Planters Yetter 71 vs. JD Planter

[N1ST]

Has anyone seen a Yetter 71 up close that can comment on the quality and durability vs. the old JD Flex 71? Is everything just as heavy and well built (except for the obviously plastic hopper)? Is the build, parts, etc. just about exactly the same?

Thanks.

[TNhobbyfarmer]

Yetter made the 71 for JD. I would think the Yetter planter would be virtually the same except newer. I have used a JD 71 for a few years, and they are very reliable. The new Yetter planters are not cheap. If you can find a good used JD 71, you'll save yourself quite a few $'s.

[Farmwithjunk]

Has anyone seen a Yetter 71 up close that can comment on the quality and durability vs. the old JD Flex 71? Is everything just as heavy and well built (except for the obviously plastic hopper)? Is the build, parts, etc. just about exactly the same?

Thanks.

deere built the #70 in their own factory. They built early production #71's themselves. Somewhere along the line, they started contracting Yetter to build later #71's. Yetter used the same tooling, same parts, and produced the very same planter. When Deere finally dropped the #71 from their product line, Yetter bought the design and production rights and continued to produce the #71. The ONLY difference is the colors. (Black & white as opposed to green & yellow) Parts are interchangeable..... As for the "plastic hopper" (actually fiberglass) Deere offered that very same seed cans on their later run models. Most #71's you'll see will have the older, smaller metal cans, but many "green" #71's came with the fiberglass versions. I've got a 4-row #71 that I bought new in the early 80's. They came with fiberglass high capacity cans.

From all appearances, quality seems to be about the same. I haven't seen any Yetter #71's in action, but have looked at them at the National Farm Machinery Show on several occasions. Parts are still readily available through Deere. Not sure how quick or accessable parts are w/ Yetter. What fits one will fit the other..... Prices are downright scary on new Yetter units though!

[Oleozz]

One thing I can't find for my two row JD 71 is the fertilizer box and I guess they are very rare. I have the drive wheel and fittings but not the box. Saw one for sale about two years ago but it was gone in a short time.
I am not a big fan of planter plates with all the new smaller hybrid sweet corn varities, hard to match the seed to the plate. My next planter will have the finger pickup.

[bjr]

There can be differences in 70 series and 71 as I've both on the same tool bar. The 70 has a oval shaped hole where the seed drops down the center section has a long cast tube and the 71 has a squarish hole and uses a tube extension, this is according to the Yetter 71 parts book. I called Yetter and they didn't know about the 70's style oval hole. I did'nt have the tube extension so I just jammed a piece of 1" PVC pipe down the hole to get the seed to drop correctly between the openers. Seemed to work okay. bjr

[Farmwithjunk]

There can be differences in 70 series and 71 as I've both on the same tool bar. The 70 has a oval shaped hole where the seed drops down the center section has a long cast tube and the 71 has a squarish hole and uses a tube extension, this is according to the Yetter 71 parts book. I called Yetter and they didn't know about the 70's style oval hole. I did'nt have the tube extension so I just jammed a piece of 1" PVC pipe down the hole to get the seed to drop correctly between the openers. Seemed to work okay. bjr

There's a LOT more differences than that. 71's have spring tension idler for drive chain where 70's need a wrench to adjsut chain when changing sprockets. Also, down pressure tension adjustment is quite a bit different on 71's.

And worth mentioning, there were several updates and improvements to the #71's over their production run. It's best to have serial numbers in hand when ordering parts for any 71's.

[N1ST]

There can be differences in 70 series and 71 as I've both on the same tool bar. The 70 has a oval shaped hole where the seed drops down the center section has a long cast tube and the 71 has a squarish hole and uses a tube extension, this is according to the Yetter 71 parts book. I called Yetter and they didn't know about the 70's style oval hole. I did'nt have the tube extension so I just jammed a piece of 1" PVC pipe down the hole to get the seed to drop correctly between the openers. Seemed to work okay. bjr

I'm missing the seed tube on my 71 also. Hey, that's a great idea. How long did you make the pipe?

[N1ST]

The Yetters are $1,500, but considering how much the used JDs sell for, resale value, cost of other 3 pt gear, and how useful and well built these are, It's not too too bad.

It's great to find some folks knowledgeable about these. A couple of questions...

I'm trying to use with long slender snap beans and I'm using the B8-24. Does the bean have to fit in the plate cell (laying down horiz and parallel to the cell) or if they're too long for the cell, can they fall thru vertical (perpendicular to the cell) ok?

Do the same number of seeds pass thru regardless of speed?

Even with a 20 gear in the back and 14 in the front, I'm not getting enough seeds. Can I use a larger in back and smaller in front, or is there some point where it wont feed correctly? ... I see a warning about max MPH in the yetter manual.

[KillerTractor]

Here some yetters alittle cheaper than $1500.00 each,

Midwest Wildlife Management : 71 Series Row Crop Planter


Here's a nice picture of the seed plate...
http://www.midwestwildlife.com/new/y71-6-large.jpg

[Tritonman]

Yetter units are about 850 each if you buy them from yetter plus shipping. If you want some JD 71 flex units I have plenty of them for sale that are in nice condition.