IH 5100 Grain Drill - Major Problems

OK I have a IH 5100 Soybean Special grain drill, when planting soybeans its not spot on, but its some what close.

But t he big problem has been with planting wheat, and now the same problem with oats. 2 years ago when planting 20 acres of wheat, I had to go over the field 2 and 1/2 times to run the drill out after having it "set" for what it was suppose to be, then the last fall when planting wheat I had to go over the field nearly 4 times to run the drill out, and this was even after opening it up over 40.

And again were having the same problem with oats. We have friends in the area who have the same exact drill or have had it, and we have had them check it out a couple of times, recently as yesterday, and they all say everything looks correct from the sprockets to the chains, to the settings by the chart/book per the seed in the bag and bushel per acre were planting. And even after testing in the driveway 2 different times it looked good. Looked a little spotty but good as can be.

And even then once in the field, we put in exactly enough seed to plant 2 acres, and then drilled the 2 acres and it wasn't even close to being all drilled, not only that I opened it up even further from I think 24 to 32 and still couldn't come close to running the seed out.

So after that I put in a few more bags to test on 2 acres, and this time instead of 24 (I think), and instead of 32, I went to 36, and still it hardly went through the seed.

I do notice that when drill is planting in a low spot or where there is a tire track that plenty of seed comes out like its suppose to, or when turning and picking the drill up it comes out like its suppose to, or least it looks thick in those spots.

So with all that said, has anyone gone though this problem or something like it? Or does anyone generally have any idea what might be going wrong?

Wilson, If your drill is planting correctly for soybeans, then I would suspect you have the soybean sprockets on. I have an IH 5100 drill and I know the "soybean specal" drills came with two sets of sprockets, one set for soybeans and one set for other crops like wheat & oats. I don't have the soybean sprockets but I could check tomorrow as to the number of the wheat sprockets. Maybe someone else will know the number of the soybean sprockets. A friend of mine has a 5100 and I know he has to change sprockets when ever he plants soybeans and vice-versa for wheat. Al

Sprockets have been one of the things I wondered might be wrong, we haven't changed the sprocket just because in the book it says "do this do that....with the sprocket that is already on" but even then I think the book may be wrong on something.

We do have the sprocket somewhere for it. It would be the slow speed to fast speed sprocket right?

Wilson, I think the slow speed sprockets are for soybeans. I could measure mine tomorrow and let you know what size or number of teeth. Manual might also have the information. Mine seems to plant wheat & oats pretty close to the settings with the sprockets I am using. Will post tomorrow as to what sprockets I have on mine. Al

I knew exactly what was wrong when you said it took 2 times over the field to drill your wheat.

You are running the soybean sprockets, which run at about 1/2 the speed of regular grain sprockets.

Dad's "new" 510 drill came set up to do soybeans, and the seller told us that we'd either need to change the sprockets or run everything set at double the normal settings.

Either double your settings, or change the sprockets.

Wilson, Looked at my 5100 drill today. I have the 28 tooth sprockets. I then looked in the manual and it said the soybean special drills include a set of 14 tooth soybean sprockets and a soybean seed chart. So you need to count the teeth on your sprockets and put on the 28 tooth sprockets to plant wheat and/or oats. Hope this helps. I am sure this will fix your problem. Al