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Belzoni, Mississippi | I know of an old planter that is missing the vacuum and I was wondering if I converted the planter to use Precision finger pickups, would i have to change the hoppers out of would the new setup bolt to the bottom of the hopper? If you have to change, do you have to buy the plateless john deere hoppers? John deere offers three hoppers, plate, plateless, and vacuum. Thoughts please!! |
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nw illinois | Do a dealer locate on Precision Planting's website. If one is close they should be able to help you. Otherwise call Precision Planting at 309.925.5050.
http://www.precisionplanting.com/locate-dealers/ |
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West Union, Illinois | If it is missing the vac, what else is missing or in poor repair? Bearings OK in the press wheels, gauge wheels, transport wheels, driveshaft, and transmission? Hoses in good condition? Seed tubes need replaced? Drive chains dried, rusted, inflexible and kinked? You can put SO much money in this thing so quickly it will make your head spin. OK, enough lecture from an old guy. Back to the question. I am far from an expert, but I seem to recall hearing it requires different boxes. I don't know if the drive is the same or not. Or the gearing. But I have been told the boxes were different. edit: In looking at the 1770 parts book (I have it bookmarked) I find the hoppers for a 1770 are different if finger or vac 
| 2 | AA38776 | HOPPER | 1 |
| PLATELESS |
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| AA37995 | HOPPER | 1 |
| VACUUM |
2nd edit: Looking at other pages in the parts book I find things like this: | | 3 | ........ | DRIVE SPROCKET | 1 |
| (ORDER AA36888) 13- AND 19-TOOTH COMBINATION; FOR FINGER PICKUP UNIT | | |
| ........ | DRIVE SPROCKET | 1 |
| (ORDER AA49877) 28- AND 28-TOOTH COMBINATION; FOR VACUUM UNIT | | | 4 | AA34134 | BALL BEARING | 2 |
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| | | 5 | AA36888 | DRIVE SPROCKET | 1 |
| 13-TOOTH, FOR FINGER PICKUP UNIT | | |
| AA49877 | CHAIN SPROCKET | 1 |
| 28-TOOTH, FOR VACUUM UNIT |
And that is just at first glance, with looking very deep or very hard. I'd say the conversion is doable, but not worth it.
Edited by Mike SE IL 1/25/2010 19:35
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Aberdeen, Mississippi 39730 | You will have to change the boxes and the drive connections. Finger pickups have a mechanlism that bolts on the left hand side of each unit just under the seed box which the drive chain runs on. It also allows you to disconnect the drive gear from the finger side, so you can remove the hopper. |
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Callao Missouri | Youngfarmer with all due respect I would question the sanity of anyone going from a vacuum backward in technology 35 years to a high maintenance finger pickup. I guess this is coming from a cylco believers but I would not be satisfied with the constant tinkering and high repair cost of the finger pickup unit. Jon |
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Walnut Grove MN USA | Don't do it. Replace the vac stuff and put esets in it. I went from a 7200 with esets to a Kinze with PP finger units. Like everything about the Kinze but wish I had the esets back. |
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Eastern VA. No such thing as too many Magnums. | Finger pickup is considered plateless. Plate, plateless, and vac all had their own hopper design. They also had different drive engagement. What you're talking about is just NOT worth the effort. A vac planter is the way to go. It would be cheaper and better to replace the vacuum fan parts and put esets in. All the conversions is going to cost more than finding a good planter ready to go. You seem pretty set on finger pickup, so why not just look for a Deere 7100 or Kinze instead of a 7300? |
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Belzoni, Mississippi | I guess im kinda looking for a cheap fixer upper or a project. I got a $3,500 budget for a decent corn planter. After reading all these post about the finger pickup, I do feel like im spending 25 cents to save a dime. Are even the new finger pickups that bad? Dont Great Planes twin row drills use them? |
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Eastern VA. No such thing as too many Magnums. | There's nothing wrong with a finger pickup, I just don't think you want to spend that much money to get one. That was why I suggested a 7100. A 7100 is the same thing as a 7300, just a little older. Most of them had finger pickup, but plate was available on that model too. I bought a junky 7300 at an auction for $2500. I put about another 2 grand in it, and it works great. If you're not in a hurry, what you're looking for can be found. |
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southern Illinois | There's nothing wrong with finger pickup if well maintained. Drive speed at high pops has to be slowed down but they will plant picket fence stands. Seems every one here with vac planter had to do something to them to make them plant like e sets . Finger pickup may not be the best but they are good. JMO |
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Grandfield, Ok. | Young Farmer 09 I have a 7100 ,8x40 with good JD marker , 3pt for $600 in so so condition that I took on a rock trade. Email in profile |
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Leesburg, Ohio | Nothing at all wrong with a finger pickup (although I like the vac better). But the point here is that it will probably be ALOT more costly to do the conversion than to just replace the missing vac fan. |
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| 7100 is the three point 7000. Same row units. I believe 7300 is the three point 7200. So the 7300 isn't quite the same as a 7100 in row unit detail, but only in hitch detail.
Gerald J. |
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West Union, Illinois | I prefer a vac, but a good finger planter with the right seed operated correctly will match any vac out there. It just takes more effort and maintenance. A few years ago the company we were growing seed for did a bunch of checking spacing. You measured the distance between every plant and entered it in a spreadsheet. It was a real hassle, but it gave a calculation showing how accurate your drop was. (This was when we decided to replace our Cyclo) Just for kicks we checked a neighbor's field planted with a Kinze finger planter. It was as good as anything out there and better than a lot. Nothing wrong with a finger unit. But what you are proposing is an error in judgment. edit: I've been thinking about this. If you can get it home I'll sell you an 8 row 30" 400 cyclo planter for $1000 that will work. I'll include all the drums I have and any spare parts we can find in the parts room or stored in the loft. It won't be picket fence stands, but it has planted a lot of corn. If you are interested do a Mapquest from where you are to ZIP code 62477 and drop me an email. If I can find any photos I'll come back and attach them.
Edited by Mike SE IL 1/25/2010 23:31
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 Image119.jpg (25KB - 726 downloads)
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Belzoni, Mississippi | Just wanted to say thanks Mike for the suggestion. Im thinking I might go with the new Eset system. But if all fails i will keep you in mind!! The Esets are about $120 a row while the new finger pickup is $175. If it is cheaper to go with the Esets and get close to 100% then im might be half crazy not to!! |
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Kansas City area | How old is the planter? If it is not all the way back to MaxEmerge, you could go with the John Deere 40 hole flat plates and put the newer style hubs and double eliminator in for far less money than the Eset. |
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Humeston, IA | You'll want to check the serial number on the planter and box style before ordering E-Sets: Certain older 72/7300's had a different style box than the newer units, and E-Sets will not work on them. Just verify with your Precision Planting dealer what you have before ordering anything and possibly being disappointed. Good luck! |
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Converting a John Deere Vacuum to finger pickup
