Anyone an expert on John Deere 7100 series planters?

I am using a friends planter and had a few questions on using this particular one.

First question- how hard is it to change out the seed plates? I ordered the correct ones with spacers from Lincoln ag. I assume you just remove the flat head screw in the pic below and it comes out? any springs or anything that have to be set?

second question- anyone seen a hydraulic motor instead of a wheel driven one before?

third- when setting the planting depth how deep is each notch on the back?

Park it on a flat surface and slide a block equal to the depth you want to plant under the depth wheels to get the depth you want to plant then adjust the depth handle so it won't go any deeper. I've seen the hydraulic motors but know nothing about them. Pull the hopper off to access the seed plates.

I've seen the hydraulics on old research plot planters

I am assuming:

You'll need your tractor manual, to tell you in what gear and at what rpm, what your ground speed will be.

Your buddy should have a manual for the hydraulic motor, that says "at this setting, it equates to "x" mph". You need to match both your tractor to the speed of the hydraulic motor drive shaft. Is there a control unit that goes up with you on the tractor? Or is there just a knob on the motor at the planter?

If the hydraulic motor (drive shaft) turns faster than the ground speed of the tractor, you'll drop more seed than you need to. If it doesn't turn fast enough, you won't drop enough.

If he has nothing, then just do some trial an error, keeping your tractor speed the same (at a comfortable speed) and vary the speed on the motor. (I am assuming there's a speed control valve on the motor).

Run it on hard dry ground for 25 feet, not penetrating the ground and see how much seed you've dropped and it's spacing. Also have someone watch the rotation of the drive shaft, on the planter in relation to your ground speed, to see if you need to speed the motor up or slow it down.

Once you're comfortable with it, make a permanent mark on his unit ...... and cuss at him.

If it is a KS Farms unit, here is a link to the drives page:

http://www.plotplanters.com/wheel_drives_and_hydraulic_drives.html


But like Canuck5 said, it has to be adjusted based on your drive speed. Surely your friend you borrowed it from could help you with setting it up? What were they planting with it & what do you plan to plant?

Forest Grump said:

If it is a KS Farms unit, here is a link to the drives page:

http://www.plotplanters.com/wheel_drives_and_hydraulic_drives.html


But like Canuck5 said, it has to be adjusted based on your drive speed. Surely your friend you borrowed it from could help you with setting it up? What were they planting with it & what do you plan to plant?

Click to expand...

They were planting corn with it and I am planting sunflowers

Do like Canuck said or drive your tractor at a comfortable speed for 100' and use a stopwatch to check the time it took you to travel that distance. Then you can put a bucket under your planter and turn the hydraulic motor on for the same time it took you to travel the 100' and count your seeds and divide to find your seed spacing.