MM grain drill-restoration update

[flusher]

Bought two Minneapolis-Moline P3-6 grain drills (20 openers, 6" space, 10 ft wide overall) from a neighbors a few months ago for $275.

Photo shows the spares unit partially primed ready for disassembly.

Plan to use one of them to plant my hayfield (about 7 acres) and keep the other for spares.

Been cleaning up the rusty parts on the spares unit for the past month or so.

These are a few of the fertilizer feed cups on one of the two shafts (10 cups per shaft). Surface rust, not too much corrosion. Rotating parts rusted together.

Fertilizer cup parts. It uses a standard fluted feed mechanism. Had to soak several of the feeds in WD-40 to get the parts separated.

Refurbished fertilizer cups back on the fertilizer box. Used rust converter as a primer which turns the iron oxide to black-colored iron phosphate that's tough and adherent to the steel parts. Coated the feed cup housings with cold galvanize spray primer (grey color). Decided that I liked the grey color so skipped painting them another color.

Since this is the spares unit, all of the rotating parts (seed cups, fertilizer cups, disc openers) are in storage. Needed to move the frame out of the way. Decided to put it on the front lawn where it functions as a landscape ornament.

The color scheme is fairly close to MM's original scheme as far as I can determine from several MM-oriented websites: industrial yellow, hunter green, IH red.

I'm installing hydraulics on the primary unit now. It's not historically authentic, but it will make day-to-day use a lot easier than the ancient lever adjustments that come on the original.

I'll continue posting photos as the remaining work gets completed.

It's been a fun project. Learned a lot about grain drills.

 

[JDeerekid]

Great looking lawn ortament. good job on getting things apart and cleaned up that must of been a real pain. How long has it taken you to do everything? Did you have to do anything to the other one to get it in working condition or was it all set? I am trying to find a used grain drill around my area. I would like to reseed a few lots around my area.

 

[flusher]

Great looking lawn ortament. good job on getting things apart and cleaned up that must of been a real pain. How long has it taken you to do everything? Did you have to do anything to the other one to get it in working condition or was it all set? I am trying to find a used grain drill around my area. I would like to reseed a few lots around my area.

I started working on the spares unit mid-Aug. Took a few weeks to get the seed cups, fertilizer cups and disc openers dissassembled, cleaned, and reassembled.

The primary unit was in the same condition as the spares unit. Needed complete disassembley and cleanup. That work is pretty much completed now except for installling the new hydraulics. I'm cutting steel and welding brackets now. Received the hydraulic cylinder from Surplus Center last week and got the new 10-ft hydraulic hoses fabricated last Friday at Dave's Tractor in Red Bluff CA (he's my Mahindra dealer who sold me my new Mahindra 5525 last March). I'll have that grain drill ready to go by the end of the month.

I looked for a newer grain drill for over a year. Couldn't find one in my neck of the woods. Decided to buy these older units and do the refurb. Fortunately there're enough parts between the two units to make one complete unit.