Splitter Planter Equipped With Easy-Mount Guide System

Splitter Planter Equipped With Easy-Mount Guide System PLANTERS Planters 25-2-10 Lester Johannes, Ashley, Ill., wanted to experiment with 15-in. row soybeans but he didn't want to spend the money for a new narrow-row planter. Instead, he built his own splitter planter that can be used as a 6-row 30-in. corn planter or as an 11-row, 15-in. soybean planter. "My son Mike helped me build it. We designed it with an automatic guide and mounting system that makes it easy to hook up the splitter row units to make quick switches between corn and beans," says Johannes. He started with his existing 6-row 30-in. White 5400 planter. He paid $600 for another White 5400 planter and salvaged five of the row units on it. He used 5 by 6-in., 1/4-in. thick steel tubing to make a new toolbar and clamped the additional row units onto it. He also welded a U-shaped steel bracket to each side of the planter frame just ahead of the original six row units. A length of 3 by 8 tubing is welded to each end of the splitter toolbar and extends about 8 ft. forward. An "engagement lug" in the bottom of each length of tubing matches up with a slot at the bottom of the U-shaped brackets on the main planter. To hook up the five add-on row units, Johannes simply backs up the planter so the U-shaped brackets slide under the lengths of 3 by 8 tubing. Once the slots in the lengths of tubing contact the lugs on each bracket, he raises the planter and then inserts a pin through holes drilled into both sides of the bracket as well as through the tubing. He also replaced the planter's original White press wheels with V-type ones off a Great Plains grain drill. "It does a good job and works as well as we had hoped," says Johannes, who made the conversion three years ago. "It takes only about five minutes to hook or unhook the planter. We had three goals in mind when we built this planter. We wanted a compact planter that could follow our rolling ground. We wanted a planter with plenty of room between the row units so that we can fill the front boxes from the back side of the planter. And we wanted to be able to quickly switch from corn to beans and back. "Mike got the automatic alignment and hook-up idea after observing an older style front-end loader that was designed with quick-tach brackets." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Lester Johannes, RR, Ashley, Ill. 62808 (ph 618 485-6657).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.