Winter storage of equipment

[766 Man]

  Gonna have to use a potent seed treatment when planting the wheat in the next few days (after the rain stops).  Washing the inside of the drill box is obvious but is there any special oil that works best to coat the box to protect paint and metal?  We always washed the previous drill that is still here but never oiled or otherwise coated the inside of the box and it has serious rust issues in places.  Some people advise to just wash and not bother coating but I do not want another rusty drill.  Both are kept inside most of the time so storage has limited impact.  I think that the seed treatments are just that corrosive especially when there is the least bit of humidity.  

[jass1660]

I think I’d spray it with graphite, anything oily could create problems with seed flow next time you use it.

[ChrisNY]

Have never washed inside of seedbox on a drill. I would think that would be asking for trouble. Would definitely not use oil or you will have problems next year. I always thought keeping it dry and vacuumed out was the best way. Maybe I am wrong.

[766 Man]

3 minutes ago, ChrisNY said:

Have never washed inside of seedbox on a drill. I would think that would be asking for trouble. Would definitely not use oil or you will have problems next year. I always thought keeping it dry and vacuumed out was the best way. Maybe I am wrong.

  I washed the first drill from the time when we bought it new in 1977 from the advice of others.  I'd be interested in knowing what other farmers do.  The manual for the 8300 drill never had any tips in terms of coating the box at least when you look at storage procedures.  The 8300 gave us good service but was single disc.  I bought the 450 drill to have double discs and depth wheels.  Pretty clean at this point and want to keep it that way.  Unless I buy a no till drill I want those two to carry me to retirement which is a ways off.

[Sledgehammer]

Used to have a commercial seed treatment license (10yrs ago)and treated soybeans and wheat a fair amount. I never knew any seed treatment to be corrosive. When we cleaned the treater we used dish soap, water, and manpower. Not saying what you have used or have isn’t different but that is my experience. 

[766 Man]

4 hours ago, Sledgehammer said:

Used to have a commercial seed treatment license (10yrs ago)and treated soybeans and wheat a fair amount. I never knew any seed treatment to be corrosive. When we cleaned the treater we used dish soap, water, and manpower. Not saying what you have used or have isn’t different but that is my experience. 

  Commercial treatment sticks to the seed quite well.  The seed box treatment not so well.  It seems like the seed box treatment finds all the little crevices and that is where the rust starts.  We always treated the 8300 well in terms of keeping it clean but it still rusted and I want to avoid this with the 450.  

[hardtail]

If it’s in good shape can you ask previous owner what they did?

[766 Man]

7 minutes ago, hardtail said:

If it’s in good shape can you ask previous owner what they did?

  The previous owner died shortly after he traded this drill in so not possible.   He actually traded it in for a compact tractor as he was retired at that time.  

[littlered166]

I too would use graphite if I didn't want rust. Just my two cents worth.......

[Sledgehammer]

Is there an advantage to in box vs commercial?  I’m assuming cost is better. I never knew anyone who treated seed like that so I am a bit naive to what you are using. We had a hardener of sorts that we used. It helped. Part of the recipie

[edwardporter1]

i hosed out my drill in the sun then blew it out with the air compressor .that seemed to dry out the nooks and crannies. spend extra time on the flutes to get them dry

[ray54]

No perfect solution. I know guys would spray a lite coat of diesel on the fertilizer box of 8350 JD drills. But that made the seed and fertilizer drop tubes disintegrate.  I had far luck with lots and lots of water in the fert box until I agreed to put ammonia sulfate/21-0-0 on for a neighbor. Just to much salt to that and bits of dust gets in any cracks. Painted rust converter on and stopped the rust. Used a broadcaster from the fertilizer dealer after that.  

[ThirdGenRed]

If you are just wanting a little corrosion protection after washing, WD40 would be my recommendation. You can buy it in gallon jugs and a refillable sprayer. The "WD" stands for water displacement, and it is a thin petroleum distillate, not a thick oil, which should not cause a sticky build up, it can be hard on some rubber parts over time, so consider that.

[DR.EVIL]

I thought maybe WD-40 would work,  but something else that might work better is FLUID FILM. It's a very light viscosity fluid, lanolin based that soaks into extremely small cracks & crevisis.

   I've heard of guys spraying the bodies on their cars & trucks with it for winter road rust prevention. The aeromatic solvent evaporates and leaves a thin layer of lanolin to protect the steel. Lanolin is more like a wax, seeps into places and drys.

[Reichow7120]

23 hours ago, 766 Man said:

  I washed the first drill from the time when we bought it new in 1977 from the advice of others.  I'd be interested in knowing what other farmers do.  The manual for the 8300 drill never had any tips in terms of coating the box at least when you look at storage procedures.  The 8300 gave us good service but was single disc.  I bought the 450 drill to have double discs and depth wheels.  Pretty clean at this point and want to keep it that way.  Unless I buy a no till drill I want those two to carry me to retirement which is a ways off.

Funny that your 8300 rusted like that. We have a 8300 that is a 1977. We are the 3rd owner. The owners manual has it being sold new in March 1977. Then it was either consigned or traded at our Case IH dealer in 1991. Then we bought it at a farm retirement auction in early April 1993.

This is what the inside of our boxes look like. Never had fertilizer in it. Just dusty in the picture. No rust.

[Missouri Mule]

If I were not worried about a oil film I would use fluid film. I use it on my fertilizer buggy and its great stuff. 

If I were worried about it I'd use wd40 or your penetrating oil of choice. I've sprayed kroil on my 510 ih drill for years on the inside with no issues with seed tubes or anything yet. By the time I drag it out of the shed it's pretty well dried away and never an issue with seed hanging up in there. I just spray away until everything I want is coated good. Just my .02

Oh and I always shop vac it out first. Gets most of the dust out. Dont use fertilizer though 

[766 Man]

4 hours ago, Reichow7120 said:

Funny that your 8300 rusted like that. We have a 8300 that is a 1977. We are the 3rd owner. The owners manual has it being sold new in March 1977. Then it was either consigned or traded at our Case IH dealer in 1991. Then we bought it at a farm retirement auction in early April 1993.

This is what the inside of our boxes look like. Never had fertilizer in it. Just dusty in the picture. No rust.

  I still think it started when we used a box treatment for wheat and oats years ago.  I don't know of anybody that treats bin run seed nowadays.  Anyways, I want to do my best not to have rust start on the 450 drill.  Most drills I see at auction don't even look as good as the 8300 regardless of make.  Years ago you could find them where they would be a few decades old and look like they just came new from the dealer.