McCormick-Deering Seeder

Found a heavy piece of equipment over in the corner of the barn of a newly acquired property. After I got it out in the light I discovered that it was not just a piece of junk but a workable piece of equipment. Have never seen anything like this used but it indicates that it is a "wagonbed seeder". Everything seems to move freely. It has the chain attached, which I assume was driven from a gear on the seed wagon? I hate to take something with the logo McCormick-Deering painted on the side to the iron recycle center so it can end up in China, but I suppose that is what is going to happen to it.

You need to at least offer it for sale in the classified adds on here! You might be surprised?

Seeded a lot of small grain with one of those in my younger days. We called it a End Gate seeder and yes it was run with a chain from the rear wheel of the wagon it was mounted in.

You are correct. It is noted to be an "End Gate Seeder" as painted on the hopper. Now, tell me, was the drive wheel for the chain made as part of the wagon or was it sold as part of the seeder and attached to the rear axle of the wagon?
The chain came with the item (although it's not shown in the photo) and I can see how the "clutch" was engaged/disengaged with the handle-rod, but never having seen one operate I can't visualize the drive drive from the wagon. Thanks for your reply and information.

Had 2 just like it complete in working condition, with 70-75% paint. Took to antique farm equipment auction and they brought $7.50 each before sales commission. Would have junked out for a lot more. I guess just not much interest in them.

The drive sprocket was mounted on the inside of the left rear wheel of the wagon, and as I recall it was about 15-18" diameter. I don't recall if that wheel had to be taken off to install that sprocket, or if it was a 2-piece deal. The seeder had a separate small "bin" for small seeds like alfalfa, clover, etc. The large "bin" was for the oats or wheat which you shoveled in as the tractor and wagon proceeded forward. This was a 2 person job...a tractor driver and a person in the wagon. Most farmers I knew used a flair box wagon for this purpose and the wheel sprocket stayed on thru the years. You could seed quite a wide strip each pass...depending on how far you could see (or estimated) the small seeds fly. We almost always seeded into last years cornstalks; a couple diskings, then seed, then lightly disk again to incorporate the seed. The oats we harvested in late summer, the "hay seed" would grow some, but that became our hay ground the 2nd year. I'm sure a lot of the small seeds were disked in too deeply, but that was the "hi-tech" of the day. I can still hear the sound of those beaters whizzing round and round. I know of one IH end gate seeder in Iowa that is in prime condition. I'm guessing there are many of them in machine sheds in Iowa.

When I moved to Wisconsin in 1973 I never saw an end gate seeder being used....everything is done with drills here, which is really the more accurate way to seed small grains and hay seeds. To this day I've never met a Wisconsin farmer who knew what I was talking about at the mention of "end gate seeder".

But in Iowa in those days, corn and soybeans were the prime crops and oats and alfalfa or clover was something you had to do for rotation or feeding. Thus the end gate seeder was fast at covering lots of acres quickly "to get it over with".

In Wisconsin, alfalfa is the prime crop for serious dairying so accurate seeding is vital and much more attention is paid to that.

LA in WI

I'd happily take it off your hands to save it from the scrappers - but I'm assuming we're not too close.

Where are you?

Massachusetts here - travel to ohio often.

Endgate seeder or broadcast seeder. The one I use I bought from an old farmer 50 years ago. It is a Victor brand, very similar to McCormick. When I got it, it was mounted on a 2 wheel cart with wagon wheels. At that time Tractor Supply sold a smaller sprocket to be used with car / truck wheels. I mounted it on a 2 wheel utility trailer. Later I added a hopper off an AC combine that holds 6 sacks making it a one man operation. It will broadcast about a 60' wide swath of oats. I set it a little lighter and lap it about half, it does a much more even job that way. Discing in the seed has never been a problem, it gets the seed down in the moisture and it will come up rain or not.

I"d love to have it. For goodness sakes, don"t scrap it. Where are you located?

Thanks for all of that information. Very interesting. I always wondered just how good of a job a fan-wheel seeder did, since a significant portion of the seed had to hit that section closest to the wagon & fall directly down. But, I guess it beat walking and planting by hand. Some of the Almish folks around here still walk the fields to plant. They use the old tube, swinging it back and forth. They say it gives a much better stand that the hand-held fan seeder.

That seeder would throw oat seed 60-feet? Man, I'm impressed. Thanks for your reply. I'm a little thick, I guess, but did the "drive sprocket" get mounted to the "outside" of the wagon wheel? Did the sprocket come as a part of the seeder ...or.... did the sprocket come as part of the wagon? In looking at this thing, it appears that the drive rod on the seeder extends quite a way away from the seeder, so I assume that was so the sprocket could be mounted on the outside of the wagon wheel and the seeder would still be centered in the wagon bed. ?

It is #5 endgate seeder, IH made them from the 1930s to to 1960s, I set up & delivered new a few of these, then sold parts for them, used for seeding grass waterways & pastures with alfalfa. It was to be mounted on a wagon & driven with a sprocket mounted on a wheel for ground drive on the wagon.

Thanks for that information. I'm still trying to understand if the drive sprocket came with the seeder or was it already on the seed wagon. Did it mount to the outside of the wagon wheel? Thanks, again, for the response.

The sprocket came with the seeder. It was usually mounted on the inside of the wheel if there was clearance for everything. There are pictures, go to google images and search for endgate seeder.

Heck, I've heard such interesting stories about how it works, I think I'll just keep it!!

Thanks, Jim. That's what I was waiting to hear - inside/outside of the left wheel
Heck, I've heard such interesting stories on here about how it works, I think I'll just keep it!!
I might even hook it up next Spring and sew a little grass.

I dont recall getting a wheel sprocket but its only been 50 years, it was in IH parlance a completing pkg, didnt come with a sprocket because there were options as to wheel size 15" to a large wooden wagon wheel was big difference, I cant find a parts list in the new CNH website. I do remember BA507 was the sprocket on the input shaft to seeder, faster moving part, B466RDX was the fork on throw-out.