Faster Emergence, More Vigor
The bearing from a competitor’s wheel setting inside the Thompson wheel’s housing for its huge bearing. Our bearing features a triple-lip seal, as well as our unique, patented shroud to protect the bearing face from fertilizer and water. We’re so confident in our bearing arrangement, we guarantee it for 5 years.
The Thompson wheel’s high-carbon spokes resist wear and bending for an exceptionally long life. The thinness of the wheel allows it to easily enter the soil, for excellent breakage of the sidewall.
The blunt tip & tapering sides of the spokes further assist in crumbling the sidewall. The tapering sides gradually increase the resistance the spoke encounters while operating in the soil. This limits the depth, as does the overall length of the spoke itself (considerably shorter than some other designs on the market). So you get just the right amount of sidewall shattering, without digging too deep. The thinness is also what prevents mud accumulation on the spokes. It simply has nowhere to gather.
Exapta’s toe-out wedge is now built into the shroud for easy adjustment, from zero degrees, to 3° or 6°. Toe-out causes closing wheels (all types) to more actively engage and pull soil back into the furrow—the reverse of the opener blades prying soil apart to create the furrow.
No-till seeding (also known as zero-till) is a relatively new phenomenon, and more effective methods are continually being developed. In the U.S. & Canada, most planters and “no-till” drills are ill-suited to the task from the moment they’re built (they were engineered for tilled seedbeds). For instance, the original smooth closing wheels on all planters and no-till drills can overpack the furrow, especially when soils are damp, causing poor emergence and poor root penetration of the sidewall. Because of the soil structure in no-till, the solid wheel is ineffective at closing the furrow. To avoid the packing problem, as well as the poor furrow closing by smooth closing wheels, several aftermarket companies began offering spoked wheels to replace the original closing wheel.
New! 3-yr compilation of stand counts x row from Seeding Schools available. See how closing wheels and other attachments affect stands & root growth!
An honest assessment from numerous observations by 3rd-party scientists and farmers.
* Closing wheels that don’t pack the soil above the seed (a good thing) should not be used without a separate in-furrow firming device (Keeton seed firmer or seed-lock wheel).
The toe-out helps all spoked wheels to more actively engage and gather soil from the fractured sidewall and pull it back into the furrow—sort of the reverse of the opener blades prying apart the soil while creating the furrow. It even helps the beveled cast closers (non-spoked).
Pictured: Toe-out wedge on late-model JD 1700-series brackets.
Featured in No-Till Farmer: For Ambitious No-Tillers: There’s No Place Like Home
Almost to the Colorado border, these far western KS no-tillers credit some of their success to good seeding equipment set up — including Exapta’s Thompson wheels on their drill as well as their planter (although we do worry about the T-whls on their planter not being ran with a seed firmer).
Featured in No-Till Farmer: Using Residue Layers, Precision Tools to Boost No-Till Profitability
Todd Yackley says he uses Exapta Solution’s Thompson closing wheels on his planter as an aggressive furrow-closing tool with self-limiting depth.
Content of this page is copyright 2005-2024 Exapta Solutions, Inc. (reprint with written permission only).
Thompson wheel covered by U.S. Patent No. 6,907,833. Liquid delivery feature of Valion seed tube guards is U.S. Patent No. 8,978,564. Ninja seed bounce flap U.S. Patent Pending. UniForce U.S. Patent Pending. All rights reserved on other designs. Exapta is a registered trademark of Exapta Solutions, Inc. Keeton is a registered trademark of Precision Planting. Mojo Wire, Thompson wheel, Valion guard, Ninja flap, UniForce, DuraLok, No-till Seeding Explained, and No-till Seeding School are trademarks of Exapta. Disclaimer: Recommendations & page content are current, accurate, and believed to be broadly applicable as of the time of writing (Dec 2005) and last update (2005 – 2014). Because of diversity of soils, climate, crops, planter & drill models/designs marketed worldwide, combinations of attachments, etc., actual results may vary. No warranty is made as to actual results obtained. Should you encounter exceptions or worthwhile annotations to the statements made on this page, please contact us.
Derek is Kansas native who grew up in a 100% no-till farming operation. From an early age the benefits of no-till were made known to Derek by his father and by attending no-till conferences. From there he furthered his passion for soils while at Kansas State University getting his agronomy degree. He has had the experience of working in various roles and sectors of agriculture from sales and consulting, to management, which have all been within production agriculture. Derek has also worked in specialty ag markets such as turf and ornamentals.
Sales & Service Representative
Prior to joining Exapta, Bob Pagel was an Agricultural Territory Sales Manager for Ritchie Brothers, serving parts of MN, WI and IA. He continues to support his family farm in SE Minnesota.
Current Product Engineer
Jonathan Zeller joined Exapta excited to return to working with no-till planting equipment. He supported research of no-till planting and other ag related projects for 7 years with Kansas State University’s Agricultural Engineering Department after getting his engineering degree. He later worked 3 years for Landoll Company, LLC. where he gained experience in a design engineering role. Jonathan grew up on a small family farm in NE Kansas working with row crops, hay and cattle. Jonathan enjoys solving engineering problems and improving or creating products to be robust and easy to install and service.
