Air Seeder to Air Drill Project

[wd9]

Has anyone out there built their own packers and required framing mods to convert an floating hitch cultivator style air seeder into an air drill? Good experience or bad? Was it worth it to tackle this project on the farm, or just sell the unit and buy a drill?

[crusher]

We did this and are still modifying. We started with a floating hitch Bourgault and added home made on row packing, using steel packer wheels from an old junked press drill. The spacing was at 8" which is marginal for heavy straw, plus we could only single shoot.

For the next big modification we moved the rear walking beams to the back of the cultivator to free up the space under the frame. We changed to a triple shoot Peacock opener with shank packing, anhydrous and 2/3 dries up on the shank tip, with the seed and 1/3 of the dry fertilizer split in a five inch pattern. Shank spacing is 13.5 inches. We had to scrap the old shank assemblies because they weren't heavy duty enough and proceeded to wreck another old chisel plow.

Long story short, my dad is old school and loves to weld and create obscure seeding tools. He doesn't value his time as much as I do mine - he has put lots of hours into changes over the years. Currently he is bracing up the rear walking beams and the front castors becuase the weight is now at the ends of the seeding tool, not underneath. We've had structural failures!

Our set up will match up against just about anything out there in terms of trash clearance, seeding depth, on row packing and seed to fertilzer separation (though the field finish is rough). The downside is it has zero resale value and the parts department is the scrap heap beside the shop. I'm not sure what your configuration is currently, but if you plan to double shoot, then you better have a heavy trip shank. Tires or rubber packers seem to work better in our area, but if you have lighter soil you might try to double up old steel packers (again if you are going to double shoot). What do you have now, and how do you see the finished product? I'm hoping your planning for 2005.

[wd9]

I have an Ezee-on 5500 with double shoot stealth. The frame is extremely strong as it is only 24' wide but is designed to be up to 52 or 56' wide. The tank is a 160 bushel, with an 'on the go' (wouldn't farm without it) seed treater. On the back for packing is shack mount packers mounted to arms because straw clearance and plugging were an issue when mounted to the shanks. The rockshafts and castors are strong, in the right spot, and are the same as used on the Ezee-on 7500 air drill. Morris uses wheels in frame and drill style packers which would be the identical system for this project.

Really, the only problem is good packing, as everything else - ground following, seed depth, reliability, straw clearance (10" spacing) are all excellent - but I understand the issue of new parts. Changing too much is no good, but if the hardware is good to start with, it sometimes works out Ok.

Thanks for sharing your experience, and yup, it would be for 2005. As we have been zero tilling for quite a few years, it seems the ground is so spongy and loose - almost like rubber foam chips, good packing certainly is becoming an issue to help with drying out and seed to soil contact.

[kstrasky]

what kind of an on the go seed treater
do you have? would it work on a concord
air system i pull two tanks seed in the
tbt and a blend in the back tank use the
farmland edge on with backswept knife
with 11 inch mckay sweep use phoneix rotary harrows on 4th row
its a 4012 concord

[wd9]

It is baseed on the Flexi-coil treater system. I used the flexi's mixing chambers and built the pump which is 4 silicon tubes squished and rotated around by shafts for a 4 channel positive displacement pump. This technique is called peristaltic pumping. While Flexi uses a microprocessor controlled motor to turn the pump and set rate, I use the seed metering shaft and simply run a chain to the pump. Mixing chambers were $360 for four and tank was $100. I saw this project as a fun challenge to build and works extremely well.

Innoculating peas on the go and treating cereals used to be a real pain, now it is a breeze, but especially it is very accurate. Every little wheat seed is perfectly red and uniform, and the rate is right. I vary the water added to match the application rate with the gearing. The best is no treated seed in the tank.

I'd produce pumps for sale, but there is this thing called patents that prevents me. It doesn't stop anyone from making their own though. But, the Flexi unit would work on anyone's air seedeer.

[crusher]

I would like to hear more about your seed treater. I can't quite visualize the pump. Is there somewhere I can go to see a similar style of pump? The silicon tube sounds a little light duty, but I like the mechanical drive idea. I like the theory of treating after seed is in the tank, but didn't want to spend that kind of $$$.

[wd9]

Does anyone know of a website that provides a spot where I could take some pictures and write a quick article on what I did. If there isn't, I could make a website for all to see; (probably after seeding though).

The silicone tubing I used I got from a neighbor who replaced his 'On the Go treater' with new and I mocked up the pump with it. I've used the tubing for 2 years now and feel it is probably the most durable item in the project.