Planters what grain drill will work well on Kubota L3600 4wd?

[treefarmnc]

I've never owned a grain drill Is there one that would work on ground that was already worked up or unworked ground, and which can I handle with a 36 hp Kubota l3600 4wd tractor?

 

[Farmer495]

Depending on how many acres you want to cover, most old single disk grain drills will work, 11 run is about 7 feet wide. An old steel wheel horse/tractor drill would hardly be an issue for your L3600.

Newer drills that are small pretty well died in the early 1980's. IH 510 semimount is 8 feet and uses lower links to lift for transport and turning, with rest of weight on tail wheel. Can still get parts @ CIH. MIght be usable on an L3600(?)

 

[smstonypoint]

You will need a no-till drill to be effective in unworked ground. It turns out that many (most? all?) of the Soil and Water Conservation Districts in NC have no-till drills for rent. Here's the info for Davidson County: http://www.co.davidson.nc.us/media/newsletters/23_32_April%202014.pdf. It looks like that drill requires 40 HP, but you might be able to get by with 36HP on level ground.

Steve

 

[Foodplot]

I've pulled the drill (Truax FLXII with rear wheels) referenced in the newsletter smstonypoint linked with my Kubota L3400 gear drive. This was on pretty rough ground. I had extra weight on the tractor (front loader and loaded tires) and ran it in 4wd on the hilly areas. Worked fine in most places, though I had to run it on the high end of normal rpm range. Some drills, such as the rear wheel version of the truax, will require two sets of rear remotes.

 

[flusher]

Here is the grain drill I used behind my 2008 Mahindra 5525 to plant oats on my 10-acre place. It's an old Minneapolis Moline P3-6 drill that I refurbished. Bought two of them from my neighbor for $250 and used parts from both to make one good drill. It's 10 ft wide, 20 drops, single disc openers. The large boxes are for large seeds (oats, wheat, barley, etc) and for granular fertilizer. The two smaller boxes are called grass boxes and are used to plant small seeds (alfalfa, rye, etc).



Kanota oats



I added a hydraulic cylinder to raise the openers out of the soil while making turns. You have to do this or risk bending the opener support structure.

That drill probably weighs 1500 lb but it's no problem pulling it with a 30 hp tractor. Of course, grain drills are designed to be used in soil that has been prepared by plowing and/or discing.

If you want to plant in virgin soil, you need to use a no-till drill. Very heavy and very expensive. County ag offices sometimes have no-tills for rent. Google "no till drill" for more info.

Good luck