9 steps for maintaining your planter

Planter maintenance is one of the most important things you can do to set your crops up for success. Variations in ideal spacing and depth can cause a corn yield loss anywhere from 7-25 bushels an acre, according to an AGCO study.

Spending time servicing your planter during the winter will pay off when conditions are right to head to the field. Follow these nine steps to make sure you don't miss an important detail.

Start with a holistic approach

“I always tell operators to start at the hitch pin and work backwards,” says Brad Niensteadt, lead product specialist at Kinze.

Examine all hydraulic lines for abrasion and kinks. Sometimes, worn hoses collapse during planting. This reduces flow to blowers or vacuum motors. Look for abrasion and cracking on hoses that can, among other things, indicate a buildup of heat in a particular location due to a hose restriction. Finish the hydraulic inspection by examining all cylinders to detect leaks.

Check tires for proper inflation. “There is nothing more time consuming than repairing a tire during planting,” says Kevin Kimberley, Successful Farming's Planter Doctor. “Write inflation pressures on rims, so that there is no doubt as to their air needs during the season. Check inflation daily, as it makes a difference in down pressure.”

Inspect electrical lines for bare wiring and places where the wiring folds and runs to each row. If your planter has an onboard air compressor, perform necessary services, including changing oil with the manufacturer’s recommended type. Drain water from tanks, if equipped.

Mind the seed meter

Regardless of meter type, completely disassemble each meter, cleaning all parts and inspecting for wear. Kimberley notes that you will likely have to use a spray surface solvent. “Simple soap and water often isn’t adequate,” he says. “If you don’t remove buildup, it gets progressively worse, plugging holes in meters or impacting the ability of seals to maintain contact.”

A mixture of 80-20 talc-graphite additive makes meters run smoother and helps minimize buildup. This ratio is especially important in high-speed planters, says Hartz.

After cleaning, examine all the working parts of the meter for wear and tear, using the owner’s manual as a guide.

When it comes to finger pickup-style meters, Kimberley each year automatically replaces certain parts such as brushes, belts, and their idlers. “During your examination,” he says, “look for a warped baffle or elevator housing wear and determine if they need to be replaced. Buff away any and all rust that may have developed on metal surfaces, and spray with slip plate or graphite.”

Pay particular attention to the meter’s faceplate, looking for wear. Replace the plates when the wear is into the second layer of metal to prevent overplanting. “If I replace the plate, I normally also replace the finger pickups at the same time,” Kimberley adds.

Check the seed conveyor belts for worn paddles or cracks. “You want the belts to be pliable,” Kimberley says. “And check their drive holes to see if they have elongated from working with the pulley.”

With pneumatic meters, the most challenging issue is removing seed treatment from plastic parts, as “it adheres to plastic like glue,” Kimberley says.

Meter components that require particular attention for wear include:

• Seals, which are critical to maintain accurate vacuum
• Meter disks
• Brushes
• Lids and housing

Check the disk openers

Sharp disk opener blades provide additional even depth control, and thus more even emergence. Change disk opener blades when they wear down to 14.5 inches in diameter. (Most disk diameters start at 15 inches.) Niensteadt recommends replacing the disk opener blades and the inner scraper as a set anytime one of the components needs replacing.

When removing shims to adjust spacing, replace them on the outside of the shaft, so you can easily find them later if you need to add them back.

Check your owner’s manual for the proper distance between disk openers. Finally, measure the length of where the double disks touch each other at their leading edges. The two disks should contact 1¾ to 2¼ inches at their leading edges. Hartz shares this pro tip: Use a small sheet of paper or a business card to mark spacing between disks to check their wear. Keep in mind that disks on planters with hydraulic downforce tend to wear out faster.

Inspect depth gauge wheels

With the planter in transport position, grab depth gauge wheels and turn them to check for “operating slop, indicating worn eccentric bearings,” Kimberley advises. More than a quarter inch of free play means it’s time to replace the arm, according to Niensteadt. Gauge wheel arms with bearings give you a more even down pressure per row.

“Loose gauge wheels won’t press against disk openers, which is crucial to forming a true V-furrow,” Kimberley says. “If bearings are sound but the wheel is loose, adjust its eccentric bearing so the wheel makes contact with the full diameter of the opener disk.”

Finally, check for sharp lips on the wheels (where they contact the disk opener), which is needed to form the seed furrow. Worn wheels must be replaced.

Look at seed tubes

Seed tubes are often ignored because they’re so well hidden, but you need to remove tubes every year and examine them for wear. “Frequently, worn tubes will have a small flap of plastic at the bottom,” Kimberley explains. “Any significant wear calls for new seed tubes.” While you have the tubes out, look at them lengthwise to determine whether they are straight. “I’ve even found brand-new tubes that are curved,” Kimberley says. “A warped tube causes seed ricochet, leading to spacing problems.”

Clean the eye of the monitor sensor in the tube and inspect cast guards for wear. Replace the seed tube protector.

In high-speed planters, check the brushes to ensure they are straight, and clear of dirt or other debris.

Examine the drive system

Every component on the entire drive system (including the transmission) should be examined — chains or cables, sprockets, idlers, clutches, and their bushings or bearings. “Replace overly rusty, stiff, or kinked chains,” Kimberley urges. “A faulty chain can set up a vibration that affects meter accuracy, especially for hard-to-plant seed sizes.”

For cable drives, remove the unit and turn the cable to see whether it rotates smoothly. Inspect connections in electric meters. “After inspection and parts replacement, we like to operate the drive in the shop and watch all the components in action to see if they are operating smoothly or need adjustment,” he adds.

Inspect the parallel linkage

It may appear little can go wrong with parallel linkage arms. However, their bushings do wear (sometimes to the point of elongating mounting holes), and their arms can bend or twist, particularly if you plant on sidehills, through waterways, or over washouts caused by rain. “This jeopardizes depth placement,” Kimberley says.

Evaluate linkage by grasping the row unit from behind and moving it up and down and from side to side. Look for sloppy motion at the mounting points (an indication of worn bushings) and whether row units rise and fall at an angle (an indication of twisted linkage). “A good rule of thumb is, if it moves more than a half inch side to side, you’ll need to replace it,” Niensteadt says.

Wear in the bushings or loose bolts increases the chatter in your row unit, which also increases the play in your parallel linkage. Worn bushings cause a unit not to run level, which increases seed bounce and can change your true vee and depth.

Finally, check down pressure springs for tension and the fittings on air bags for leaks. When checking for air leaks, take a spray bottle of soapy water to spray on fittings (most likely to leak) and bags (less likely to leak). Check for oil leaks on units with hydraulic down pressure.

Check the closing wheels

Of all major planter components, closing wheels are the most often overlooked maintenance part. “Yet they have a huge impact on seed-to-soil contact, which greatly promotes rapid emergence,” Kimberley explains. As such, he recommends examining the closing wheel assembly for looseness where its arms connect to the row unit. “Grab the assembly and move it up and down and from side to side to check for slop,” he says. “This could indicate worn bearings, bushings, or cams.”

Spin closing disks (if your planter is so equipped) and press wheels, listening for noise, which indicates worn bearings. Also, examine the press wheel assembly to determine if it is bent or cracked. “Planting on a curve or on hillsides can put pressure on mountings, causing undue wear on one side,” Kimberley says. “Eventually they get out of alignment, and the wheels won’t press down on either side of the furrow.”

Finally, check the distance between closing wheels and adjust to get the correct gap. “You may have to shim out the wheels to get them to the right gap. Your planter’s owner manual can guide you with that chore,” he adds. Different soil conditions will require different adjustments.

While in the shop, you can check to make sure your closing wheels are centered correctly. “A lot of people think they need to do that in the field, but you can do it in the shop with a straightedge by setting the row unit on the floor,” Niensteadt says.

Calibrate your monitor

Run a seed tube sensor test to make sure all rows are counting, and double check that you have the right seed plate selected in the system. Clean up old data from the display — hybrids you no longer use, fields you need to add or delete, and fertilizer information.