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| Pokey,
I realize your concern with accelerating drill opener wear, but running a cutting coulter or coulter cart ahead of the openers will only make seed placement worse.
You may not have anywhere near enough weight on the drill for going into sod, and probably not enough down-pressure on the openers (the photos appear to show openers not maintaining depth). Many people run with the needle in the red (12 o'clock or 1 o'clock) for tens of thousands of acres without problems. The difference in opener wear is rather minimal, and most of it is on the gauge wheel bearing and rim, which are easily replaced.
From the photos, it also appears that your firming wheels aren't reaching the bottom of the furrow. Seriously consider replacing those wide firming wheels with narrow ones. First choice would be SDX firming wheels. Second choice, Needham V8. Distant third choice, the new JD rigid narrow firming wheel.
Best regards, | |
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Planting wheat with the JD 1590 (pics).
