Questions about grain drills....

[flusher]

Bill, here are some pictures of the grain drill!!! I was up at my parents this weekend and walked over to the barn next door and took a few pic's of it. I'm 99% certain you are correct that the green indicates John Deer Van Brunt. I had not noticed it before (maybe because it was sort of dark inside the barn) but there is writing on the back side of the seed hoppers, it looks like it reads "John Deere Van Brunt" across the whole width of it.


Here is the first pic looking from just outside the barn at the drill. That's not the opening it will have to come out. The drill is parked at the rear of the barn and about 30 ft staight behind the drill is a door at the front of the barn. Apparently it was walked in by hand and parked there after it was last used, which might have been 10-15 years ago. Who knows?? Anyway, in this pic, you can almost count the nine discs, I think those long springs above each disc keeps down pressure on the assembly that holds the seed chute and the disc?? I didn't measure the actual spacing between each drill but it looks to be about 9" or so. The whole implement is right at 6ft wide. The tire on the left is an actual B.F. Goodrich 6ply ribbed implement tire (size 6.00x16"). It's a really old tire, it has the BFG written in a style used many, many years ago. On the lefthand side, just above the 2nd drill there is a little metal "box" that has "acres" and "tenths" cast into the metal plate. I assume that is how you adjusted the seed drop rate for the acreage you were planting by knowing how much seed you put into the hoppers?? I think the long shaft (which has a crank handle on the other end not pictured) with a U-joint on it was to adjust the depth of the seed chutes and the disc's.

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This picture is also from the front, just taken from the other side.




Here is the telling picture, this is from the back. After I loaded it on the computer, I zoomed in and you can see a very faded "John Deere Van Brunt" painted in yellow on the backside of the seed hopper. From this angle you can easily count the nine seed drills and discs. Also, you can see the wood stepboard that goes across the back of it. I know you mentioned it was to stand on for loading seed (which would make it easier I am sure) but I did see a picture of a grain drill similar to this one that was being drawn by a horse and the operator was standing on the stepboard. So, I guess it served two purposes.


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Lastly, here is a picture of some instructions underneath the cover for the left seed hopper on the right side (looking at it from the rear) that tells you to use a wrench to turn the feed shaft by hand with a wrench, and use kerosene to loosen tight feeds before starting the drill.




Well, that's it for now. I'm still going to get this drill for my hunt club and we're going to try and see if it we can get it working well enough to seed some of our food plots. We are fortunate to have a barn at the hunt club to park this under, along with the 1959 TO35 tractor we just acquired. BTW, I still haven't seen the tractor yet, but will post pic's of it (when I get some) in the other thread I started about it. I will post more (better) pics later on of the grain drill when I can get it outside in the sun. I think it will be pretty neat to have a few pictures of that 40-50 year implement behind my JD790! Thanks for any comments!

Keith

My guess is that it's a JD-VB model FB grain drill--a fairly small size version.

It has a trip clutch to raise and lower the disc openers--with the openers up in the transport position, move the drill forward while pulling on the rope to activate the trip clutch and lower the discs. Pull the rope again while the drill is moving forward and the discs will be raised.

My backup MM P3-6 drill (10 ft wide) has two of these trip clutches

This drill has 20 disc openers and two axles with 10 openers and drops per axle. Hence the need for two trip clutches.

Interestingly, one of the seed boxes on that backup drill of mine has a JD seeding chart on the backside of the lid. So I guess these two seed boxes are off a JD grain drill.

It's also possible that my MM P3-6 grain drills could have been built by van Brunt under contract from MM. VB built drill under JD contracts before JD acquired VB in 1911.

Two Cylinder Magazine

 

[Toolguy]

That looks just like the 1950s 17 hole drill that my dad had. That drill planted thousands of acres of oats and wheat during it's lifetime. We also used it for seeding alfalfa and clover with the optional small seed boxes on the front. I think you will need those if you want to use it to plant those crops. You can however, just broadcast clover and other very small seeds. They do not like to be planted deep. Your current method of broadcast seeding and then dragging a chain link fence over will work just fine. The small seed boxes are used mostly to meter the proper amount of seed. Those small seeds are very expensive so you don't want to waste it.

The box with acres and tenths on it is the acre counter. You change the rate of seed drop by adjusting the openings in the bottom of the seed and fertilizer hoppers. Those levers are on the end of the hoppers.

The instructions that tells you to turn the feed shafts with a wrench before using it are very important. That will prevent the gearbox or some other parts from getting torn up if the shafts are stuck. Fertilizer is very corrosive stuff. Never store the drill with fertilizer still in the box. You also need to clean the cups in the bottom of the box so no fertilizer is left in them. A vacuum cleaner or compresed air is good for cleaning them out. You should also use a garden hose to rinse ALL of the fertilizer out of the box. Then, after it dries out, a good dose of used oil on everything in the box is needed to keep it from rusting out while in storage. We used a paint brush to slather oil over every surface inside the box and in the feed cups. We also cleaned the seed boxes out otherwise mice would get in there and make nests. A little kerosene in the seed boxes will keep them turning free. This drill obviously had good care and was stored in a dry barn otherwise it would be nothing but a big pile of rust.

It looks like you may have a gem there that with some TLC will serve you well. Good luck with it.

 

[kebo]

toolguy, thanks for the comments. I'm well aware how corrosive fertilizer is. One of the guys in the club got a 3pt hitch seed spreader that was all rusted up, and the plate that holds the 4 blades to broadcast the seed was rusted through. I managed to rebuild it and got it worked very well now. I used a nice heavy gauge piece of round aluminum to replace that old steel plate with, should last a LOT longer now. We clean it up with a little diesel fuel after using it to spread fertilizer.

As for the grain drill, that's all good information to know. I will have to study this implement real close to see how it all works, so I'm sure I'll be asking more questions later on after I get it out of the barn.

Funny you should mention mouse nests, there's a nest in one of the hoppers. Didn't check to see if they were at home though!


I'm now wondering how might be the best way to get it out of the barn? Do you all think I can hook it to the bucket, pick it up, and slowly back it out of the barn?? It doesn't look to be all that heavy, I would guess maybe 400lbs or so? The only other way is to hook a chain to it and see if I can drag it out slowly without breaking/bending anything. But that would be making it go backwards! Not only that, it will be tough getting the wheels off to have new tires put on to see if it will roll out of there. Will definitely have to get some guys from the club to come and help me get it out of there when I get ready to do it.

 

[kebo]

Finally, got it out of the neighbors barn yesterday! No telling how long it's been since this grain drill was last outside lol! After easing it over to my folks house behind the 790, I see there is some hope for it. The two chain drives on each wheel appear to be turning the main shafts underneath the seed hoppers as you pull it along slowly. I couldn't look back behind it to see if the other shaft underneath the back two fertilizer hoppers was also turning. I kind of got the impression that it wasn't turning, but maybe it's just disengaged? I didn't really mess with it much at all after moving it for lack of time, but it does appear that it could be put back into service with a fair amount of elbow grease and maybe a few parts here and there. At least two of the seed chutes need to be replaced, and obviously both tires for starters. Here are some more pic's just for the fun of it:

Old meets new, a 9 yr old JD 790 pulling a 50? year old Van Brunt Model FB? 9x7 grain drill:

Here's the rear view showing the stepboard, wonder if anyone ever rode that standing up all day long?

Close up of the trip latch and seed rate adjustment. It indcates "acres" and "tenths"!!

Little bit closer view from the rear:

 

[flusher]

Finally, got it out of the neighbors barn yesterday! No telling how long it's been since this grain drill was last outside lol! After easing it over to my folks house behind the 790, I see there is some hope for it. The two chain drives on each wheel appear to be turning the main shafts underneath the seed hoppers as you pull it along slowly. I couldn't look back behind it to see if the other shaft underneath the back two fertilizer hoppers was also turning. I kind of got the impression that it wasn't turning, but maybe it's just disengaged? I didn't really mess with it much at all after moving it for lack of time, but it does appear that it could be put back into service with a fair amount of elbow grease and maybe a few parts here and there. At least two of the seed chutes need to be replaced, and obviously both tires for starters. Here are some more pic's just for the fun of it:

Old meets new, a 9 yr old JD 790 pulling a 50? year old Van Brunt Model FB? 9x7 grain drill:



Here's the rear view showing the stepboard, wonder if anyone ever rode that standing up all day long?


Close up of the trip latch and seed rate adjustment. It indcates "acres" and "tenths"!!


Little bit closer view from the rear:

Nice looking rig.
That rust on the seed/fertilizer box can be handled easily. I used a rust converter (Gempler's) as a primer and then sprayed a coating of cold galvanize paint on my fertilizer box.

 

[Egon]

wonder if anyone ever rode that standing up all day long?

It's very doubtful that any one rode that platform but some other types as per picture they sure did.

Note how on the one drill there is only a platform on each side. This may have been so the driver could change sides so he could see better and follow beside the previous drill track. Many of the drills had outriggers set to leave a track the front tires of the tractor could follow.

 

[firemen122]

Kebo I think you ought to feel plumb ashamed getting that drill so cheap. I need to find one reasonable down here in fl. Have had no luck so far... The drill looks very restorable with not a lot of work...

 

[rrch129]

Kebo go over to ytmag.com they will have that drill identified before you know it. By the way looks very restorable

 

[AaronS]

Great find! I'd love to have found one that size for my food plots. I bought a Massey Ferguson 10 footer a couple of years ago but have not used it yet. Good luck with your purchase....and let me know if you'd like to trade your 6 footer for a 10 footer!

 

[kebo]

Aaron, go back and read the first post. That drill hasn't cost me a penny (yet)!! It was given to me by some neighbors who live close by to my folks.