My new planter

Here are some pics of my john deere 1240 plateless planter I just bought. It seems to be in very good shape for its age. Previous owner just went through the units last year and only has about 8 acres. I will be using it on 3 acres so I think it will work ok. Is there anyting I should know about this planter? Are the planting units easy to work on? Thanks

Looks to be in good condition. Those units are rather complicated but usually work trouble free if kept clean and dry. Look them over and spin by hand to see if all the fingers move like they should. You will see how they work once you watch one spin.

Three acres aren't going to fill those bins in the background though.LOL

Gary

Locating a manual will make it easy to work on.

I have a 1240 plateless and the big thing with them is keeping them cleaned out when your done . Each row unit has a stainless steel ware band that goes around the alum. housing on the inside and you must clean the area under that ware strip so no crosin builds up as if it does the golf clubs as i call them will start to hit and if they catch it will wipe out everything. also keeping proper tension on the rotating finger -golf clubs is important . There was a special tool that came with the planter to set this with , but like most old equipment it was lost to time. Myself i used and inch pound torque wrench to set mine up but for the life of me at this moment i don't remember what i set it at but i used my little inch pound one that i used to set the big cam Cummings injectors . Each year BEFORE planting i would go and take the covers off the finger pickups and make sure that they were clean and everything turned and check the planter over , then go do the planting . When done i would take it all apart and clean and spray diesel fuel in the covers and put it back together . IF mine would have had the disc openers rather then just the shoes we would still be usen it but for it to do the best job ya have to have the ground worked up really good with no clods and that takes more fuel and time. We could pull that planter with anything from my Supre H on up thru the 1066 not like the 7000 No Till that we had to replace the relief valves on two of the tractors to lift the darn thing.

Well Just have to tell this on myself.. Had been using a wore out planter and got a chance to buy one of those not long after they came out. Man had left fertlize in the hoppers and was a mess. Young me took the hopper screws out and really did a good job cleaning things out. Put it back together and headed to field. loaded it with 300lb to the side and started planting. Dumb me had put the screws back in exactly reverse. Everthing was screwed to the center instead of out. After dipping the bins clean and reassembly things worked well. Before I quit using that [planter I could pull a unit and take it apart in the dark. As other said keep it clean and use graphite. we actually planted as speeds up to and around 6 mph with good results. I would say for three acres you won,t get into the flipflop markers and somer issues but over all you should be tickled if you keep it clean.

Thanks guys. I have a manual and will read it. I plan on pulling it with a farmall H. I will have to install a hyd valve to run the 2 way cylinder.

maybe i'm missing something...gravity down is all you need isn't it?

neighbor had one for many years. the biggest problem he had was once in a while, a rock would kick up and break the aluminum housing that holds the corn seed. it doesn't take long to dump a bushel when that happens.

You do not need a 2 way cylinder, just a large enough cylinder to lift the weight with that low presure hydrolick system.

(quoted from post at 17:50:33 10/29/12) You do not need a 2 way cylinder, just a large enough cylinder to lift the weight with that low presure hydrolick system.

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How will the marker system work with a one way cylinder???

when you lower the planter the marker will go down. when you raise the planter it will go up. they switch when you turn at the end rows.

chain, pulleys and springs.... running from markers to the mounting on tractor drawbar. your manual should cover it all. i have exp with the 1250's and liked them despite their color.

Your talking a 6 inch pound T handle torque wrench right? We had a 1240 plateless for corn and still have a 1250 plateless we used it for beans but it just sits in the shed now. They are a great planter