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Humeston, IA | I am considering going to 20" rows for corn and soybeans. I currently have a nice, rebuilt JD 7000 12R30 with a Jamison drive and custom-built transmissions. My thoughts are to find a similar aged JD 7000 8R30, perform any repairs/maintenance as necessary, turn the lift wheels around to the front (remove the fertilizer bar if it exists), and swap the row units and transmission system. I may consider keeping the row units and adding (4) more if they are in good condition, too.
Anyone try this, and if so, is it a worthwhile project? Not looking to debate the merits of 20" vs 30" agronomics, just wondering about the mechanical feasibility.
I just returned from a trip to Brazil where corn and soy are planted on 45-50 cm rows (17-20 inches) and narrow row corn heads are common there.
Thanks! |
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MO | Not a big deal, but I think you would have to add quite abit of weight to the frame to have any kind of down pressure. On my 8 row I added a few weights because of this. |
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North West IA/western AZ | I did it with an 8 row wide. That way the wheels were in the right place. |
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nw MN | I have thought about that too. I wanted to plant on 22" rows here, for the potential yield increase, but the only affordable 22" planters around here are 3point. I wanted a drawn planter, so I ended up with a non folding 12r30 7000. One thing I noticed is that the hitch is very light with the seed boxes full, If all of the lift wheels moved to the front it would definitely have negative tongue weight. I kicked around a lot of ideas, from adding a second toolbar to the rear of the planter, to adding a 3point hitch so I can mount a 7100 like an interplant. Both those options would mess up weight distribution too, so the rear toolbar or planter may need a lift assist or something? And after all that it would be a huge PITA to fill seed boxes. Maybe the best option might be to get Kinze "push" units for the front of your planter. |
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Owings, Maryland 38.6856 N 76.6752 W | Perhaps it would be simpler to add somewhat of a splitter,, at least for some of the rows around lift wheels and transmissions. I am not a big fan of negative tongue weight. I am a fan of Deere equipment and I believe that some other brands maybe more effective achieving the 20" pattern.... |
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Central Wisconsin | The only problem you will have is the wheels lifting too high and go over center if you are in soft ground. If you try to limit the travel with chain or a hydralic stop you loose the sync feature of the rams at full lift. Not a real big issue but it is something you will give you problems at some point. |
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Ontario Canada | Not exaclty the same but i built my own planter frame after being dissapointed with a white 6606 i bought. The frame wasnt heavy enough for the no till we do. The white 6600 has the lift wheels mounted on one bar, then another bar behind it for the row units, in this case it was 12 rows on 15". I couldnt get enough weight transferred back to the rear bar to penetrate the soil. I buit my own planter frame using a 7x7" bar with kinze markers and an extended kinze tounge bolted to the bar. I also used the white planters lift wheels facing forward ahead of the bar and had 12 row units on 15" mounted behind it. I thought this would work fine until i hooked it up and filled it with seed. it almost lifted the back end of the 7330 that was pulling it. I struggled with it most of the planting season and had enough of it. It bounced like crazy going down the road, and the exsessive neg. tounge weight made it a pain to lift and turn at the end of the row. Long story short i took the tounge off, welded some 3pt. brakets onto the bar and added a full rack of weights to the front of the tractor. Its within 1000 lbs of the 3pt. lift capacity when loaded but its much easier to plant with and transport. Here is a pic of the unfinished planter frame. I had a pic of the completed planter but cannot find it |
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Ontario Canada | pics again |
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Hamilton, OH/ Browning, MO | 3 years ago I did exactly what you're talking about doing. I decided to switch to 20's and had just bought a 7000 12-30 front fold w/ liquid. I had built a couple splitter bean planters over the last few years so I had plenty of extra row units and framework. We put 18 row units on to stay at the 30' width. When it came to the middle section, I added another 7x7 toolbar to attach the units to. I U-bolted 4- 5x7 pieces that was 42"long. This was the only way to get those center rows back away from the 4 lift wheels. Also I moved the wheels so they were the right distance apart. One the wings I moved the lift wheel out to the end of the toolbar, similiar to Kinzie planters. I think I had to add 21" to the end of each bar for the wheel bracket, and markers to fit. I'm not sure if this makes sense or not. I regret not taking any pictures as we were building it, but I could get some now if it would help. So I have don't have all of the rows in a single line. The middle 8 are set back 42" from each wing. We were planing on building another one this winter for beans, but it didn't happen, but I'd change a few things. The 7000 frame isn't heavy enough for one. It works just fine, but I'm carefull of bumps when on the road to keep from things bouncing. Also, I changed the drive over to the Jamison top drive also. I'd do that regardless of making it 20" or not. I wouldn't go with the wheels out front and the units behind because of the negative toungue weight. BTDT. My email is good if I can help you on how else I did mine. |
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Owings, Maryland 38.6856 N 76.6752 W | HUH ????
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So Illinois | heres a 24 20" from a 7000 16 row wide
Edited by maninblack 3/9/2013 20:53
 (P6090051.jpg)
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 P6090051.jpg (55KB - 611 downloads)
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north west ohio | starting this project this upcoming week taking my 8row 30 and making a 10row 20 out of it. it will also be narrow to tranport down the road. i am adding a 7x7 bar behind and hanging all the row units off the back bar. will post pics as i progress with it |
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IA | Here is a video of our 16-30" JD 7000 that was converted to a 24-20".
http://youtu.be/1jK1VTHViPg
Let me know if you have questions.
We haven't used it in two years now so I'm planing on selling it. |
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New London, Wisconsin | I did this two years ago with an 8-36 front fold JD7200 planter I bought just for this conversion. I did have a few head scratching moments, but most of it is a straight forward parts changing swap. My hitch is the long one, you'll want that, and it does still give some negative hitch weight when the planter is raised or lowered. That has not been a problem, but do use a pin you can't possibly lose while planting. The transmission I had originally hoped to move to the front, but decided to just live with it where it was. All my row units are on the back of the main frame. On my two center rows, I cheated and they are about 21.5 inch spacing to accommodate the transmission width. Starfire brings up a good point about the forward position of the wheels being able to "overcenter" What he means is if you have it raised and stub a wheel on a stone or other obstacle it can hyper extend and go right under the center of the planter frame and not come back on it's own. This is not as bad as it sounds. Nothing breaks, but the planter won't go back down until you back up and those wheels go back where they belong. I've played with the position holes on the cylinders but may still need a stop of some sort. A flexible 1/4" cable of the correct length may be just the ticket. I have been pleased with it so far. As with anything getting this much modification, you are going to run into a few snags. Overall I'd do it again. It was a lot more work than I first thought, but still worth it. One final note is that I presume you will recondition your row units before you put them at 20 inches. It's just a lot easier that way. I had some pictures, but I think they are in a phone that went to the bottom of a lake. Good luck and let me know if you have more questions. |
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Humeston, IA | <p>Thanks folks! I'm beginning to think that having a second bar behind the main one to mount the units to might be a better idea instead of moving the wheels around. This way, I could add fertilizer tanks or boxes to the front bar if so desired. Yes, I would recondition the units BEFORE moving to narrow rows - probably remove them and go through them individually. The Jamison drives or hydraulic drives would work well in this situation, too. Bob</p>
Edited by bgunzy 3/10/2013 08:24
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Central Wisconsin | I guess a picture will explain better.
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r119/AllenJ_photos/Img00011_zpsc...
Edited by Starfire 3/10/2013 18:36
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Central Wisconsin | The second bar idea works. But filling the planter is a pain then and you will also add weight that you may or may not want |
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Almont MI | I built my 12-20 from an old Kinzie DF . I have found that I needed to add weight to this planter in tough no-till conditions. I am able to lift the planter transport wheels off the ground during planting, so I loaded the tires with chloride. This frame set-up really lends its self to row spacing changes. The planter started life as a 6 - 36" that someone added 5 units to make 11-18"s. I changed it to 11-20's 3 years ago, and this winter I added 1 row for the twelve row.
 (Spring 11 planting 01.jpg)
 (223.jpg)
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Spring 11 planting 01.jpg (85KB - 615 downloads)
223.jpg (69KB - 609 downloads)
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Building a 20" planter from a JD 7000
