Written by: Mary Pat Sass
Mary Pat shares her perspective from her corn and soybean farm in Northern Illinois on Instagram @marypat.sass, Facebook @Mary Pat Sass, and vlogs on YouTube.
The Decision
Last summer we priced out used planters to retrofit with all-new Precision Planting technology versus purchasing a new planter equipped with the technology we were looking for. We saved our farm anywhere from $150,000-$200,000+ by retrofitting the planter ourselves. We’ve used Precision Planting technology on our farm for more than ten years and knew it was the route we wanted to take with the retrofit planter build.
After shopping around and looking at several used planters, we settled on a 24-row 2012 John Deere 1770NT. We traded in a 16-row John Deere planter already outfitted with Precision Planting products from a previous build that we did. That planter had DeltaForce, CleanSweep, a SeedSense 20/20, vSet, vDrive, vDrive Insecticide, and vApplyHD.
We did not need to upgrade the tractor, which was a huge plus financially. The reason for the upgrade was to better match our other equipment and increase efficiency on the farm. We would be able to narrow down our head passes from three to two, just one fencerow pass instead of three with the 16-row, and have cleaner trials set up matching the 12-row corn head and another 24-row planter on the farm.
"As long as the bones are good, you can really do a good job with an older planter retrofit."
Josh Sass
In Northern Illinois we typically have short planting windows due to cold and/or wet weather. We hoped having the increased efficiency would help with getting our crop in during those short windows. We were also excited to implement some new technology from Precision Planting we hadn’t tried before.
The Teardown
This part of the process was easy. We worked on this on and off for two weeks in between other jobs on the farm. We started by taking off the old meters, airbags, hydraulic drive system (shafts and bearings), gauge wheels, old row cleaners, gauge wheel arms, opener discs, and the old closing system. We took off everything to get our row units down to a “bare” shank.
The Install
We did the installation, working closely with our dealer, Chad Baker, from Baker Precision Works.
The first thing to be installed on the planter was a new set of DuraWear parallel arms. We chose DuraWear because we had used other aftermarket parallel arms in the past and had been looking for something more. These were easy to install and made a big difference in unit “chatter” and vibration. Everything you need comes in the box along with a built in DeltaForce bracket.
Next, we mounted the new DeltaForce brackets and cylinders. DeltaForce helps with ground contact and fast reaction to soil conditions. Hydraulic downforce is a must for us on any planter build.
General maintenance needed to be done on the used planter. We replaced seed tube guards, seed firmers, gauge wheels, gauge wheel arms, opener discs, and closing wheel systems.
Reveal row cleaners were new to us on this planter. We were excited to have them frame-mounted because we thought it would help our good ride during planting, which affects several things. First and foremost, it improves seed placement. It helps the downforce system react better and the meters with singulation. If everything is vibrating and shaking more than it should, it negatively affects seed placement. We no longer have that with Reveal.
The SRM plug and play technology is easy to use and convenient. The SRM is a CAN-based system that is used on each row. All of the equipment on the row just plugs in the SRM/CAN expansion.
Pre-Trip
After we were done with the install, Chad Baker came out before planting to do a pre-trip on the planter and make sure we installed everything correctly. He ran health checks on everything and set up all the SRMs. He went through everything to make sure it was ready to go before we went out to the field.
In The Field
The next step was to test plant. We brought the planter out to the field next to the farm to get it in the ground for the first time. Test planting went as expected, maybe even better than expected. All of the equipment tested and went through health checks with no problems. Planting depth was the main adjustment. Adjusting depth in the shop can get you close, but “real world” tests need to be done to get an accurate measurement.
We started planting on April 13th and had the planter go through different soil conditions. We have several types of tillage on our farm, including strip-till, conventional till, and no-till, which really puts the equipment to the test.
This spring was a challenge for us with wet weather. We had very short planting windows and had to plant around several wet spots. We had multiple planting dates in some fields as we were rained out at different times.
We had varying conditions throughout the season. Having the Reveal adjustment separate from the firming wheel was valuable to us. When you’re going through various tillage systems (strips, conventional, or no-till), the Reveal system allows you to make adjustments easily. Moving the firming wheel higher or lower gives your row cleaners a wider range of adjustability for different residue and weed pressures.
A Planter Built for Us
Overall, we’re happy we chose to rebuild our own planter with Precision Planting technology versus buying a newer planter with all the bells and whistles we were looking for. It took a lot of work, but we were very happy with the planter’s performance during what was a very challenging planting season for us.
The entire process was made easier by working with Chad Baker. He was there with answers to questions we had and got us parts timely when we needed them. He was also flexible with how we used parts and helped us troubleshoot as needed.
We’re very happy with the two rebuilt planters we have on our farm using Precision Planting technology. As we make decisions for the future of our farming operation, we will continue to consider the technology Precision Planting has to offer.
