#10 Grain drill coulters falling off.

[oldtech]

We were going to take a plot out of some flood plane land to make a food plot but were going to make it out of browse shrubs and perennials so I wouldnt have to replant all the time.  The tenant really didnt want that flood area anyway.  I had just worked it up and the next day the custom sprayer comes along and does what sprayers do so that was the end of that.

So the tenant compensated me by planting corn in it along with the rest of it.  It was a poor crop because thats that the flood land always does but it was corn.  Some deer were in it but the big customers were the squirrels.  We have trail cam photos of them running away with full cobs in their mouths and there were cobs hanging from the trees in the woods like ornaments.  Not sure what Im going to do with it this year yet.  Might depend on whether I end up planting my own fields.  Right today its all under water anyway. It will be June before I can get in there now.  One more reason to go the more sustainable route.

People love those ATVs and they do have their uses.  The town allows them on the roads here and farmers use them to go inspect fields.  They use less gas than a full size vehicle but the price tags will pop your eyeballs!  Not supposed to go on the State highway but they do anyway.   They are very popular with a couple guys here that have a little drinking problem... The main farm eq. dealer I work with has a show room full of them but the price tag just blows me away.  I have an old Ford Ranger that works just fine and can haul a lot more.  Its all paid for long ago if a bit rusty.  I have 4 tractors too so Im good.  Actually 5 now if you count the Ford 1220 mower tractor my wife got. (worthy of another topic)

 

[oldtech]

Heres a good one!  Dere are known to love Egyption stuff.

[oldtech]

Heres another thing that sells for insane prices.  The same guy that gave me the drill also gave me a #38? mower.  It needs new rock guards but thats not huge.  The people that pay these prices probably dont even know how to use it.

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

I’ve never seen more deer anywhere than a field that is in continuous corn. A food plot and a custom sprayer are never going to work. The only way, and I mean the only way to avoid problems is running the sprayer yourself. 

[oldtech]

9 minutes ago, Dirt_Floor_Poor said:

I’ve never seen more deer anywhere than a field that is in continuous corn. A food plot and a custom sprayer are never going to work. The only way, and I mean the only way to avoid problems is running the sprayer yourself. 

It was never my intention to plant corn at all.  I just let them do that because he had already sprayed it so I couldnt plant the shrubs and clover that I wanted.  Im not going to invest in spraying equipment for a half acre plot. Id end up with one of those lawn sprayers and dont want to mess with it.  If I had to plant corn Id find an old Ford or Deaborn 3 pt cultivator and call it good.  I dont even have a corn planter to begin with and dont want one.  Have you seen what the sell for? 

IF I was going to plant a farm crop Id plant beans as they seem to like them better and do it with a drill with no herbicide planning on a good leaf canopy and call it good.  Dont need a perfect clean crop.

[rustred]

On 4/2/2026 at 10:55 PM, oldtech said:

Dont have one handy but it looks like a bolt with a low profile head.  This is way beyond a wobble and they just fall off when you back up the guy said

If thats $65 for a single disk assembly I could need as many as 18 or 20.  I can get another used drill for that.

This think sat outside for a long long time.

they will fall off when you back up without raising the disc's up. they just unscrew and fall off. 

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

5 minutes ago, oldtech said:

It was never my intention to plant corn at all.  I just let them do that because he had already sprayed it so I couldnt plant the shrubs and clover that I wanted.  Im not going to invest in spraying equipment for a half acre plot. Id end up with one of those lawn sprayers and dont want to mess with it.  If I had to plant corn Id find an old Ford or Deaborn 3 pt cultivator and call it good.  I dont even have a corn planter to begin with and dont want one.  Have you seen what the sell for? 

IF I was going to plant a farm crop Id plant beans as they seem to like them better and do it with a drill with no herbicide planning on a good leaf canopy and call it good.  Dont need a perfect clean crop.

I understood what you meant, I was just making a general observation that corn on corn attracts an incredible amount of wildlife of all kinds. Another general observation from tens of thousands of acres in the seat of a sprayer is that a landowner intentionally having sensitive vegetation of any kind near land they are personally cash renting is asking for trouble. I am very careful while spraying because killing something that you are not supposed to is a great way to get in a major disagreement with a land owner.  I have almost no trouble, but a custom operator, at least here, will never have that level of caution. You seem pretty reasonable with your tenant expectations. I was mostly making comments about my own personal experience with, what I consider, unreasonable owner expectations. For example ridiculous cash rent coupled with 0 knowledge of what it takes to be able to generate enough income to pay top market rates. 

[R190]

#10s were in production a long time a used a couple double disk openers the earliest one used an opener like a model M drill if you backed up with one of them in the ground you would usually unscrew a couple of disks some times even in tall grass/weeds. Does your drill have cast iron bearngs or ball bearing openers? The ball bearing openers stayed on a lot better allmost no trouble and if the bearing went out a 7-8 dollar bearing and 6 little bolts or rivets and you were back in business.

[Matt Kirsch]

On 4/2/2026 at 1:59 PM, Dirt_Floor_Poor said:

Not to derail the thread too much, but it amazes me how many people think that they are feeding the entire wildlife population by seeding a postage stamp size plot and getting a stand of weeds and whatever the local seed supplier swept up off the floor. 

Eh, no. That's not the purpose of a food plot at all.

Long story short, it's bait. The animals come to eat, and BANG!

[stronger800]

It’s food plotting for the freezer

[766 Man]

3 hours ago, R190 said:

#10s were in production a long time a used a couple double disk openers the earliest one used an opener like a model M drill if you backed up with one of them in the ground you would usually unscrew a couple of disks some times even in tall grass/weeds. Does your drill have cast iron bearngs or ball bearing openers? The ball bearing openers stayed on a lot better allmost no trouble and if the bearing went out a 7-8 dollar bearing and 6 little bolts or rivets and you were back in business.

  Number 10 drill should have ball bearing type openers.  

[oldtech]

5 hours ago, R190 said:

#10s were in production a long time a used a couple double disk openers the earliest one used an opener like a model M drill if you backed up with one of them in the ground you would usually unscrew a couple of disks some times even in tall grass/weeds. Does your drill have cast iron bearngs or ball bearing openers? The ball bearing openers stayed on a lot better allmost no trouble and if the bearing went out a 7-8 dollar bearing and 6 little bolts or rivets and you were back in business.

That older one seems right.  It could be that the bolt is so sloppy because maybe the bearings fell out?  They were all off the drill on a pile when I got it.  Could I just put new ones in from the open side and tighten them on?  Or would I have to take the hubs off by taking the rivets out?

Is there a serial # break for those models?

[oldtech]

5 hours ago, R190 said:

#10s were in production a long time a used a couple double disk openers the earliest one used an opener like a model M drill if you backed up with one of them in the ground you would usually unscrew a couple of disks some times even in tall grass/weeds. Does your drill have cast iron bearngs or ball bearing openers? The ball bearing openers stayed on a lot better allmost no trouble and if the bearing went out a 7-8 dollar bearing and 6 little bolts or rivets and you were back in business.

I didnt fully read this before.  see my reply above.

[oldtech]

8 hours ago, Dirt_Floor_Poor said:

I understood what you meant, I was just making a general observation that corn on corn attracts an incredible amount of wildlife of all kinds. Another general observation from tens of thousands of acres in the seat of a sprayer is that a landowner intentionally having sensitive vegetation of any kind near land they are personally cash renting is asking for trouble. I am very careful while spraying because killing something that you are not supposed to is a great way to get in a major disagreement with a land owner.  I have almost no trouble, but a custom operator, at least here, will never have that level of caution. You seem pretty reasonable with your tenant expectations. I was mostly making comments about my own personal experience with, what I consider, unreasonable owner expectations. For example ridiculous cash rent coupled with 0 knowledge of what it takes to be able to generate enough income to pay top market rates. 

We sat down and went over the numbers this afternoon.  This field in question is a problem I know that.  He lost $133/acre before bail out money this year. Cold lowland clay with standing pools of water and really low phosphorus due to leaching are the culprits unless you get just the right amount of rain. He made a small profit on the other field which is just a little bigger.   yield there was 50 bu on beans.  He wants me to drop the rent on the poor field by $45.

My only problem with that is that much of his losses are coming from using almost all custom operators from tillage to planting, spraying and harvesting.  He does this because he works a day job and has a hog operation so he just doesnt have the time to put his own labor in.  So Im just wondering why he's doing this.  I also think he spends too much on fertilizer and pesticides buying into what I as an old timer see exotic liquids in corn row widths rather than cheaper fertilizers broadcast with drilled beans that provide a good canopy over the weeds.

Would the numbers work out better for someone with his own equipment and maybe his own labor?  Does anyone do their own labor anymore?  I know I can plant it cheaper given that I have the time and smaller paid for equipment but the wife doesnt want me to.  She still sees it as a risk.

This field already has a CREP border on 2 sides due to its bordering a creek.  I should probably just put the rest in the CRP but  assuming I can get it in it would not start this crop season soId still need to do somethng with it this season.

I almost feel guilty asking him to take a risk for a single year knowing he could actually do worse.

What would you do?

Id still end up doing fall or maybe frost seeding again for the CRP.  That was a hoot!

[Diesel Doctor]

On 4/2/2026 at 10:16 AM, 560Dennis said:

You handy with heli-coils?

If I remember right, those used a right hand thread on one side and a left hand thread on the other. 

I have yet to see a left hand Heli-Coil. But they probably make them?

You may want to look at other models, like Massey Harris, to see if they will interchange.

[Matt Kirsch]

I had a thought:

[Jacka]

11 hours ago, oldtech said:

We sat down and went over the numbers this afternoon.  This field in question is a problem I know that.  He lost $133/acre before bail out money this year. Cold lowland clay with standing pools of water and really low phosphorus due to leaching are the culprits unless you get just the right amount of rain. He made a small profit on the other field which is just a little bigger.   yield there was 50 bu on beans.  He wants me to drop the rent on the poor field by $45.

My only problem with that is that much of his losses are coming from using almost all custom operators from tillage to planting, spraying and harvesting.  He does this because he works a day job and has a hog operation so he just doesnt have the time to put his own labor in.  So Im just wondering why he's doing this.  I also think he spends too much on fertilizer and pesticides buying into what I as an old timer see exotic liquids in corn row widths rather than cheaper fertilizers broadcast with drilled beans that provide a good canopy over the weeds.

Would the numbers work out better for someone with his own equipment and maybe his own labor?  Does anyone do their own labor anymore?  I know I can plant it cheaper given that I have the time and smaller paid for equipment but the wife doesnt want me to.  She still sees it as a risk.

This field already has a CREP border on 2 sides due to its bordering a creek.  I should probably just put the rest in the CRP but  assuming I can get it in it would not start this crop season soId still need to do somethng with it this season.

I almost feel guilty asking him to take a risk for a single year knowing he could actually do worse.

What would you do?

Id still end up doing fall or maybe frost seeding again for the CRP.  That was a hoot!

I have a renter on my farm for over 15 years.He is the only I ever had after I stopped milking cows.I rent him half and I farm other half.One reason is I don't want to be responsible for it all. My guy had good and bad years.Some he made lots of money others made a little,broke even or even lost money. I never asked him for a raise or begrudged him in the high $ cash grain years.Nor does he expect me to compensate in his low profit years. One year early in his career he asked for reduction until he got back on his feet.I gave him what he wanted and 2 or 3 years went by and he raised back to previous rental. I also never raised it from are original agreement also.He told me this year even with the bad drought he planned on increasing it but just couldn't.I was okay with it because I wasn't asking for it and he will when he feels he can.But what I am saying is if your happy with the way your renter farms with customs operators than stay with him.But if he expects you to make up with his time constraints,work load by reducing your income I see that as a red flag.To me it be like taking advantage of you.But to be fair I would look around and and see if someone else fits your management style.

But if he uses all custom operators there really is no reason you couldn't and farm it yourself if you wanted.

[oldtech]

2 hours ago, Diesel Doctor said:

If I remember right, those used a right hand thread on one side and a left hand thread on the other. 

I have yet to see a left hand Heli-Coil. But they probably make them?

You may want to look at other models, like Massey Harris, to see if they will interchange.

Given that all of the dropped units are on one side this seems like a very probable situation.  All the bolts are there.  I need to look at this more closely.   thanks!

[oldtech]

I think I need to start another thread under general to discuss crop budgeting and rental rates.  I need some up to date ag advice and have a lot of questions about his practices.  It just seems like he's spending way too much and Im being asked to subsidize it.

[oldtech]

Ruh roh!

I don't think this is a number 10. This is the first time i've had at home and looked at it and I think it's a good deal older, the green chart under the lid says, printed in nineteen fifty seven I don't know when the model breaks were

[oldtech]

So how do these things go on?It looks like maybe it's some kind of twist lock???

That stud in the middle is really loose and wobbly. 

[oldtech]

I think I found the answer in this archived thread.

Wish I had some part number for all this.  Im missing one entire assembly.  Thos seals look shot too.

[Jeff-C-IL]

All kinds of thoughts going on here -

• "Listen to your wife before you have to listen to the Doctor"....
• "Do what you enjoy"
• "If you are losing money on it, why do it?"
• Free usually means "I didn't want to bother hauling it to the scrap yard"

I agree that you should not pay for the tenants lifestyle.   On the flip side - nobody willing to still work the little pieces can afford to be a full time farmer.  Or the cost of the equipment to DIY anymore.   Especially working a full time job.   Its really hard to have time to go out and fix up the old stuff after getting home from work.

My local co-op told me I'm just about the only person who still buys & applies his own chemicals on a small acreage.   They have to order in 2.5 gal jugs of stuff just for me.  THe combo of loss of small farmers, all of them having a second job, and regulations have driven everybody to custom application.    

The newest small combine is now 30 years old....

Hope you can figure out the drill issue.

[oldtech]

Yeah it appears its going to be pretty costly to rehab.  Just figuring out how those coulter bearings work and it looks like these came off because the bearings were out and they jammed up.

$39/disk plus the shoulder bolts.

One entire gang missing.  $126 with shipping in ebay.

There was a parts drill at ASAP but when I called they had already sold off everything worth getting.

As for your other comments some are exactly what I said to that young guy.  Why do it?  The only people making oney on that are the custom operators who can at least set their prices.

Me?  Im just farting around with food plots and taking as much as I can out of production.  He may not think so but I think Im doing him a favor.   I think she just looks at me a free labor.

My wife wanted me to take it.  I think she felt sorry for the old guy.  Everything here is old stuff including the house.  I think I wont live long enough to fix it all.  Ive named the place Farmageddon so the drill fits right in! 

 

[HydroTek]

The original bearing used heavy oil (EP0 today)  in the bearing
-- the bearing plate is grooved to pump the oil up the sides of the bearing
-- pretty slick idea for back in the day
-- bearing was chilled cast iron -- pretty hard stuff

Later units used sealed bearings 
-- if you kept oil in the older bearing it would out last the ball bearing 

Both were riveted to the disk opener 
-- far as I remember they interchanged 
-- banged rivets in many of those years ago 

oh yeah LH and RH threads holding them on