Planters Old JD Grain Drill ?

[redka]

Would like to hear anything about this old drill I was looking at yesterday to maybe buy. Maybe 50 yo, not sure. I plant 2-3 acres of food plots each year so I don't need a large drill. It's a 10 disk. Manual raise lower by two handles, each one operates 5 disks. Each handle has about 5 notch/positions on a half circle plate.
Two grain setting adjustment levers on the seed box.for each 5 openings/disks.
The seed tubes are metal band wound to make the tube. Each disk each has a grease fitting. The seed box had some seed left in it at last use(~20 years ago) so there is some rust in the bottom but not all the way through.
The owner is going to clean it out, and try to get the moving parts moving, and I'll go look at it again, and discuss price..
Couple things I'm concerned about is the grease in all those fittings being hardened, the fittings not taking grease.
Also wondering about making turns with the disks in the ground, or is it necessary to stop at the end of each row, get off the tractor, raise the disks, turn tractor/drill around, off the tractor again, lower the disks, back on the tractor and go.
Would appreciate any input. Thanks.

 

[flusher]

Would like to hear anything about this old drill I was looking at yesterday to maybe buy. Maybe 50 yo, not sure. I plant 2-3 acres of food plots each year so I don't need a large drill. It's a 10 disk. Manual raise lower by two handles, each one operates 5 disks. Each handle has about 5 notch/positions on a half circle plate.
Two grain setting adjustment levers on the seed box.for each 5 openings/disks.
The seed tubes are metal band wound to make the tube. Each disk each has a grease fitting. The seed box had some seed left in it at last use(~20 years ago) so there is some rust in the bottom but not all the way through.
The owner is going to clean it out, and try to get the moving parts moving, and I'll go look at it again, and discuss price..
Couple things I'm concerned about is the grease in all those fittings being hardened, the fittings not taking grease.
Also wondering about making turns with the disks in the ground, or is it necessary to stop at the end of each row, get off the tractor, raise the disks, turn tractor/drill around, off the tractor again, lower the disks, back on the tractor and go.
Would appreciate any input. Thanks.

If it's been sitting out in the weather, it's anywhere from completely shot to needing a complete restoration. That's what I had to do to get an old Minneapolis Moline P3-6 drill going (10-ft wide, 20 hoes, single disc openers, dual grass boxes). I paid $275 for two of these discs and use parts from each to make one good drill.



Here's what they looked like when I got them.

This one has a pair of trip clutches to raise the openers when making turns. You pull on two ropes while sitting in the tractor seat to operate these clutches.



This drill is probably more like the one you're looking at. There are two long levers to adjust the height of the openers. Looks to me like you have to get off the tractor at the end of a row and raise the openers, turn the drill around, and then get off the tractor to lower the openers--unless you just want to turn with the openers in the ground. That is risky since you might knock them out of alignment.



I used this drill as my working unit, removed the two long levers, and rigged a hydraulic cylinder to raise and lower the openers.



To answer your questions-

Yes, hardened grease is a problem, I had to disassemble the axles to get them cleaned out.

No, I wouldn't try to make turns with the openers in the ground.

Also, even if you get the flute feeders to turn, you still will have to disassemble them to clean them thoroughly. I sprayed the galvanized parts with cold galvanize spray paint to keep the rust down.

If that drill was used to spread fertilizer and was left sitting for years without being thoroughly cleaned, figure the flute feeders are corroded and may not be restorable. If that's the case and you buy this thing, you'll probably have a very hard time finding replacement parts.

If that drill you're eyeballing looks worse than the ones I bought, I'd pass on that purchase.

Hope this helps.

Good luck.

 

[redka]

flusher, thanks for the reply.
I decided to pass on the drill, and keep looking for one with a hydraulic cylinder.
May take a while to find one, but I can wait. Thanks again.

 

[Briar Hill Brittanys]

Sounds like an old FB, FB-A, or similar John Deere Drill. The condition it's in is like a lot of them I see. Neglected in fence rows with remnants of the last seed it drilled left in the hoppers. If I could get it cheap enough, it'd be a winter project. Here's a couple I've worked over. First picture is a "before" shot of the next picture. Both of them are John Deere/Van Brunt model FB drills, dated to about 1950 or so. The back boxes are for fertilizer, took a lot of PB Blaster daily to free them up. I was able to do it without disassembly. There was quite a bit of hardened grease and dirt on them also. The frames were broken in various places, drive gears sheared...etc is the reason they were narrowed. One thing I like about them is no hydraulics required, thanks to the lift clutchs. A simple tug on the rope engages the drive gears, and lowers the seed boots/discs to the ground. Get to the end of a row, pull the rope again and the gears disengage while the boots/discs raise. They're a very simple machine, and many parts are still available at John Deere. For drilling a few acres per year, hard to beat. Especially for the cost. HTH Mark

 

[redka]

Mark, that was a good restoration. Thanks for posting the pics. The drill I looked at is not the trip lever type. It has two long levers which have to be moved manually to raise/lower the disks. If it had been like yours I'd buy it.

 

[flusher]

Sounds like an old FB, FB-A, or similar John Deere Drill. The condition it's in is like a lot of them I see. Neglected in fence rows with remnants of the last seed it drilled left in the hoppers. If I could get it cheap enough, it'd be a winter project. Here's a couple I've worked over. First picture is a "before" shot of the next picture. Both of them are John Deere/Van Brunt model FB drills, dated to about 1950 or so. The back boxes are for fertilizer, took a lot of PB Blaster daily to free them up. I was able to do it without disassembly. There was quite a bit of hardened grease and dirt on them also. The frames were broken in various places, drive gears sheared...etc is the reason they were narrowed. One thing I like about them is no hydraulics required, thanks to the lift clutchs. A simple tug on the rope engages the drive gears, and lowers the seed boots/discs to the ground. Get to the end of a row, pull the rope again and the gears disengage while the boots/discs raise. They're a very simple machine, and many parts are still available at John Deere. For drilling a few acres per year, hard to beat. Especially for the cost. HTH Mark

Nice job-that JD drill looks mighty fine.