Follow up on my Father's Day adventure

I prettied up the electric box and all the wiring this morning. I then went an got my brother's trim break so I could re-trim the door post and frame. So by noon I had the shed back to 100%.

I got the planter unfolded and checked it over real close. I found that I had only broken the transport bracket/support. Nothing else was wrong on the left wing. Kalsem at Waterloo had a used one for $400 shipped to me. So I will have that to do midweek.

Found out the RIGHT wing has a large bow to it front to back. Plus one of the lift wheel modules is bent. This got me to looking at the whole planter closer. The bracket that broke was half way cracked. Something was not right.

I had noticed that the planter was working real fast even with the tractor at a dead idle. I thought it was just the higher flow on the JD 8210. I did set the flow rate down on the fold/lift SVC and things worked better but still too fast/jerky. So I kept digging to see what was going on.

I have not planted with this planter for the last two years. The boys bought a GPS system with the row shut offs and a bunch of other electronic stuff for the planter. I HATE trying to use it now. The cab looks like a B1 bomber cabin. LOL

So I took the planter out into a flat spot in the pasture and just fake planted a few rounds to see how it lifted and handled. I put the SCV flow rate back to where it had been. The darn planter about jumped up in the air when you lift it on the ends with the tractor at higher engine speeds. Then when you fold it at any engine speed but dead idle it slams the wings into the center frame and supports. I do mean slams them.

I found a new hydraulic hose on the supply side of the lift/fold circuit. I asked my middle son to stop over this afternoon as he usually ran this planter. He stopped by and we looked at the planter. He told me that the hose had blown out in the first field they planted this year. He said that they replaced it but that the planter was real fast after that but HE liked it that way as he could cycle faster on the head lands. Never mind that the lift is not made to cycle that fast.

The original hose had an adapter fitting on the end of it. When they had the new hose made they removed the adaptor fitting. This adaptor fitting was there because it had an orifice in it to limit the speed of the lift and fold. HE had thrown it into the SCRAPE IRON PILE.

So he got to sped this evening helping me straighten the right wing frame and removing the lift wheel module. He gets to drive out to Waterloo to pick up the bracket that broke and a STRAIGHT lift wheel frame module.

This letting the boys farm by themselves more, is a lot harder some days than others. LOL

So I am not the only one with egg on my face in this deal.

JD,

It is nice you are telling us about it. I would never think about the orifice on the 7200 if we blew a hose.

read your post sun. & mon. you said you had unloaders? in uprights? what kind of operation do you & your sons have? any photos, how many acres,location. just like reading about other peoples farms thanks Kenny from sc.

JD, Remember you were young once. You had to learn about all this stuff. Let them know when they have done something good. Its when they get into their 30's that they realize that dad is smarter than they thought. Remember your job is to guide them to the right answers. The bright side of this is your son and you found the problems with the planter and are able to get it fixed before they need it in the spring. David

David, If you have a JD 7200 front fold planter it may not have an orifice. It was something that the JD territory service manager came up with when the JD 8000 series tractors first came out. Guys where breaking things on the larger planters with the higher hydraulic flow rates that the JD 8000s have. It is just a fail safe so you are limited to a safe cycle time on some hydraulic functions regardless of the tractor SCV flow setting.

I just routinely put them on all the planters I did serious work on.

This planter was on a magnum before, and is on 4020 now.

Your planter adventure is not as bad as the one a neighbor of mine had this year. He has a new Deere 16 row inter-plant central commodity planter, not sure of the model number. He had just finished planting a field and backed his brand new pickup up to the back catwalk and loaded a pallet of seed into the hopper. He then did some greasing and maintenance on the planter. Then he jumped into the tractor and pushed the foldup buttons forgetting when those Deere planters fold they move back. He was concentrating on resetting his GPS for the next field and didn't notice the tractor moving ahead. The catwalk pushed his tailgate level with the rear wheels on the truck and did quite a bit of damage to the catwalk on the planter. Very costly planting season for him!