I have a chance to get a really really nice IH 400. Its been inside all of its life and looks like brand new. I know some people hated them but them some loved them and just want to see what the pros and cons of them are? It also come with the original monitor. Ive always just planted with my uncles white 5100 and never been around the older air planters. Im farming about 100 acres and looking to upgrade from the jd 490

Fixed 4 row? 4/6 row convertible? 8 row? PTO driven fan?

Standard seed flow monitor or a Cyclomiter (population monitor)?

Used my 400 Cyclo to plant peas earlier this spring and she planted some sweet corn last night.

Time is the biggest enemy... seals on the drums and hopper lid, caulk, seed tubes and diffusers, knock out wheels, brush, bearings, tires, disk openers, belts...

Make sure it comes with all of the gears for changing spacing and fertilizer rates. I assume it is dry fert?

Measure diameter of disk openers. Should be 13 1/2 new. To replace costs anywhere from $30 (without bearing) to $40 (with bearing) EACH. They are non standard in size compared to all of the (new) planters running today.

Aside from standard corn and soybean drums it is difficult to find others and to buy new from CIH is pricey.

I've always heard that they're not good planters, but never any specific reason as to why.

My guess is because it's a first-generation air planter. IH hadn't perfected the technology and was trying to make it work on an existing planter platform.

One problem with the planter that the 400 is based on, the 56 plate planter, is that once it starts to wear a little, it gets unreliable. Dad has a lot of problems with shearing pins on the fertilizer drive. The markers don't want to cycle properly anymore. It's all due to wear, and there's no easy way to fix it.

I grew up with a 6 row 400 Cyclo and currently own a 4 rw. The biggest real issue is getting the drum pockets to fill with a single seed consistently. This is determined by the seed shape, size and weight obviously but also the brush and the drum pocket geometry. Too little air pressure and you may get skips... Too much and you double or triple. Setting the brush to clear the pocket of excess seed is a crap shoot as you cannot see inside the drum to see what is occurring. Seed tubes need to be equal length for seed travel time or spacing becomes an issue... Very simplistic in terms of what is important for adjustment but as with anything else it is a balancing act.

The biggest difference between the 400 and later 800 / 900 planters is the row unit design. The 400 uses the old plate planter trailing arm design where as the 800 / 900 use the 4 link design as is still used today. The trailing arm design is limited in it's ability to maintain consistent seed depth on changing terrain elevation. It also doesn't have sufficient down pressure in soil that isn't worked and loose. No-tilling with a 400 is nearly impossible and the frame isn't rigid enough to really do it any way.

A lot of people disliked them, and I did too. But after using them, I would not go back to another brand. At least not of the older planter's. Really simple and easy to operate. They are just like any other planter and have to have all parts and etc. in good shape to work properly. The larger the seed size, the better you can control the population. Small seed will tend to plant doubles.

Everyone is pretty right on. Pros -relatively simple mechanically, quick and easy to change population settings, one seed hopper to fill. Cons -virtually no down pressure and will only plant as deep as you till, irregular seed spacing due to different travel rates thru the tubes. An okay planter for conventional tillage but not a notiller or light tiller.

A 400 was the first corn planter I owned. The seed tubes will distort the spacing everytime the opener hits a rock. A fair amount of stoney soil here and you will never be able to pick it clean.
I currently have a Deere 7000 6 row and the upgrade will be either a 7200 or 1750.

Do the math on how much fuel you will save by buying a JD 7000 6R or 8R and you will see you can pay for it in about three plantings. And you cvan save even more if you get the fertilizer tank.