because usually altering forward speed without altering revs or changing gear can be done easier as conditions vary in the row , full time staff can be trained and trusted to treat them properly and usually appreciate better tractors - maybe that is why i see so many veg gangs with Fendts

 

[Will 1594]

@Spud ??Kubota So even a 30 year old jd will be heaven ,

 

[Pingu]

Personally I’d never run a planter with a casual due to the amount going on, very rare now just planting a seed will often be a dressing, amistar, liquid fert and nematicide. With all this going on revs often need to be fixed but speed changing constantly due to conditions etc. Separators on vario as well to suit conditions better along with a harvester varios can only really be abused on the road and a quick kick up arse solves it!! In my experience a vario is as reliable as a powershift and I know plenty of auto quad boxes that have been apart due to being forced in gears etc and a vario has always been cheaper to repair!! The money in a decent spud gang in growing costs, a fleet of vario tractors is nothing! I even got to the stage of carting tractors on spud gang where vario as had plenty clutch problems due to riding as speed was too slow for most gearbox’s especially auto quad. The lowest hours I’ve done a vario box was 8000 (7530) lowest I’ve had an auto quad go was on a hire tractor at 800 (6150m and 6145R) of spud work which to me meant every year more vario’s came onto fleet never yet touched a Fendt vario or NH...

 

[Spud]

What @Pingu said - surely you've got someone decent on the planter? Ask him what he'd like.
As an aside, buying five tractors after hiring is going to need serious capital injection.
Our planting gang is:
VT 7618 - planting
Fendt 718 (hired with skilled driver) - Unistar destoner (does 70-80% by himself)
MF 6480 - Reekie Speedstar destoner later in season, runabout/cultivator earlier
Puma CVX hired with skilled driver- pulls Simba TL in front of and after plough.
VT 7620 - 4 bed ridgers, cultivation, seed carting
VT 7620 - 7f plough & 2 bed tiller
VT 7490 - sprayer, runabout, sometimes pulls Reekie instead of 6480. Driven by me.
3075 - nematiller
JCB536/70 - pulls 17' flat trailer with planting paraphernalia on board.

Only two non vario, one of those 25yo.

The few quid difference between the gearboxes is negligible, they all break at some point.

 

[daveydiesel1]

Nothin wrong way powerquad. Any1 that thonks its not good enough would need a good slap lol

 

[Pingu]

Nothin wrong way powerquad. Any1 that thonks its not good enough would need a good slap lol

Not being rude but have you ever done costings against a vario on root crop work? Power quad and it’s slightly newer mate auto quad should have stayed in 90’s way outdated now on all fronts! I wouldn’t want to drive a harvester with a geared tractor ever again the gain in output and quality is unreal so I wouldn’t expect my lads to either so vario or modern powershift but vario always works out cheaper in its lifetime with me 5-10k hours. I was growing just shy 400 acres spuds and 300 onions all for packing and my fleet for planting was just along lines @Spud but I dropped destoners out due to speed.
2x Fendt 900’s (or have run on 8r JD’s) on baselier’s
Fendt 724 on 6m powerharrow on worst bits
NH T7.245 vario on planter (overkill but also on harvester)
NH T7.210 vario on onion planter/ bringing seed to spuds etc
Claas Kramer loading and sorting all fert etc out to keep planter moving.
All tractors did irrigation and then also fleet hire JD’s and Fendts carted/irrigated

 

[Spud]

Nothin wrong way powerquad. Any1 that thonks its not good enough would need a good slap lol

Nothin wrong way powerquad. Any1 that thonks its not good enough would need a good slap lol

Obvs you've never done any high precision speed sensitive work then Davy lad.
Nowt wrong with a powerquad on a cart tractor.

 

[daveydiesel1]

Not being rude but have you ever done costings against a vario on root crop work? Power quad and it’s slightly newer mate auto quad should have stayed in 90’s way outdated now on all fronts! I wouldn’t want to drive a harvester with a geared tractor ever again the gain in output and quality is unreal so I wouldn’t expect my lads to either so vario or modern powershift but vario always works out cheaper in its lifetime with me 5-10k hours. I was growing just shy 400 acres spuds and 300 onions all for packing and my fleet for planting was just along lines @Spud but I dropped destoners out due to speed.
2x Fendt 900’s (or have run on 8r JD’s) on baselier’s
Fendt 724 on 6m powerharrow on worst bits
NH T7.245 vario on planter (overkill but also on harvester)
NH T7.210 vario on onion planter/ bringing seed to spuds etc
Claas Kramer loading and sorting all fert etc out to keep planter moving.
All tractors did irrigation and then also fleet hire JD’s and Fendts carted/irrigated

Obvs you've never done any high precision speed sensitive work then Davy lad.
Nowt wrong with a powerquad on a cart tractor.

Knew id get told of for that statement. I like varios to drive but wont be buyin 1 anytime soon cause new ther to expensive and second hand ther a big risk incase theyv been abused

 

[Spud]

Knew id get told of for that statement. I like varios to drive but wont be buyin 1 anytime soon cause new ther to expensive and second hand ther a big risk incase theyv been abused

Odd, when they're cheaper s/h (cos people are scared of them) and break less/are cheaper to mend than powershifts.

 

[Lewis821]

I would rather an autopower for planting especially if its a belt planter running at 8-12kph. If its a cup planter Your usually in the same gear on the headlands as up and down the field anyway. Jd is probably the easiest vario to use out of all the marques tbh. After seeing the difference between vario and autoquad while destoning i would only advise vario. Used to be ridging up in front of 8 destoners of which 3 would be vario. They would be quicker and you could see the difference behind. The non vario tractors would usually be in A3/4 which was to slow but B1 would be to quick and mean stopping to shift back down to A for heavier parts leaving a mole hill so theyd generally sit in one gear , lighter parts of the field would have no dirt through to the back of machine so the top of the bed would be covered with stones, where with a vario you could keep the machine full and do a lot better job. BUT only if youve got the right arse on the seat, destoning is as important as planting IMO and cant work out why people think its a monkeys job

 

[Will 1594]

Pingu spud ,read the post ,more carefully , planter tractor will have casual on for irrigation and carting ,as full timers on harvesters ,so who knows might end up on a cart ,a quad box ,99% of folk can find a gear ,
And yes massive cost to buy , so maybe mix of good used ,and or new ,ex hire

 

[grim]

Wouldn't want to go back to autuquad here either but we ran the 6430 on Grimme combistar this season after buying 2nd destoner, to be fair it wasn't that bad
New 6155r auto power , 4 row belt planter, and harvester, ploughs the rest of the time
My old 6155 auto power,relegated to destoner and haulage and irrigation
6175 autpower . Pulls the three bed formers , haulage and pulls the drill rest of year
6430 auto quad, general runaround, pulled destoner this year, irrigation
8320 e23 box, 5.5m heva ripper and combidisc, 7.5 sunflower grubbed and Flexi coil roller
Jcb 536
Hired a 7430 for running seed out to planter
No bedtiller here most land ploughed before planting starts, fert put on top of ploughing,twice over with the 8320 and sunflower and coil, pull beds up , destoner then plant

 

[Spud]

Pingu spud ,read the post ,more carefully , planter tractor will have casual on for irrigation and carting ,as full timers on harvesters ,so who knows might end up on a cart ,a quad box ,99% of folk can find a gear ,
And yes massive cost to buy , so maybe mix of good used ,and or new ,ex hire

Understood that, who will drive it when it's planting?

 

[TripleSix]

Used to have a NH T7.270 Autopower on the Meidema Structural 2000 planter.
Applying liquid fert and also Vydate, and Monceren at the same time.

Had plenty of power for the job...

It didn't want a lighter tractor on it when the planter was full and the fert level was low.

I've always said Vario type gearboxes are much more productive.

 

[TripleSix]

 

[clod h]

@Spud tatie gang ,want 5 tractors , instead of hire ,
Wont be all new ,maybe one ,
Will it be too much hardship to have normal gearbox ie ,auto quad , on planters ,maybe separators .as they will be jd , or have auto power ,""" but these two planter tractors will get casual drivers on them for carting ,irrigation ,"""regular s will be on a harverster .
Power quad is usually bombproof , and any one can jump in one and find a gear and go , ,but ap can be abused

get the wrong drivers and they abuse anythink don't they