Narrowing a Grain Drill

[creekshorefarms]

I am wondering if anyone here has ever taken a standard 10ft massey or international grain drill and narrowed it up to say 5ft or less? I plant all my vegetables on 4' wide beds and would love to be able to seed single rows of cover crop without having to do it by hand.

I searched the forums but couldn't find anything. Ideas?

 

[AaronS]

I've seen pictures of drills that this has been done to on the QDMA forums and on ebay, although I couldn't find them in a search. I plan to do this to my 10 ft Massey when I find time one of these years if it doesn't rust to pieces sitting in the woods first. I plan to make mine 6 ft wide. I'll have to check the inside to see if I can remove a 4 ft section from the center, or if I'll need to leave the center and remove a 2 ft section on either side. Basically you cut out the width you don't need then weld it all back together. The main reasons I want to do this is 1) my tractor does not have rear remotes, so I'll convert the drill from a pull type to a 3 pt and eliminate the hydraulics from the equation, and 2) so I can transport it on my trailer. Good luck if you decide to pursue it and be sure to post your project.

 

[flusher]

I am wondering if anyone here has ever taken a standard 10ft massey or international grain drill and narrowed it up to say 5ft or less? I plant all my vegetables on 4' wide beds and would love to be able to seed single rows of cover crop without having to do it by hand.

I searched the forums but couldn't find anything. Ideas?

Check eBay. There are plenty of listings of 10 ft grain drills that have been cut in half to make two five-footers. The food plot folks are the big market for these little drills. They sell for $1500 and up.

A few years ago I bought two 10-ft Minneapolis Moline P3-6 grain drills (20 rows, single disc openers) for $275 from a neighbor. Use the parts from both to make one good drill. Use it to plant my 6-acre hayfield. The donor drill is a lawn ornament. Maybe one of these days I'll cut it in half and make two five foot drills.



Good luck.

 

[R W]

Take an equal number of runs off each side.

 

[BHD]

I cut an old van brunt in half and it was fairly simple abut the only real part I ended up needing to make was a new end piece. that went in the middle,

there are two halves, and the 14" unit was cut down to 7' one drive wheel and the other wheel was just moved in to support the drill, hitch was removed and repositioned to the new center of the drill, I moved some of the openers as well so there were right and left hand openers, on the drill,

basic tools I used was 4.5 inch grinder and cut off wheel, and grinding disk, and welder,