Sorry about that - we had a change in plans since that email and some equipment additions to our shop.

Due to demand ( and Joe's convincing me) we now also offer a ball bearing version, the 1302, which is the same wheel casting as the rest of our Curvetine XR's but machined with a ball bearing hub to fit the JD7200/7300 tailpiece's welded in stud and the JD 7000/older Kinze with the original waterpump type tailpieces. The 7000's require our stud kit also.

Any toothed type closing wheel is tougher on bearings than a smooth rubber wheel due to the intermittent ground contact of the teeth compared to the relatively smooth continuous rolling of a rubber tire.

We/I still prefer the Timken tapered roller bearings but there is no way to put them on  these two std tailpieces. The 1302 has a spread, non sealed ball bearing arrangement that is NOT pre sealed but uses our same CR triple lip seal and nylon ring arrangement and regreaseable Supercap.

By the way, due in part to the increase in in-furrow pop-up fertilizer use we are now recommending that the zerk be left in the Curvetines (but NOT in Trashwheels nor coulters).  We suggest that you give the Curvetines a shot or two of grease every couple days to purge fertilizer and dirt from the seal. All of our products use a purging type triple lip seal - you CAN push grease past this type seal without hurting it - in fact it helps seal life. This is very different from a U-cup type seal which can be damaged by over greasing.

To repeat - it is recommended to grease Curvetine hubs every couple days especially when fertilizer is being used.

I also feel the Timken bearing model 1201 or 1301 Curvetines should be used wherever possible. Planting time is too valuable. The tapered roller bearing is best running at an angle as closing wheels do. I am sorry I did not remember to inform you of the change since that email. Most of those older tailpieces do need changing however due to wear.

Regards,

 Jim at Dawn

I'll add a picture of one per row, two per row and the action of the Curvetine as it exits the soil more vertically.

(Dawn Curvetine XR IMG_0492.jpg)

(Dawn Curvetine XR two per row on JD XP tailpiece.jpg)

(Dawn Curvetine in action no till corn on corn WI dscn0260_small.JPG)

Dawn Curvetine XR IMG_0492.jpg (36KB - 586 downloads)

Dawn Curvetine XR two per row on JD XP tailpiece.jpg (41KB - 589 downloads)

Dawn Curvetine in action no till corn on corn WI dscn0260_small.JPG (84KB - 580 downloads)