494a Trailering Size/How to

[MaddrCow]

I'm looking to get a 494/a planter. However, there are none by me, most are at minimum 4hrs away. Most are at the 8hr mark.

What kind of trailer would I need for one? Can the tongue be folded up? What kind of dimensions and weight does it have?

I'm looking at the ones with fert., insect and herb boxes.

 

[NY 986]

I'm looking to get a 494/a planter. However, there are none by me, most are at minimum 4hrs away. Most are at the 8hr mark.

What kind of trailer would I need for one? Can the tongue be folded up? What kind of dimensions and weight does it have?

I'm looking at the ones with fert., insect and herb boxes.

The tongue is removable. I don't have exact dimensions but a standard fifth wheel trailer will allow the 494A to sit on it width-wise oriented front to back. A 7 X 14 trailer would be a minimum in my mind for a trailer especially in an area with nosy law enforcement. Maybe somebody here can give exact dimensions via a manual or an actual planter.

 

[MaddrCow]

The tongue is removable. I don't have exact dimensions but a standard fifth wheel trailer will allow the 494A to sit on it width-wise oriented front to back. A 7 X 14 trailer would be a minimum in my mind for a trailer especially in an area with nosy law enforcement. Maybe somebody here can give exact dimensions via a manual or an actual planter.

Fast response, thank you! I was guessing it would be. I have an old 1/16 scale metal toy and measured it. Just didn't want to make the trip only to find out I couldn't really get it to fit on a trailer.

 

[NY 986]

Fast response, thank you! I was guessing it would be. I have an old 1/16 scale metal toy and measured it. Just didn't want to make the trip only to find out I couldn't really get it to fit on a trailer.

The thing to remember is most of the 494A production run was at a time when 36-38 inch rows were quite prevalent. So odds are what you will find are 36-38 spacing per row or 11 plus feet outside to outside. Better to have too much trailer than too little if you are trying to line that up before the planter. Guessing 2000-2500 pounds without a lot of extra features. Still hoping somebody here can give exacts but in 2025 those people are getting to be quite few which is why I spoke up. Those were made up to around 1970 so 55 years into the past and most that were left by the year 2000 were sitting in sheds because the owner moved on to newer technology or retired. Used to see nice ones at auction until several years ago.

 

[Leroy]

I'm looking to get a 494/a planter. However, there are none by me, most are at minimum 4hrs away. Most are at the 8hr mark.

What kind of trailer would I need for one? Can the tongue be folded up? What kind of dimensions and weight does it have?

I'm looking at the ones with fert., insect and herb boxes.

First question is what type of trailer, bumper pull or qose neck? Will you have a truck bed to fill with parts ort are you going to have to leave them all on the planter. Best would be a truck bed to put all the toung, seed boxes, fertilizer bokes and press wheels plus all marker parts in and be able to tie them down, preferable covered to keep from loosing the pieces. Then a 14 foot bed flat bed wouldhandle one and weight would be miniable. Without doing that you run the chance of the items working loose and losing them and would be hard to replace them. That planter will with the large seed boxes do 30 to 40 inch rows but with the small seed boxes it will do 28 inch rows. Any tandem axle tyrailer would be heavy enough to haul a 494A planter with no trouble now if you have to leave all those libable to loose parts then it might need to be bigger. I haven,tfartmed for years but if I was still farming that is the planter I would want. And I had the dry fertilizer and the insectied and herbicide boxes along with the disk seed openers, All ad weight. And all possibly loose if not taken off and not secured in a tight covered truck bed. None of them hard to remove I think mine went to scrap when I lost the farm to foreclousure. Before the 494A I had a couple of strait 494 planters. I did not like the seed way to set the spacing with just the gears so I changed mine over to the straight 494 gear box to get easier plant spacing. It was easy to do as I had parts 494 planters to remove the parts from. Taking markers off it will be ablt to get thru a 10 foot dore. But with the markers full on it will take a 14 foot door.

 

[Leroy]

First question is what type of trailer, bumper pull or qose neck? Will you have a truck bed to fill with parts ort are you going to have to leave them all on the planter. Best would be a truck bed to put all the toung, seed boxes, fertilizer bokes and press wheels plus all marker parts in and be able to tie them down, preferable covered to keep from loosing the pieces. Then a 14 foot bed flat bed wouldhandle one and weight would be miniable. Without doing that you run the chance of the items working loose and losing them and would be hard to replace them. That planter will with the large seed boxes do 30 to 40 inch rows but with the small seed boxes it will do 28 inch rows. Any tandem axle tyrailer would be heavy enough to haul a 494A planter with no trouble now if you have to leave all those libable to loose parts then it might need to be bigger. I haven,tfartmed for years but if I was still farming that is the planter I would want. And I had the dry fertilizer and the insectied and herbicide boxes along with the disk seed openers, All ad weight. And all possibly loose if not taken off and not secured in a tight covered truck bed. None of them hard to remove I think mine went to scrap when I lost the farm to foreclousure. Before the 494A I had a couple of strait 494 planters. I did not like the seed way to set the spacing with just the gears so I changed mine over to the straight 494 gear box to get easier plant spacing. It was easy to do as I had parts 494 planters to remove the parts from. Taking markers off it will be ablt to get thru a 10 foot dore. But with the markers full on it will take a 14 foot door.

Now to try to pull it the bearings would handle that in the wheels but you would want to remove everything except the toung but it could be done, just don't try to speed. There is a special hitch pin made to pull them with. so try to get that with the planter as well but you can get buy with a standard hitch in if you have to. Yed my planter for years after the plain 494 planter for years. I also had the harrow that mounted on the front part of the frame to do final ground preperation in same time as planting. Nepending on soil condition you may have to mount weights on the marker arms to get them to leave enough track to see. All my planters left in 2017 but still have all the books. Now Gandy insect and herbiced boxes could be gotten to fit them. The 494A planter fertilizer box held 450 pounds while the 494 planter held 350 pounds. Use a standard 8 inch cylinder diameter determind by tractor hydrolic pressure. My planter was last used by friends to plant my bean crop while my Wifes funeral was on. in 2015. So I may have forgoten some details.

 

[Leroy]

Now to try to pull it the bearings would handle that in the wheels but you would want to remove everything except the toung but it could be done, just don't try to speed. There is a special hitch pin made to pull them with. so try to get that with the planter as well but you can get buy with a standard hitch in if you have to. Yed my planter for years after the plain 494 planter for years. I also had the harrow that mounted on the front part of the frame to do final ground preperation in same time as planting. Nepending on soil condition you may have to mount weights on the marker arms to get them to leave enough track to see. All my planters left in 2017 but still have all the books. Now Gandy insect and herbiced boxes could be gotten to fit them. The 494A planter fertilizer box held 450 pounds while the 494 planter held 350 pounds. Use a standard 8 inch cylinder diameter determind by tractor hydrolic pressure. My planter was last used by friends to plant my bean crop while my Wifes funeral was on. in 2015. So I may have forgoten some details.

If you pull it take the changes of the drive wheels and there were hundreds of different plate sizes made for that planter and the flor plates were flat on one side ans the ones for corn had a narrow grove on the other side and for beans a wide grove., so get as many plates as you can get, sone for round corn seed and others for flat seed.. And for graded seed corn you would ned to look for smaller local seed growers and not the race hortse type seed companys. I will try to answer any other queations you may come up with.. Now bedtime.

 

[Leroy]

If you pull it take the changes of the drive wheels and there were hundreds of different plate sizes made for that planter and the flor plates were flat on one side ans the ones for corn had a narrow grove on the other side and for beans a wide grove., so get as many plates as you can get, sone for round corn seed and others for flat seed.. And for graded seed corn you would ned to look for smaller local seed growers and not the race hortse type seed companys. I will try to answer any other queations you may come up with.. Now bedtime.

Could not sleep thinking about ths.I did have the 50 gallon kiquid spray tand as well. then there were the corn-cotton seed boxes and the vegetable seed boxes that I have never seed as not used in this part of Ohio. Then I have no idea what type of outfit you would have to haul with, Flat bed truck with flat bed gose neck trailer, flat bed truck with sideboards on like a pickup bed. or goose neck with bed between fenders orbumper hitch trailer in flat bed truck or pickup truck and flat bed over tire trailer or flat bed between fenders. All would require a different way of loading and tying down. First would be a way to lift on trailer and then to be able to lift frame to lower frame with no weight on tires. and if trailer with fenders you would have to take off the entire press wheel frame if trailer had fenders to get it to set flat on floor and for that you would need a cylinder to be able to do that in loading. as it would not clear fenders. If you could get it setting solid on bed with enough tying down places you MIGHT be able to keep parts fast so you would not be loosing them along the road.. You would have to tye every small part so it could not come off, possibly all with straps or combination of straps and wire on other small parts. On a trip like those would have a good chance of all parts working loose unless sollidly tyed on. And if fenders on trailer with all press wheel parts removed it would fit inside a 6 foot wide bed trailer with either toung removed or folded up. I know without markers on will just get thru a 10 foot door, But with the markers on takes a 14 foot door. And markers could be just a blate on arms end or disk opener that I prefered. The 494A has sealed wheel bearings on most, 494 and possibly some 494A had bearings you had to grease. Either way would need to tye every little part to keep from vibrating off and losing Now if trailer had sideboards to keep small parts from falling off the bed would not need to tye quite everything down as buch. But those length drives would make a lot of vibration to loosen parts. Would even need to tye marker lift chanes individually to keep from loosing them. And that planter would also yse the old style horse plates by just not using the center drive plate for the new style plates. So first question is what would you have to transport it? And then go from there to figure out things. And on some the wheel position is adjustable fror either wide or narrow rows to use all large seed boxes. You cannot just take the extendable part of the markers out to lower the markers for clearance as it has to have all the pieces to tighten things together so you would need to unbolt the markers at the frame to gt away fron all the vibration fron them sticking up and breaking off even in the shortes setting. On full length setting for 40 inch rows and tall trailer the markers might not clear roadside objects. And the 1200 series planters are basically the same except had the option to get plateless planter units. That I have never been around.. The 694A and 694AN and the 894A or AN would use same parts a lot of places on the 494A or even on some places the 494, 694 or 894 And a lot of parts are same as the 290 490 and 246, 247 planters. That were the cotten version of the 2 row planters.So a lot bore to think about than just the 494A number.. Over the years I have had the 999, 246, 290, 490, 494, 494A planters, The 246 being the first 4 row planter deere built.

 

[caterpillar guy]

With things such as planters you have to figure for the markers possibly sticking out some above the frame even folded . Thus you will be somewhere in the 10-12 foot width. 30 x4 =120 38x4=152 so in that width you will be over width of 102 or 8.5 feet a permit will be needed for you to haul it in if in IL farm equipment that has a wheel base such as trailed equipment like that if not over height you can just sign and flag and go. In WI if not over 10 feet and stay off the Interstate you don't need a permit if not over height. These details all come from the according States permit office when I was hauling over sized loads regularly. Now if you put it on With the tone off and maybe tipped one way or the other you may be legal. The big thing will be the length of the planted from front to back with the tongue off. Insecticide boxes will add length to the planter. So if you are not going to use the insecticide boxes or not going to plant conventional seed corn most of the new roundup ready corn is already set with resistant traits so you would not need the insecticide boxes on it. Saving length on the planter which may make the difference in being legal or not. IF you were to just pull it home on the planter wheels nobody would bother you with just hook and go. Be there when they open and go. It would be an all day trip. If at a dealer and loading on a regular deck over wheel trailer just back in tight to the dock and back on with tractor or forklift .Easiest way to load it with no lifting or bent piece on it. Markers just measure to be under 13'6" from ground to top of highest point and good to go. No need to do anything to them probably. Biggest thing will be the tongue loading it. Dealers will usually rake the tongue off for the price when you buy from them if simple. they will also lift or load by backing on. Just think about how you are going to get it off. I would just ask the local dealer if you could pull it off at their dock if you bring a tractor or another pickup to pull it off with. Loading in the lowered position will make it much easier to tie down since it will now not be tippy nor want to roll as much as in the raised position. you will need to have 2 chains and 4 binders if done the simple way. 2 20ft chains hooked to each side the sling the middle through the frame with a binder to each side with the excess hanging in the middle of the trailer. done. do tie any pieces that are loose like tongue or cylinder and hoses. Hoses I usually just tarp strapped to the side of the tongue or frame.

 

[NY 986]

I'm looking to get a 494/a planter. However, there are none by me, most are at minimum 4hrs away. Most are at the 8hr mark.

What kind of trailer would I need for one? Can the tongue be folded up? What kind of dimensions and weight does it have?

I'm looking at the ones with fert., insect and herb boxes.

Given it can be placed on a trailer that can be pulled with a PU truck I would not pull it 8 hours one way. The tires and wheel bearings most likely are far from new. Pulling it down the road would make you over width in most situations so potential problems with law enforcement and other vehicle operators if involved in an accident. The planter would also require lighting for signaling and warning. The only reason to do so is if the seller can't lift or drive the planter onto your trailer.

 

[Leroy]

Could not sleep thinking about ths.I did have the 50 gallon kiquid spray tand as well. then there were the corn-cotton seed boxes and the vegetable seed boxes that I have never seed as not used in this part of Ohio. Then I have no idea what type of outfit you would have to haul with, Flat bed truck with flat bed gose neck trailer, flat bed truck with sideboards on like a pickup bed. or goose neck with bed between fenders orbumper hitch trailer in flat bed truck or pickup truck and flat bed over tire trailer or flat bed between fenders. All would require a different way of loading and tying down. First would be a way to lift on trailer and then to be able to lift frame to lower frame with no weight on tires. and if trailer with fenders you would have to take off the entire press wheel frame if trailer had fenders to get it to set flat on floor and for that you would need a cylinder to be able to do that in loading. as it would not clear fenders. If you could get it setting solid on bed with enough tying down places you MIGHT be able to keep parts fast so you would not be loosing them along the road.. You would have to tye every small part so it could not come off, possibly all with straps or combination of straps and wire on other small parts. On a trip like those would have a good chance of all parts working loose unless sollidly tyed on. And if fenders on trailer with all press wheel parts removed it would fit inside a 6 foot wide bed trailer with either toung removed or folded up. I know without markers on will just get thru a 10 foot door, But with the markers on takes a 14 foot door. And markers could be just a blate on arms end or disk opener that I prefered. The 494A has sealed wheel bearings on most, 494 and possibly some 494A had bearings you had to grease. Either way would need to tye every little part to keep from vibrating off and losing Now if trailer had sideboards to keep small parts from falling off the bed would not need to tye quite everything down as buch. But those length drives would make a lot of vibration to loosen parts. Would even need to tye marker lift chanes individually to keep from loosing them. And that planter would also yse the old style horse plates by just not using the center drive plate for the new style plates. So first question is what would you have to transport it? And then go from there to figure out things. And on some the wheel position is adjustable fror either wide or narrow rows to use all large seed boxes. You cannot just take the extendable part of the markers out to lower the markers for clearance as it has to have all the pieces to tighten things together so you would need to unbolt the markers at the frame to gt away fron all the vibration fron them sticking up and breaking off even in the shortes setting. On full length setting for 40 inch rows and tall trailer the markers might not clear roadside objects. And the 1200 series planters are basically the same except had the option to get plateless planter units. That I have never been around.. The 694A and 694AN and the 894A or AN would use same parts a lot of places on the 494A or even on some places the 494, 694 or 894 And a lot of parts are same as the 290 490 and 246, 247 planters. That were the cotten version of the 2 row planters.So a lot bore to think about than just the 494A number.. Over the years I have had the 999, 246, 290, 490, 494, 494A planters, The 246 being the first 4 row planter deere built.

Miss typed, the 246 being the first 3 point hitch planter Deere built but the first 4 row planter was the 450 built in the1late 1930,s And the markers DO NOT FOLD on the 494 series planters Omly up at a distance of 2-3 feet out at the top from the mounts.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Just go for it. Back it on sideways, lower it to the deck, remove the tongue, strap it down, and hit the road. Ideally you have some heavy planks or straight ramps, and there will be a ditch or a bank somewhere nearby where you can pull up beside, and back the planter on.

It's yours. You're hauling it for yourself. Commercial laws don't apply to you. If it hangs over a few inches on each side of the trailer, play dumb. You're just a dumb farmer hauling a piece of junk home. That's how the law is going to see you. As long as you don't have pieces falling off, dragging... As long as you aren't speeding, weaving, taking out mailboxes... As long as all your lights work and the plate looks valid... They will leave you alone.

Obviously, use your head and don't be stupid. Play dumb, don't be dumb. You want everything to get home in one piece.