How to change seed cups on a JD 9350 seed drill?

[sarah]

I need to replace one of the seed cups on my drill. Has anyone recently replaced one and can give comments on how to do it. I have the feeling this could be somewhat difficult.

[FarmRanger]

We have one of those, but I haven't used it in a few years, I will go look at ours tomorrow and get back to you..

You are probably right though, we had a JD LLA drill and it involved sliding out the shaft to do anything with those fluted seed cups.

[FarmRanger]

Just had a look at my drill, and it looks like you have to take out every one of those cotter pins and slide that shaft out until you get to the cup you have to change. Looks like a real pain, but that shaft goes through every one of those cups, so there is no way around it. That shaft has to be turned to a certain spot to get those cotter pins out. Then you have to slide it over about 1/4 inch to get the cotter pins on the other side of the cups.

I remember doing this job on a John Deere LLA drill and is a little time consuming. It looks like the 9350 is about the same design.

Have fun ;-)

[sarah]

Thanks for your opinion.....this looks like a huge project. The cotter pins seem to be on an indented surface so there must be a trick to removing them as you say. The other thing we wondered is whether it might be worth disconnecting all of the seed cups from the drill box...maybe then the shaft would drop but I guess we still need to remove the seed cups from the shaft. Glad I'm done seeding....looks like a big off season repair.

[FarmRanger]

I think that shaft has to be pointed so that the cotter pins come out straight down almost. You'll notice that that groove disappears at the bottom, so if the shaft is turned that way, the cotter pins will come right out (after the other end has been squeezed together of course). I don't think I'd disconnect all those seed cups, unless the one you want to replace is right near the end, and even then it might not be easier than just taking out all the cotter pins. How many cups do you have on a drill? The job might not be as bad as you think, those cotter pins should come out fairly easily. Just put a wrench on the end of the shaft and turn it to where you need it to be.

[sarah]

17 cups on each 10'drill section
The one I need to repair is second from the shaft drive end.

[RocksinAlta]

Do you have to replace the seed cup or is it the adjustment gate on the bottom of the cup that is in need of repair? If the ears are broken off the adjustment gate, you can purchase just the gate (do not let your JD dealer tell you that the kit is not available) You have to chisel off the rivets that hold the cup together, replace the gate andthen replace the rivets with kit included bolts. Long double jointed finger are helpful.

[sarah]

RocksinAlta...very interesting to read your comments....it actually is the rivets on the back side of the cup that are broken so the cup is split apart.....maybe I'll check and see if I can replace the rivets where it sits. However I don't see how that could be done on the back rivets. It seems inaccessible.
Today we started taking the end of the drill off but we're running into all kinds of deadends. We may have go the other route and remove 34 some cotter pins instead.

[RocksinAlta]

Rivets are replacable with small bolts; did it with my fat stubby fingers. Might have to remove front rivets to access removal of back rivets. One hour job versus all day removing shaft. Good luck!

[ALLFARMER]

I use a lot of the bolts you buy to replace knife sections. Their small, tuff & come with lock nuts. Replacing rivits with bolts is definately the way to go. On my 9350 the metering wheel & cups don't all line up the same & seeding canola that makes quite a difference. Binvigor might be the answer!

[FarmRanger]

Never done it on a 9350, but on the older drills, you used to have to adjust those cups if you worked on them. You just loosen the bolts, and slide the individual cups over to get the flutes all even, and then you should be able to seed canola quite nicely.