Corn planters

[Farmer Alf]

Could some of you folks from the sunny South give me a few hints on used corn planters. I was thinking about a 4 row 30 inch. Planting about 20 acres or so. I was thinking about a John Deere 7000 series or an International 400. Any thoughts on these units, or other suggestions. I will also need a corn head for my JD 6600 combine if someone has a good planter and head for sale. I live near the North end of the I75.

I would also like to know about plate and plateless planters. Are the JD 7000 and International 400 plate or plateless? How expensive are the plates?

Thanks for your help,

Alf

 

[VADAVE]

The JD 7000 comes in 2 version the regular and the conservation. The difference is that the regular has the opening coulters attached to the planting unit while the conservation has the coulters attached to the frame. They are finger pickup planters not plate. I use one and it does a very good job for me. Mine uses dry fertilizer for starter and the older I get the heavier those bags get.

 

[Anonymous-0]

You could get a IH 400 in either a cyclo or plate version. Many more cyclos than plates. I believe you could also get the JD 7000 in plate or finger pickup with many more finger pickups built than plate. One big problem with the IH 400, was the very important aspect; depth control. Later versions offered gage wheels adjacent to the openers which pretty much solved this problem. Aftermarket gage wheels were also available. IH's early attempt was to solve it by attaching depth gage disks to the disk openers, which only worked satisfactorily in conventional tillage. Unless your fields are really flat, I wouldn't buy a IH 400 without an disk opener depth control feature, unless your endeavor is only considered a hobby. In my opinion with the current corn price, 20 acres justifies doing a good job. I don't like the finger pickups because they can require a lot of somewhat expensive maintainance. However if you get one set up and adjusted correctly, I doubt if that you will ever need to work on it again if only planting 20 acres/year, and it will plant more accurate than the IH 400. Plenty of plates around. You just need to find someone whom has them. A lot of the older seed dealers have or know someone from whom you can get plates. However using plates might limit seed selection.

 

[LA in Wi.]

I live in the cloudy & cold north, not the sunny south, but will try to help you. The JD 7000 choice would be better than the IH 400, for several reasons. I"ve heard of 7000 plate type planters, but have never seen one. If you can, take off the corn hoppers, turn at least one upside down, If it"s plateless take off the meter (2 bolts). There are 3 small bolts that hold the black plastic cover in the "front" of the meter; take cover off. Check meters for rust, rusting deep into the metal "backing plate" or fingers means you get to buy new parts. See if the meters will rotate...just grab the shaft and turn it. Does the belt on the "back" side seem flexible? If not, you get to buy a new belt. If you see a groove worn into the backing plate where 2 "speed bumps" are that means the plate and probably the finger sets need replacing. Take out the brush (1 screw) and replace it with a new one; cheapest and best quick repair you can do and the brush is always worn anyway. The so-called secret is how to set that big adjusting nut on the shaft that covers the fingers. If you get this far, give me a shout and I"ll try to help you further.
Finger sets cost about $25.00 (don"t replace each singular finger and spring, just buy the whole set and get started the right way), plates about $25.00, brushes about $2.25, belts about $10.00; worth every penny with corn at $5.00+.
Kinze plates and finger sets (interchangeable in JD planters and vice versa)are more accurate than JD, especially in eliminating skips with flats. KZ will make a few doubles with rounds, but a double is much better than a skip...hard to grow an ear of corn with a skip.

 

[David in MD]

I had an AC 333 air planter for sweet corn that I bought cheap. It did a good job in worked ground but I was never happy with the seed closing in no-till. There weren't many around so after market suppliers such as Shoup and Sloan carried limited parts for it. I had to buy most of the over priced parts from Agco. I'd suggest a JD 7000 or Kinze equivalent. Even dealer parts seem to be affordable due to the competition from after market suppliers.

 

[super99]

You guys covered the planters pretty good, I'm wondering if he can run a 4-30 head on a 6600 and not smash down the rows on either side of the head when combining. An old friend had a 4400 with 4-30 head on it and smaller tires and it was close, If he has 23.1 tires, I'd think he would be running down 2 rows while picking 4 rows. Chris

 

[paul]

It works, friend has a 6600 with 4-30 on it. A 6-30 kinda pushes the machine too hard, anyhow in our 175-225 bu corn.

I'd buy a JD 7000 finger planter over an IH 400 cyclo _any_ day of the week.

Now, on the big new machines, I see way more Case 1200 cyclo planters out there than whatever the newst JD air planters are. So you don't think it's a color issue with me - the newest planters seems the red ones have passed up the green ones.

--->Paul