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KY | It is that time of year again, I am wrestling with spending $$ on my planter for primarily row shutoff. I have a 3600 12/23 box type planter in excellent shape for its age, but it is pretty much stock. KPM 2 and all my fields are odd shaped so overlap is a big problem with only manual half width shut-off. For guidance I run a FM750 autosteer on WAAS. I am satisfied with the accuracy of the autosteer, last year it was off maybe 6-8 inches on some passes, most of the time it was right on. My options so far- range from spending 12-15 K by adding 20/20 Gen2 with air clutches...17-18K with ag leader electric clutches or spending up to 45K and putting in Precision Vacuum meters with electric VDrive. I am liking the idea of the electric drive and being able to variable rate and eliminate the chains, hex shaft, and changing sprockets, etc. But the cost is really hard to swallow as this upgrade will essentially be what I paid for the planter. Also, I am not excited about adding the vac fan and hoses.
My main question is for those that have taken the plunge, what is your experience. I want this to be as trouble free as possible, because most of my planting takes place after hours into the night and I don't have a lot of time to deal with mechanical or electronic issues once I get going. I would appreciate your input/ideas. I know this has been discussed before and I have tried to do a lot of research but it can get over my head and confusing really fast. I will be planting 1000-1200 acres this year, about 50/50 corn/beans and my average field size is 20-30 acres. One field that comes to mind has 11 corners. 80% No-till. Also, is the 20/20 easy to start new fields? I know the 750 is not.
 (planter (full).jpg)
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 planter (full).jpg (106KB - 132 downloads)
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Kinze 3600 upgrade
