Low-Cost Splitter Hitch
Brad Smidt wanted to plant narrow row soybeans without the expense of buying a new drill. So the Lennox, S. Dak., farmer used old machinery parts to build his own low-cost splitter hitch. It lets him pull two 36-in. row planters in tandem behind his tractor to plant beans in 18-in. rows.
The front planter is a Deere 7100 8-row, 30-in., 3-pt. mounted planter that he converted to a 7-row 36-in. model. He put the middle row unit behind the planter transmission.
The rear planter is a Deere 7200 8-row, 36-in. planter. The main tubing for the home-built hitch is off an old anhydrous applicator; the wheel assemblies are off a Deere 845 field cultivator; and the wheel frames are off a Deere 1240 planter. The hitch goes under the main frame of the front planter and bolts to its hitch.
"I've used this planter arrangement for six years and really like the job it does," says Smidt. "At the time I built it a new drill of comparable size would have cost $25,000 to $30,000. Great Plains made a 3-pt. mounted 5-row narrow planter with a hitch for use with a 6-row narrow pull-type planter, but nothing for an 8-row wide planter like I had. I used decals to label my hitch as an A7210 model, which I think is fitting because a 7100 planter is pulling a 7200 model.
"I bought the 7100 planter used for $5,000. It was equipped with new Deere radial bean meters. I already had the 7200 planter. At the time I built the hitch I used the 7100 model only to plant soybeans, and the 7200 by itself to plant all my corn in wide 36-in. rows. I've since bought a 16-row corn planter.
"Turning around with the planter in the field is pretty simple. I just lift the mounted planter up first and then the pull-type planter and hit the brake a little on whichever side I want to turn," he notes.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Brad Smidt, 27985 468th Ave., Lennox, S. Dak. 57039 (ph 605 647-5060).
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Low-Cost Splitter Hitch HITCHES Hitches 28-4-35
Brad Smidt wanted to plant narrow row soybeans without the expense of buying a new drill. So the Lennox, S. Dak., farmer used old machinery parts to build his own low-cost splitter hitch. It lets him pull two 36-in. row planters in tandem behind his tractor to plant beans in 18-in. rows.
The front planter is a Deere 7100 8-row, 30-in., 3-pt. mounted planter that he converted to a 7-row 36-in. model. He put the middle row unit behind the planter transmission.
The rear planter is a Deere 7200 8-row, 36-in. planter. The main tubing for the home-built hitch is off an old anhydrous applicator; the wheel assemblies are off a Deere 845 field cultivator; and the wheel frames are off a Deere 1240 planter. The hitch goes under the main frame of the front planter and bolts to its hitch.
"I've used this planter arrangement for six years and really like the job it does," says Smidt. "At the time I built it a new drill of comparable size would have cost $25,000 to $30,000. Great Plains made a 3-pt. mounted 5-row narrow planter with a hitch for use with a 6-row narrow pull-type planter, but nothing for an 8-row wide planter like I had. I used decals to label my hitch as an A7210 model, which I think is fitting because a 7100 planter is pulling a 7200 model.
"I bought the 7100 planter used for $5,000. It was equipped with new Deere radial bean meters. I already had the 7200 planter. At the time I built the hitch I used the 7100 model only to plant soybeans, and the 7200 by itself to plant all my corn in wide 36-in. rows. I've since bought a 16-row corn planter.
"Turning around with the planter in the field is pretty simple. I just lift the mounted planter up first and then the pull-type planter and hit the brake a little on whichever side I want to turn," he notes.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Brad Smidt, 27985 468th Ave., Lennox, S. Dak. 57039 (ph 605 647-5060).
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