PRECISION FERTILIZER HITCH

Transcription

1 PRECISION FERTILIZER HITCH DRILL MAINTENANCE Proper servicing and adjustment is the key to the long life of any farm implement. With careful and systematic inspection of your grain drill, you can avoid costly maintenance, time and repair. 1.) After using your hitch for several hours check all bolts to be sure they are tight. Refer to torque values chart in your operator s manual. 2.) Grease coulter hub bearings and wheel hub bearing before start of each planting season. 3.) Grease the coulter arm pivots every 8 hours. 4.) Grease the front tongue pivot, level link pivot tube every 8 hours. 5.) Grease at the rear of the hitch the vertical pivot tube, the rockshaft pivots on the axle every 8 hours. 6.) On the coulter command/fertilizer drive wheel, grease the arm every 8 hours. 7.) Grease the piston pump every 8 hours if equipped with high rate fertilizer. 8.) Check for the proper air pressure in the implement tires, 60 PSI for the 12.5 L x 15. TRANSPORTING 1.) When transporting the drill, transport locks should always be used. This will prevent damage to the drill and possible personal injury should hydraulic failure occur. Move the transport lock handle (located above the left-hand transport wheel) to the road position decal. The transport locks are spring load and will lock themselves in place when the lift cylinders are fully extended

2 2.) For transport, the front cylinder has a lock channel placed on the cylinder rod and held on by a pin with a clip, always lower the cylinder to have the weight of the hitch on the lock. The storage positions for the lock channel is a tube above the coulter toolbar. Tongue Transport Channel in Transport Position Tongue Transport Channel in Storage Position 3.) The adjustable pivot lock tubes, located just in front of the transport frame and next to the leaf spring rollers, restrict the pivot movement of the drill and allows for safer transport. They can be adjusted by loosening the jam nut and screwing the bolt in or out to the desired setting and tightening the jam nut. When the pivot frame is 90 degrees to the tongue, the bolt head should be about 1/16 of inch away from the stop pad on the pivot frame. The pivot lock tubes are controlled automatically by spring loaded links connected to the rockshaft. ADJUSTMENT BEFORE GOING TO THE FIELD 1.) Place the hitch weldment over the ball swivel on the hitch tongue. Back the tractor until the drawbar hole lines up over the hitch weldment hole. Lower the hitch tongue and insert spacer tube through hitch weldment. Insert the 1 inch bolt through the hitch clevis and tractors drawbar and tighten nut. The ¾ inch bolt will go through the front hole in the hitch weldment and through the tractor's drawbar. The short side of the hitch weldment should be against the drawbar. Tighten both bolts.

3 2.) After hooking the PFH to the tractor and before hooking to the grain drill, raise the hitch up to its maximum height and hold the hydraulic lever in the detent for 30 seconds, lower the hitch and repeat, do this procedure three times to remove all of the air. This procedure will remove any air in the system allowing the PFH and drill to plant even. Do the same to the front tongue cylinder. 3.) Move the transport lock handle to field and attach drill to the PFH. 4.) When attaching the coulter command hydraulic hoses and wiring refer to the owner's manual. (Coulter Command is optional.) 5.) With the drill on the hitch check to make sure the coulters line up with the openers on the drill. This can be done by lowering the hitch and the drill until they lightly touch the ground and then pulling straight ahead. If all the coulter and opener marks are off the same amount, loosen the coulter bar and slide the bar until the coulters line up. If an individual coulter does not line up, loosen that coulter and realign on the tool bar. 6.) If the hitch has Coulter Command, the lift switch on the rockshaft needs to be adjusted. This lift switch raises and lowers the Coulter Command for field turns. When the drill raises the plunger is push in by the cam mounted on the rockshaft. With the drills openers just coming out of the ground rotate the cam on the rockshaft until the plunger switch is in. Lift Switch Field Adjustments

4 7.) Set the Coulter Command valve on the hitch to open center or closed center depending on the tractor used, by rotating knob. Refer to your owner's manual for greater detail on the hydraulics and set up. NOTE: Tractors with LS closed center hydraulic system will need a by-pass valve part number C. 8.) Markers must be free of air to work properly, if markers fold uneven and do not sequence correctly the hydraulics need to be bleed, follow the steps outline in the owner s manual under adjustment. A.) The speed control on markers using a sequence valve is controlled by two hex screws on the side of the valve. One of the hex screws controls the raising speed of both markers, the other hex screws controls the lowing speed of both markers. The hex screws do not control a given side. Do not back the hex screw out to far or oil leakage will occur. B.) Adjust angle and level of the marker disc. C.) Set the marker width, refer to owners manual for measurement depending on row spacing or if skip rows are used. Adjust the marker disc by loosing the two bolts on marker tube and slide the disc out/in as needed, measure for location and tighten bolts. D.) On high residue no-till conditions, remove the depth band to achieve an acceptable mark.

5 9a.) High Rate (High Salt) Fertilizer Attachment The following adjustments are for units equipped with high rate (high salt) fertilizer attachments: A.) The fertilizer application system uses a piston pump that is ground driven. The pump moves the fertilizer into a manifold mounted along the coulter tool bar. Orifices are installed under the quick cap on the manifold outlets. The orifice creates a small amount of back pressure in the manifold tube, this allows each outlet to place the same amount of fertilizer to each coulter. Remember the orifice size does NOT affect application rate but will affect the back pressure. Application rates are controlled by the pump setting and sprocket selection on the fertilizer drive wheel. B.) Refer to the chart in the owner's manual and find the desired application rate for your PFH. There is a high and low range for both the 15/20 foot hitches. Check the sprocket on the drive wheel for the correct sprocket and change if needed. Locate pump setting for application rate to be used. Set pump by using the special John Blue wrench that comes with the PFH to rotate notched disc until pointer on calibration dial is at pump setting number. Do not over tighten nut on the scale. C.) The PFH-15 and PFH-20 have the inch orifice as standard equipment. Check the chart in the owner's manual and find your application rate. If a different orifice is need contact your Great Plains dealer to order the correct size. NOTE: Always use the largest orifice possible to prevent plugging from the fertilizer.

6 9a.) High Rate (High Salt) Fertilizer Attachment - continued D.) Fertilizer is delivered from the manifold to the stainless steel nozzles on the fertilizer tine mounted on the coulters. High rate fertilizer should only be put on non-seed rows. High rate fertilizer in the seed trench will lkely cause seed damage. As a starting point, mount the tine as low as possible. If plugging occurs, raise them up in the slots. E.) Setting Relief Valve Above the Piston Pump: (High Rate fertilizer only) The relief valve protects the manifold and pump from excessive pressure. The fertilizer that dumps over the relief valve will come out the rubber dump hose. 1.) Unlock the plastic jam nut from relief-valve knob. 2.) Unscrew knob counterclockwise all the way out. 3.) Screw knob clockwise two turns for a starting point. 4.) With the PFH running in the field observe manifold gauge and watch for any fertilizer discharge from the dump line. If valve is dumping fertilizer and gauge reads under 85 PSI, stop tractor and turn the knob clockwise ¼ of a turn. Continue operating at normal field speed and repeat this step until no fertilizer is discharged form the dump line. If the pressure gauge reads above 85 PSI, change to a larger orifice and repeat the above steps.

7 9b.) Starter (Low Salt) Fertilizer Attachment The following adjustments are for units equipped with starter (low salt) fertilizer attachments: A.) The starter fertilizer kit ( A / 15 ) or ( A / 20 ) utilize a positive displacement Hypro diaphram pump driven by the right hand gauge wheel of the drill. To vary the rate of this pump requires changing drive sprockets. This pump will supply from 3 gal. to 20 gal. per acre. The pump supplies fertilizer to a manifold mounted to the drill frame in front of the seed box. Orfices are installed in each cap on the manifold to create back pressure which insures equal flow to each row. B.) Refer to the manual provided with the starter kit. Find the desired gal./acre rate you wish to apply and the corresponding sprocket. Install the sprocket on the pump shaft. C.) After the rate (gal./acre) has been chosen, determine the orfice needed to deliver this rate. See attached Starter Fertilizer Orfice Chart. 1.) Determine row spacing: 7½, Twin or 15, or 30 2.) Determine approximate ground speed expected. 3.) Go down the row at the desired speed, then go left to second column to determine the color of the orfice required. REMEMBER! The pump is positive displacement. If it is set for 10 gal./acre it must supply 10 gal./acre if a yellow orfice is used on all 7 ½ rows there wil be approx. 40 psi pressure in the manifold. If ½ of the rows are plugged for Twin Rows the orfice must be twice as big to handle the 10 gal./acre. Starter Fertilizer Orfice Chart Psi Color 7½ Twin 30 5 mph 6 mph 8 mph 5 mph 6 mph 8 mph 5 mph 6 mph 8 mph 20 White White White White Blue Blue Blue Blue Green Green Green Green Yellow Yellow Yellow Yellow Purple Purple Purple Purple Black Black Black Black Pink Pink Pink Pink Brown Brown Brown Brown 10.1

8 FIELD ADJUSTMENTS 1.) SETTING COULTER DEPTH: A.) Lower the PFH/PH as you are moving forward until the wheels of the hitch are off the ground. B.) Retract the front tongue cylinder to lower the coulters until desired depth is achieved. Set the coulter depth approximately 1 inch deeper than desired seeding depth. Recheck the coulter depth and adjust. NOTE: The cylinder gauge on the front tongue cylinder is to be used only as a reference only, it does not designate the coulter depth. C.) For PFH/PH with Coulter Command lock in the hydraulic lever to down position, adjust coulters by turning the switch to on and hydraulic switch to auto position then turn switch until desired depth is achieved. The hitch should be moving forward to help in setting the depth of the coulters. D.) If the cylinder is completely retracted and the coulters are too shallow and the drill is placing seed on top of the ground, add weight to the hitch. DO NOT readjust the coulter shanks, lowering the coulter shanks will not increase coulter penetration. On the PFH water can be added to the tanks if fertilizer is not being used. If fertilizer is being used and the coulter will not penetrate a weight bracket can be added to the hitches main frame. On the PH hitch simply add weight to the bracket on rear of hitch. E.) In soft soils, the gauge wheel tires on the drill may sink, if so raise the PFH just enough to carry the drill. To help maintain the correct position use depth stops provided. 2.) CENTER LINK LOCK PLATE: A.) In hard to penetrate conditions where the maximum weight of the drill is needed on the coulters place the center link lock plate in the down position. This position is with the lock plate over the top link pin holding it back. This position can be used on all openers. RECOMMENDED Link in Rigid Position (Recommended) B.) In soft field conditions and conventional ground where planting too deep can be problem place the center link lock plate in the limited float position. This position is with the lock plate up but with the top link pin to the back of the slot. This position can be used on all openers. NOT RECOMMENDED Link in Limited-Float Position (Not Recommended)