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Leesburg, Ohio | Have had 750's for many years...traded for a pair of 1560's last year, but kept one of the 750's to run as a single.
You can pick up on the closing wheel and shake the whole opener assembly sideways to see how ragged out they are. Try to pick one with not too much side slop. The ones that are more worn will plant rows that look like pairs instead of even spacing between every row. They will all look like paired rows when going around a curve.
You'll want to check the boots, blades, placement wheel bearings, and closing wheel bearings...those are the prominent wear items. Boots and blade are the costly items. If you can see a notch in the side of the boot opening where the seed comes out, they need to be replaced. Blades need replaced if the bevel is worn off...there is a specific diameter recommended for replacement...escapes me what the measurement is at the moment. Maybe someone else will recall it. Just get the complete blade assembly with bearings.
We always replace all closing wheel bearings (in the cast wheels) every two years, and try to keep a few repaired ones on hand during the second year. They will lock up, get loose, or both. Same with the narrow rubber-tired seed placement wheels that run in the furrow. Gauge wheel bearings get replaced as needed, or about every third or fourth year.
A complete rebuild of the items above should run around $3000 in parts from Deere, and maybe a couple thousand shop time at Deere's rates, but you can do one yourself in a couple days or so.
Make sure to check the center gang hanger bearing...we break bolts out of those at least once a year. The early ones were worse, and they beefed them up in the mid 90's, but will still break. We keep a couple spare sets of bolts, nuts, and brackets. I think they take 7/8" bolts by 8 or 9"...Deere is the only place we can find them locally. Fastenal might have them. So far we haven't had that problem on the 1560's.
I would also make sure none of the seed meters are cracked...only know of one neighbor that ever had that happen, but they had to take the shaft out thru all the meters to replace one.
These are good drills if you do a little maintenance each year, and keep them greased. Oh, yeah, the early ones (pre-'93 I think) had a ton of grease zerks...(three on each opener x 24 openers). I would try to avoid those. The later ones had only one on each opener.
I know alot of guys on here have switched to splitter planters, but we still get good yields with the drills, and need them for wheat, as well. A worn out drill with bad boots and blades won't do nearly as well as one that has had a bit of maintenence. Hope all this helps a little. Good luck.
Ken | |
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750 drill mod's
