My first no-till planter... Which model?

There are a couple JD 7000s in my local paper that fit my budget. One of the ads says,"Has meter no plates". Were there plate-type 7000s? If so, are they the same plates as my 1250? There is also an A-C 333 six-row for $2500. How is the parts availability for those? Thanks, Fritz

My vote is for 7000 with meters.

Get the 7000 you can't go wrong.Most of the part to rebuild can be gotten at Shoup. Meters are plateless finger pickup planters

The AC is not a good no till planter!

Parts availability is very good on JD 7000 planters and the corn finger meter system works very well with proper maintenance. The AC can be made to work but part availability most likely will be a greater issue. One more positive for the JD is depth control wheels at the seed drop point which I believe was never an option for the AC 333. Bean meter assemblies can be ordered for the 7000 planter as well. The AC plate or air? If air you need to have ample battery capacity along with a high output alternator on the tractor.

My vote is Great Plains..

7000 with meters.

Although, they are kinda light for notill, you can get there from here.

They did make 7000 plate, very rare in the north, I hear more common in the south. But, meters are the way to go.

Paul

When they first came out the AC planter compared the the White. They both would out plant Deere and IHC in no till operations. Been there seen it in many test plots in the 70's, and they still have a pretty good parts system. But their technoledgy is now out dated. If those are the only 2 options you have the Deere is the way to go.

Yes wheels beside the discs were an option. But I also vote for the JD. We have a Kinze. New Idea. Some of those planters have been heavily modified. Heavy parallel linkage. Trash wheels, no-till cutters. Spider closing wheels. Keeton seed firmers. Even air hold springs. Precision seed meters. We managed to find one with all this.

Just as an FYI plate-style 7000's are the only kind I've seen here in central Kansas. The bean cups that are part of the finger pickup meters are incapable of planting sorghum at low enough seeding rates for this area. By the time corn and beans started being grown in quantity here the vacuum and air systems had taken over.

Depending on your budget and your tractor size, my vote is for a black machine with kinze units. It's heavy and will get a good stand in heavy trash. I have 1. You will need to pull it with at least a jd 4430 or similar due to it's light on the tongue.

Skip the nothrill and work the ground slightly even.

I hate to tell you this but it was AC that pioneered no-till. The Allis notill planter is what put notill farming where it is today. The Allis was great untill seed companies started cutting corners on seed grading which made all plate planters less accurate. The 7000 had a much improved seed placement and closing setup than the AC did. You go into the southeast where notill started and there were 100 AC notill planters to every one of the other brands untill the 7000 Deere came out. Tom

I've got a 333 4 row with air units. I didn't give near that much for it though. Great planter. Bearings,fan motors,things like that are available from AGCO alright. Those pads behind the seed discs were available last time I needed them,but I paid through the nose for them.

I grew up with AC planters as Dad had several 600's and some 333's as well. The AC did a good job untill the seed companies started cutting corners on grading seed. You will never need a lot of parts for the Allis as they are simple planters. I went from AC to Deere because I liked the accuracy of the finger meters and the Deere has better depth control and better closing. The 7000 has the best parts support of any planter ever built. Go to Shoup Manufacturing and look at their catalog. I use a 7200 standard frame planter for notill and get along fine.I also run yetter combiniation row cleaners and notill coulters. I have heavy duty down pressure springs and for closing wheels run one cast iron wheel and one spike wheel. In my opinion you will not be disappointed in a 7000 but you will need to equip it with options for your conditions. Yes there was a 7000 planter that used plates. I have had a time or two where the Deere would not go in the ground. This was feilds that had rye chopped off for silage when the ground was to wet and had compaction problems that then dried out and got hard. If you budget allows and you can find one the conservation 7000 and 7200 planters are better but when on a budget or with smaller acres the standard frame planters will notill. Tom

I?d say if the allis has gauge wheels at the seed drops it?d do fine for no till planting. I run a deutz allis 385 which is basically a updated allis chalmers, it works great in no till. That said if it?s a trailing depth control stay away I used to run a IH 400 cycle as a no till machine and nowhere near as good. You should check with Randy in Maibach?s parts department about what parts they can get yet but also if it?s a late enough design like my deutz parts can be had through Polen?s as they are the Landoll dealer and Landoll ultimately bought the design for the deutz allis 385 planters and made it as the Landoll 4400. I don?t have any experience with the Deere 7000 but there?s quite a few out there.
Dave

I?d say if the allis has gauge wheels at the seed drops it?d do fine for no till planting. I run a deutz allis 385 which is basically a updated allis chalmers, it works great in no till. That said if it?s a trailing depth control stay away I used to run a IH 400 cycle as a no till machine and nowhere near as good. You should check with Randy in Maibach?s parts department about what parts they can get yet but also if it?s a late enough design like my deutz parts can be had through Polen?s as they are the Landoll dealer and Landoll ultimately bought the design for the deutz allis 385 planters and made it as the Landoll 4400. I don?t have any experience with the Deere 7000 but there?s quite a few out there.
Dave