"I noticed that the front gang of discs on our Deere 750 grain drill was not worn nearly as much as the back gang because we lift the front gang up when planting soy-beans in 15-in. rows. As a result, it was difficult to get accurate depth control when we put the front gang down to plant wheat. That's when I decided to find more work for the front gang," says Eric Moore, Boderich, Ont.

I had a local machine shop make up a frame that's identical to the frame on the 750 drill. I had a drill box from an Oliver grain drill on hand so we mounted it on the frame, extending the ends of the box with scrap steel since the Oliver drill was narrower than the Deere. We made down tubes for the add-on ends from exhaust pipe. We also made a ground drive using a wheel up front, which is much simpler to set up than a floating rear wheel (I see the new 20-ft. Deere drill uses the same principle). The drill worked to perfection right off, which is unusual for something we build ourselves. It holds the same amount of seed as the 750 drill. I also mounted an IH 400 Cyclo air corn planter on front that's driven by the tractor pto so we can use this drill to plant corn by plugging off every other row.

"We put the front gang back on the Deere drill to plant wheat.

"I've used this setup for two years now and it has worked perfectly from the start. It's built so well most people think I bought another grain drill, says Moore. "Planting soybeans with two drills saves me a lot of time and money. I plant about 1,500 acres of soybeans and 400 to 500 acres of wheat. I spent little to build the drill and I can also use it as a 6-row corn planter."