Taking Care of Your Planter

It is that time of the year again! The air begins to warm up, the wilds are filled with fresh scents, and planters are being seen rolling in the fields. The planters, especially, are awesome machines. They are created considering a lot of things — the topography of your land, the crop you grow, the size of your operation and your budget.

But it is a machine nonetheless and it requires careful inspection in order to make it work right. Especially if you got a faulty cultivator gauge wheel, you have a lot of trouble. That is why you better check your planter thoroughly for issues, to make sure it performs at peak efficiency when you need it most.

• Opening Disks

The opening disks are one of the most important parts of a planter because it creates the seed trench. The primary part of the row-unit has to make sure the trenches are perfect to make sure the seed placement is also perfect.

• Wear and Tear

The main issue with opening disks that happens often is wear and tear. Generally, a seed disk is 15 inches in diameter when new. This gets worn smaller, millimetre by millimetre. As soon as it gets down to 14.5 inches in diameters, you must replace it.

• Shimming

This is done to make sure the trenches are done in proper depth and not too much pressure is felt by the machine. Pick out the area of the blade which comes into contact with the ground, about 1.5 to 2 inches. Slide a business card from the top, and slide another one in from the bottom — leaving a gap of about two inches in between them.

This process is very important since the blade needs to be aligned perfectly. If it isn’t going deep enough, the trench dug by the blade will look like a W instead of a V — so the seed won’t fall to the bottom of the trench. On the other hand, if you make it too tight, the trench will be dug fine, but the ball bearings on the machine will be subjected to a huge side load — which may cause premature failure. Therefore, perfect shimming of your digging blades is necessary to make the perfect trench without breaking down the machine.

• Gauge Wheels

The cultivator gauge wheels are also very important since they control the manner in which the trench will be dug. Make sure you adjust the gauge wheel every time you work on the opening disks. There should be very slight contact between the two when pulled apart.

This is important since a loose gauge wheel causes dirt and mud into the machine, and a too-tight wheel will cause the machine to rudely plough the ground instead of making a nice, even trench.

Get a Quote

If you find long-lasting tires for your planting, then contact 4AG Manufacturing. They can provide both cultivator gauge wheels and closing wheels.