Scored a John Deere 71 flex planter- need opinions / education

[pharmvet]

I called about this planter yesterday. It was about 3 hours from me. By chance, a buddy of mine came through there on his way home and picked it up for me today. What is your opinion of this unit? What is the tool bar? Are the additional boxes for insecticide? What is the little wire sticking out of the gear cog just beneath the seed hoppers? Any and all information is most welcomed!!!

 

[AGRIMAN]

The 71 planters were one of the best planters of there day. Yetter still builds a version of them today. The boxes are for insecticide. I have seen the wires before on early units and from my understanding they were used like early monitor. If the wire was turning, you know the planter was working.

 

[300UGUY]

You can get a manual from your friendly local Deere dealer. Btw, what was the price?

The small boxes are insecticide boxes. Plates can be had at Lincoln Ag - they have a website.

 

[pharmvet]

Thanks guys. I paid $850 for this unit.

 

[flusher]

The tool bar is the long square piece of tubing painted red that carries the planters and the 3 point hitch interface. You adjust the distance between rows by sliding the planters along the tool bar and clamping in place.
The boxes are for fertilizer. Insecticide is sprayed on crops, not dropped into the soil.
There is a large variety of seed plates for the 71 to handle different size seeds. Google "JD 71 seed plates" for more info.

Good luck.

 

[M E Race]

The small boxes were used for granular insectiside to control cutworms and nemitodes. Fertilzer was top dressed. You can plant almost any row crop with the right size plates.

 

[300UGUY]

The tool bar is the long square piece of tubing painted red that carries the planters and the 3 point hitch interface. You adjust the distance between rows by sliding the planters along the tool bar and clamping in place.
The boxes are for fertilizer. Insecticide is sprayed on crops, not dropped into the soil.
There is a large variety of seed plates for the 71 to handle different size seeds. Google "JD 71 seed plates" for more info.

Good luck.

Actually, those are gandy boxes, for granular insectiside. I think they stopped using the granular stuff in the 70's. The fertilizer boxes are much bigger than the seed box.

 

[M E Race]

You can change the seed spacing by swapping the drive sprockets

 

[pharmvet]

Looks like the gandy boxes are obsolete . I was thinking of removing them and possibly selling them to cheapen up the planter. Regarding use, does the weight of the planter determine the down pressure, or should you let the lift arms carry some of the weight? Aldo, do you suppose the main purpose of the plow on the tool bar is to keep the planter up for easy hook up? Is it removed during actual use?

 

[300UGUY]

Usually there would be a disk, there, it helps keep the planter tracking. Also it would help in marking the rows, so you could see your progress. The planter should operate with just the down pressure of it's weight. Most tractors don't have down pressure on the 3 point anyway. The press wheel turns and runs a chain there that runs the planter mechanism. I have a model 70, very similar, but it doesn't have the chain tensioner. You got a good buy there, one rows go for 500 to 700 here, sometimes more. Depth can be controlled with depth bands, they are mounted on the press wheel. I hate to say it, but buying a manual is a good idea. I got mine from the local deere dealer, I think it was $30 or so. You might be able to sell the gandy boxes on ebay or something. There seems to be a collector for anything deere, especially in original condition with the logo and so forth.

 

[bjr]

You can download a manual from the Yetter website. You can get plates from Lincoln Ag in Nebraska. bjr

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

That's a great find and seems like a good price to me. I've seen old planters in much rougher shape selling for more money.

It wouldn't take a whole lot of work to rig up a couple of markers to mount on the toolbar to create a small furrow that would show you where to run the center of your tractor on the next pass in order to have perfectly spaced rows.

 

[pharmvet]

Thanks guys, a few more questions if you don't mind.
1) I think I may need to replace the springs inside the housings that keep tension on the chain. One end attaches to the disk holding the 2 small tension sprockets and the other end is attached to a rivet in the housing. Do I need to replace the rivet if I replace the spring, or can I remove the old spring and hook the new spring on the same rivet?


1) on one of the units, I can tell the drive shaft that is attached to the foreword most sprocket is slightly warped and wobbles some when it rotates. I would like to replace it with a new true one. How do you remove it?


3) in reading an operators manual, I keep seeing references to a 2-1/2" tool bar. My tool bar (which is red, and I suspect not John Deere) is 2". I realize it will work, but is a 2-1/2" tool bar actually correct?

 

[300UGUY]

I have a 2.5 toolbar on mine, but I don't think it matters, unless you are a deere collector. As for your mechanical questions, I'd just clean it up, lube it, and use it. Not like you are going to plant hundreds of acres with it.

 

[MHarryE]

As to the insecticide boxes - I have heard that people use them for planting very small seed vegetables - I'm thinking carrots and radishes for example. I saw that in ads on eBay and also heard it from the guy I bought my later model Deere planter from. I have a large fertilizer hopper up front that side dresses I believe 2 inches to the side of the seed, and the insecticide boxes behind the seed boxes just like yours. Mine was cut from a 30 row Max-Emerge planter.

 

[pharmvet]

I removed the insecticide boxes today. From everything I read, I don't think I will ever need them. What amount on ($) do you think I can reasonably expect to get for them? Thanks

 

[SCHULTZfarms]

Do you still have those insecticide boxes