Planters JD Planter Rebuild

   / JD Planter Rebuild #1  

SCDolphin

Gold Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2003
Messages
437
Location
Columbia, SC
Tractor
Kubota L5240: Craftsman GT6500
Recently I posted some pictures of a 2 row JD planter system with a Cole-Covington Fertilizer spreader all mounted on a Pittsburg Frame. This is my first project on 40 year old equipment. I have a great deal of new found respect for Farmwithjunk (FWJ). This has been fun but I have already about 15 hours of tracking down information and breaking down the frame etc.

For anyone else looking to get a planter I think I should have gotten one that already worked. This one I was told was working when it was parked 5 years ago but it had been canabalized, even tthe Pittsburg frame. As long as you have money the JD 71 planter parts are available. Yetter now makes it and you can dl a manual from Yetter. I did get a nice JD original Planter manual on EBay. The pictures from the Yetter pdf file still shows the planter picts in JD green not Yetter black. I am missing hoppers, plates drive chain, several springs. I will post costs as I go along.

The Pittsburg Frame was listed in an old parts catelog at the local JD place as a Cat 2 Frame. The Left 3 point bracket was gone. I would like to find an original but unless Pittsburg is still is business will probably have to have it prefabed (pict enclosed).

The Cole-Covington sidedress fertilizer spreader sadly announced that they will not be making it anymore. Some corrosion but maybe fixable. Anyway the Cole-Covington folks were quick to respond and helpful. If I was starting new I would give them a look especially since thay have fert hoppers on them.

First after trying to find parts, I removed the planters and the side dresser from the frame. I wire brushed everything including bolts I could save. Next I tried a product from Lowes Jabsco Rust and Bare metal treatment. It is neat stuff. When applied to the metal where there was rust, it turns black. The next day it is dry and ready to put primer on. I found that if I applied over areas where paint remained that area would still be sticky so I just wiped it off with wate and let it air dry.

I have not yet started to break down the planters but if anyone has removed the rear wheel I would love to know of any tricks as I would like to split the wheel and treat the rust where they were sitting in the mud.

I will include some picts of the actual part of the fert spreader that I will need to replace in case some has a spare

Thanks
 

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   / JD Planter Rebuild #2  
Good luck with your project. I admire the restoration projects that people undertake but in my case I would rather spend the extra money and buy something I can take into the field and put to work.
 
   / JD Planter Rebuild #3  
Well, for what it's worth, you've got a lot to work with there. Sure, there's a few missing parts, but with that fertilizer attachment, you have something that is well worth the trouble. I'm going to send you another PM with a contact to a friend of mine who's quite the Cole/Covington enthusiast. Last time I talked to him about Cole, he had a bunch of NOS parts. No idea what all he has, or how much he would be interested in parting with, but at the very least, he could offer a lot of help identifying parts and providing pictures of NEW parts in good condition.
 
   / JD Planter Rebuild
  • Thread Starter
#4  
I am sending a picture of the planter as it sat in a friends yard. It had set up for about 5 years and a lot od parts were canabalized from including the right 3 point bracket from the PittsBurgh frame and the bracket that holds the sweep on one of the c shaped arms. So I have a lot of work to do. The wheels sat in the mud so they have a lot of rust on them. I am wire brushing them, treating with phosphoric acid rust fixer (Jabsco product), red lead primer and then painting them. This has been painfully slow. If you have a better way or recommend specific paints I am all ears .
 

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   / JD Planter Rebuild
  • Thread Starter
#5  
More Picts. Treating the rust I can't get off with a Jabsco product then trying to prime and then paint I found out you can't mix paint very well. The metal goes from rust to grey to black. I have a long way to go but it has been fun so far.
 

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   / JD Planter Rebuild #6  
SC - I've had good success cleaning rusted parts w/electrolysis. If you have more to cleanup you might want to give it a try. If so just google "electrolytic rust removal" & you'll get a bunch of sites w/lots of good info.
 
 
 
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