Planters John Deere 246 Corn Planter Questions

[cm9]

Hi Everyone!!!! Looking for some help with a John deere 246 planter. My father and I want to plant some field corn for foodplots and also some sweet corn. We have a 246 planter that was my grandfathers but it has been sitting for a long long time. I just pulled it out of the weeds and started oiling and lubing it up. I am hoping everything is going to free up. My questions are: Are parts available for these? I have ordered a parts diagram. Also the fertilizer canisters have rotted off at the base and the seed canisters are rotting at the base but still on the planter. Are the canisteres available? Is this planter worth the time to fix up or should I look elsewhere? I really want to get it working for sentimental reasons. Thanks for any help anyone can provide. I can send some pics of it if that would help.

[sweettractors]

A quick call to deere would tell you the availability and cost of boxes and lids. If they are out of production, try Ebay this winter for boxes and lids. I have also seen people have a sheet metal shop rig up some hoppers, however, this would not be the same for sentimental reasons. We are refrubishing one in the shop now and will be ready to go by the end of the week. We like to have never found the lids and skid shoes. Best of luck. Ken Sweet

[cm9]

Thanks after checking it out a little further it really isn't in bad shape besides the fertilizers hoppers the only thing it may need is the disc openers for the fertilizer. the ones on there are froze up pretty good but we greased and sprayed them up good so hopefully they will free up.

[sweettractors]

Thanks after checking it out a little further it really isn't in bad shape besides the fertilizers hoppers the only thing it may need is the disc openers for the fertilizer. the ones on there are froze up pretty good but we greased and sprayed them up good so hopefully they will free up.

You could take the openers off and put them in a bucket diesel or kerosene and soak them for a few days. Ken Sweet

[jbooth]

According to my info your 246 planter uses the same planter plates as the ones listed below. Generally there are quite a few plates listed on E-Bay with the 71 being the most common. With the right plates you will be able to plant most anything. JD has a good parts listing with schematics on their website. The website is a bit tricky to use, but, if I can do it, anyone can.

John Deere - Parts Catalog



MODEL #
71
246
290
446
490
494
1240
494A
495A

[wolc123]

I have had a 246 for about 15 years and it has been great. Fertilizer parts are hard to find because of the age of these planters and the corrosiveness of fertilizer. If you can find them, you will have a better piece of equipment than a newer model 71, as these almost never have dry fertilizer attahments. A light application of 15-15-15 at planting is all I ever need to get good fieldcorn and sweetcorn yields but I only plant on old clover fields to satisfy much of the nitrogen requirement. You might have better luck finding parts from an old 4-row and/or pull-type planter. The pull-type planters 290/490 share some, but not all the parts. The shoes, seed-boxes, fertilizer hoppers, disc wheels are the same, but the iron housings that support the disc wheels are different. One of these housings rusted out on my 246 and I thought I could take one from my "parts" 290, but no dice. I had to fabricate a repair using what I could salvage of the old one and some steel pipe. My shoes were wore down real bad however, and the like-new replacements I took from that 290 have given me significantly better germination this season. Parts are out there and I would do what it takes to get it back in shape. They dont make anything as good these days.

[cm9]

Thanks for the help everyone I appreciate it.This is going to be a fun project. I hope to have it done over the fall and winter to use next year. If I can't find any fertilizer hoppers I may just see if I can get someone to fix the ones I have. They are intact just rotted around the bottoms.

[sweettractors]

Thanks for the help everyone I appreciate it.This is going to be a fun project. I hope to have it done over the fall and winter to use next year. If I can't find any fertilizer hoppers I may just see if I can get someone to fix the ones I have. They are intact just rotted around the bottoms.

Call or email me and I will give you 2 phone numbers to try on the fert boxes. Ken Sweet

[sweettractors]

We just got this John deere 246-247 out of the shop today. Ken Sweet

[Luremaker]

We just got this John deere 246-247 out of the shop today. Ken Sweet

Ken, it's really great that you are always helping posters on tbn solve their problems. I hate to criticize, but I think you should consider updating your digital camera because your pictures are never very clear.