Planting oats with ancient iron

[flusher]

Planted about 5 acres of Kanota oats today using my restored 1940s Minneapolis Moline P3-6 grain drill (10 ft wide, 20 drops, 6" spacing, single disc openers). Amazingly, that drill worked like a champ. Pulled it with my 2008 Mahindra 5525.

Next year I hope to pull it with a 1951 MM BF tractor that I'm restoring now.

The only modification I made to the drill is adding a hydraulic cylinder (2" dia, 12" stroke) to raise and lower the openers and operate the drive gear engagement/disengagement mechanisms. Otherwise the drill is in original condition with original parts (except for replacing the square head fasteners with hex head bolts and nuts).

I spent about 4 hours seeding 5 acres, taking it easy on that old hunk o' iron. No failures to report.

 

[gregsons]

I bet when that was sold new nobody would have believed it if you told them it would be seeding about 70 years later, well if they did they would have charged more.

 

[flusher]

I bet when that was sold new nobody would have believed it if you told them it would be seeding about 70 years later, well if they did they would have charged more.

Right on.
I bought two of these MMs about 18 months ago from a neighbor for $275. They had been sitting in her corral for 15 years or so since her husband passed away.

The drill were in pretty good condition on the outside (no rusted holes in the boxes, all the parts were there).

There are two axles each about 3 ft long. One axle drives the 10 feed cups on the left side, the other axle drives the other 10 feed cups on the right side.

This particular drill has a trip clutch on each axle. The operator seated on the tractor pulls two ropes when he wants to raise or lower the disc openers and engage or disengage the gear drives to the feed cups. I was going to use this drill as my primary unit but the left wheel/axle had a bad wobble. So it became the parts unit and is now a lawn ornament in front of my house.



So I decided to use the other drill which has a different mechanism and no wheel wobble. It has two long levers that are used to raise and lower the disc openers. The operator has to stop the tractor and operate these levers by hand. Pretty inconvenient.



So I removed those long handles and added a hydraulic cylinder to operate the openers and gear mechanisms from the tractor seat. Much more convenient. You have to raise and lower the openers at the ends of each row on the headland to do a pivot turn with the tractor and drill without damaging the openers.



The 20 feed cups mechanisms and the openers were disassembled and cleaned. The feed cups in the larger fertilizer box were pretty rusted due to the corrosive action of damp fertilizer left after incomplete cleaning and took a while to free up. The feed cups in the two smaller grass boxes were in better shape since the grass seed left in the feeds is not nearly as corrosive.

To keep the rust from building up again, I sprayed the feed cups and the fertilizer and seed boxes with cold galvanize spray paint. I use a Red Devil battery operated dust buster to vacuum the seed out of the feed cups after use and spray the cups with WD-40 to keep the mechanism lubricated. Diesel fuel works also for this job. The drill is shedded between uses.

So it's ready to go for another 70 years or so.

 

[flusher]

Got an inch of rain yesterday. It really kickstarted germination of the oat seed.













Looks like that old MM grain drill did OK.

 

[farm23]

That is some nice looking oats. It is nice to see mature equipment getting used.

 

[Taylortractornut]

Great job o nthe planting especially with the old drill. I bought a Gandy drop spreader this fall for liming my gardens and an oldm an showed me how to set it to drop oats. I have to disk them i nand pack them but they do work. I put down a strip for the deer. I just used feed oats. I plan on laying some down in an acre my neighbor lons me for another garden. I will turn them under when they green out for a green manure.

 

[flusher]

Great job o nthe planting especially with the old drill. I bought a Gandy drop spreader this fall for liming my gardens and an oldm an showed me how to set it to drop oats. I have to disk them i nand pack them but they do work. I put down a strip for the deer. I just used feed oats. I plan on laying some down in an acre my neighbor lons me for another garden. I will turn them under when they green out for a green manure.

I used feed oats to calibrate that old MM grain drill last Aug. I did a germination test on those cheaper feed oats--about 50%. The Kanota oat seed I planted is guaranteed 90% germination, less than 1% weed contamination in the sack. I get about 90% in my test planting.

 

[flusher]

That is some nice looking oats. It is nice to see mature equipment getting used.

Thanks.
Next year I hope to pull that MM grain drill with the 1951 MM BF tractor that I'm restoring right now.

 

[Taylortractornut]

I will plant that kind next year for a green manure, I planted the deer plot for my wife to watch them. Thats a good looking BF you got there I have one like it but in terrible shape. i need to find a grill for it.

 

[flusher]

I will plant that kind next year for a green manure, I planted the deer plot for my wife to watch them. Thats a good looking BF you got there I have one like it but in terrible shape. i need to find a grill for it.

I was lucky--the sheet metal on my BF is really straight and complete.
Wish I could help you on that grill. I'll keep my eyes open.