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Quick-Fill Planter
By Darrell Smith
2/2/2008
By Darrell Smith, Farm Journal Conservation & Machinery Editor
With their primary focus on livestock, Lloyd Welu and his sons John, Melvin and Mike don’t want to spend anymore time planting than necessary. The Milroy, Minn., farmers had come to a point where the only way to increase efficiency was to reduce fill time for soybeans. A central-commodity planter looked like the answer, but the cost of a new one left them scratching their heads.
So the Welus, with help from their employee Adam Goblish, an engineering student at South Dakota State University, built their own. They added the seed tanks from a John Deere 60 seed cart to a 16-row John Deere 1170 front-fold planter.
The machine won the planter category of Farm Journal’s 2007 “I Built the Best” Contest and earned them $500.
They chose a front-fold planter for ease of access. “We can load or clean out the seed tanks whether the planter is folded or unfolded,” Goblish says.
Both machines were purchased used. Combining them was challenging, but the farmers are pleased with the result. Using the seed tanks and the seed boxes on the planter—which hold 60 bu. of seed—the Welus can plant around 95 acres of soybeans at a fill, depending on seed size.
There are other benefits, as well. “At 14,000 lb. (not including seed), this planter is lighter than commercially available central-commodity planters,” Goblish says. “The Welus can pull it with their John Deere 7800 two-wheel-drive tractor. The seed tanks are set lower than many other planter models, which makes it easier to fill.”
The Welus and Goblish removed the planter’s liquid fertilizer and liquid insecticide tanks. “Because it was built to carry liquid fertilizer, the frame was strong enough to carry the seed tanks,” Goblish explains. They left the dry insecticide boxes in place because they also use the planter for corn.
Connections. To mount the tanks, the growers built a subframe from 3"x3", ¼"-wall tubing. They used the vertical supports that came with the tanks and built a channel-iron supporting framework for the ends. They anchored the framework to the same bolt that holds the planter’s lift cylinder, replacing the original bolt with a longer one.
The manifold under each tank on the seed cart was set up to feed six planter boxes. So, they fabricated two additional seed exhaust ports between the existing ones on each tank.
The cart came with 12 seed boxes, hose and couplings. The farmers purchased hoses and couplings, which they installed in four of the boxes that came with the planter.
Vacuum hoses from the manifold to the planter units run on top of the frame. “The seed hoses’ longest run is no longer than it was on the original seed cart,” Goblish says. Hydraulic hoses run inside the frame.
To fill the planter, the Welus and Goblish built a platform with a ladder on the same level as a pickup bed. A section of the platform lifts up to access the electrohydraulic controls that fold the planter.
On the front of the planter toolbar, the Welus mounted two storage boxes made from the liquid fertilizer tanks of a John Deere 7000 planter, cut in half and hinged to carry extra bags of seed.
“The cost was considerably less than a new planter,” Goblish says.
You can e-mail Darrell Smith at dsmith@farmjournal.com.
Share your machinery ideas and win $500. Entries are judged in 12 categories: technology, livestock, planters, drills/air seeders, harvesting equipment, chemical handling, sprayers, shops, tillage tools, hay tools, service trucks and miscellaneous. Just send a photograph or sketch and a brief description of the idea to Darrell Smith, Farm Journal, P.O. Box 13018, Des Moines, IA 50310-0018. Category winners will receive $500 when the idea appears in Farm Journal. Any idea that is published—even if it's not a category winner—will earn you a check for $100. Send your entry in today!
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