If you are a JD box drill owner thinking about going to a wider drill or deciding whether to trade for a new box drill, let’s look at some numbers to help with the decision. John Deere has upgraded the newer N series openers with features Exapta has offered for years. The narrower seed boot was the more significant improvement that wasn’t already available in the aftermarket. With box drills, there isn’t an advantage to buying new vs rebuilding since the seed box is the same. However, when dealing with CCS tank drills, there are notable reasons to upgrade to the N series as the tank size has increased and there is more room to work on the center row units. Electric drive meters offer section control and downforce can be adjusted from the cab.
If you own a 1990 and it’s worked for you without much trouble, then spend the money on further improvements like UniForce hydraulic down pressure system which is not a factory option on the new drill. You can make the row-unit completely greaseless with Exapta depth axles and bushing kits. If you don’t feel your drill covers enough acres a year to justify trading for a newer drill, rebuilding will save money and improve the performance and maintenance of the drill. The cost to rebuild one-row unit is found below in Table 1. The table includes labor costs. Exapta can put you in touch with a professional rebuilder if you decide not do it yourself.
As you can see, some serious savings can be realized when it comes to rebuilding drills. If you can find a good rebuilder or are up to the challenge yourself, it can be a very good investment for your operation. Not only is this a good tool for finding how many dollars you kept in your pocket, it is helpful in determining what to pay for a used drill that might need a lot of work or what your current drill’s value might be. This is also assuming a drill is totally shot and needs everything replaced right away which is not often the case. You could slowly rebuild the drill and incrementally improve it year to year. By doing this you can pay to improve an existing air seeder instead of paying interest on a loan for your new drill that will likely need more money put into it once you are done paying it off.
Exapta is ready to help meet your goals in drill performance. Call us today at 785-820-8000 to discuss how we can make your box drill or air seeder literally perform better than new, or to chat about the content in this newsletter. Sign up for a free inspection and get an honest assessment of your drill.