Hi Everyone!!!! Looking for some help with a John Deere 246 planter. My father and I want to plant some field corn for foodplots and also some sweet corn. We have a 246 planter that was my grandfathers but it has been sitting for a long long time. I just pulled it out of the weeds and started oiling and lubing it up. I am hoping everything is going to free up. My questions are: Are parts available for these? I have ordered a parts diagram. Also the fertilizer canisters have rotted off at the base and the seed canisters are rotting at the base but still on the planter. Are the canisteres available? Is this planter worth the time to fix up or should I look elsewhere? I really want to get it working for sentimental reasons. Thanks for any help anyone can provide. I can send some pics of it if that would help.
Planters John Deere 246 Corn Planter Questions
- Thread starter cm9
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sweettractors
Advertiser
A quick call to Deere would tell you the availability and cost of boxes and lids. If they are out of production, try Ebay this winter for boxes and lids. I have also seen people have a sheet metal shop rig up some hoppers, however, this would not be the same for sentimental reasons. We are refrubishing one in the shop now and will be ready to go by the end of the week. We like to have never found the lids and skid shoes. Best of luck. Ken Sweet
Thanks after checking it out a little further it really isn't in bad shape besides the fertilizers hoppers the only thing it may need is the disc openers for the fertilizer. the ones on there are froze up pretty good but we greased and sprayed them up good so hopefully they will free up.
sweettractors
Advertiser
You could take the openers off and put them in a bucket diesel or kerosene and soak them for a few days. Ken Sweet
According to my info your 246 planter uses the same planter plates as the ones listed below. Generally there are quite a few plates listed on E-Bay with the 71 being the most common. With the right plates you will be able to plant most anything. JD has a good parts listing with schematics on their website. The website is a bit tricky to use, but, if I can do it, anyone can.
John Deere - Parts Catalog
MODEL #
71
246
290
446
490
494
1240
494A
495A
John Deere - Parts Catalog
MODEL #
71
246
290
446
490
494
1240
494A
495A
I have had a 246 for about 15 years and it has been great. Fertilizer parts are hard to find because of the age of these planters and the corrosiveness of fertilizer. If you can find them, you will have a better piece of equipment than a newer model 71, as these almost never have dry fertilizer attahments. A light application of 15-15-15 at planting is all I ever need to get good fieldcorn and sweetcorn yields but I only plant on old clover fields to satisfy much of the nitrogen requirement. You might have better luck finding parts from an old 4-row and/or pull-type planter. The pull-type planters 290/490 share some, but not all the parts. The shoes, seed-boxes, fertilizer hoppers, disc wheels are the same, but the iron housings that support the disc wheels are different. One of these housings rusted out on my 246 and I thought I could take one from my "parts" 290, but no dice. I had to fabricate a repair using what I could salvage of the old one and some steel pipe. My shoes were wore down real bad however, and the like-new replacements I took from that 290 have given me significantly better germination this season. Parts are out there and I would do what it takes to get it back in shape. They dont make anything as good these days.
Thanks for the help everyone I appreciate it.This is going to be a fun project. I hope to have it done over the fall and winter to use next year. If I can't find any fertilizer hoppers I may just see if I can get someone to fix the ones I have. They are intact just rotted around the bottoms.
sweettractors
Advertiser
Call or email me and I will give you 2 phone numbers to try on the fert boxes. Ken Sweet
sweettractors
Advertiser
Luremaker
Veteran Member
Ken, it's really great that you are always helping posters on tbn solve their problems. I hate to criticize, but I think you should consider updating your digital camera because your pictures are never very clear.
I live in KS. and the use of liquid fertilizer has become pretty prevalent . I just use a 15 gallon 12 volt sprayer with the appropriate orifices for fertilizer. Need to be able to control ground speed application rate (orifice size) If expense get out of hand on your 246 hoppers an etc. get out of hand a look at liquid fertilizer might be in order.
My biggest issue is finding someone who will sell me the small quantities that I need. Most of the time I buy leftover from the farmers.
My biggest issue is finding someone who will sell me the small quantities that I need. Most of the time I buy leftover from the farmers.
Luremaker
Veteran Member
Hi Jim, I do not want to hijack the OP's post but I was thinking of trying liquid fertilizer next summer. I picked up this old 7 row 71 a few weeks back and it is set up with a manifold and tubes to spray phosphate right in with the seed. The fellow I purchased it from said he used it with corn and soybeans for years with this setup. Thought some would find this setup simple and helpful for liquid fertilizer.
Attachments
sweettractors
Advertiser
It is not the camera, It is the resolution we have it set at. We send out hundreds of pictures a week of implements and most of the time each email will have 4-5-6 pictures in it. If we go any higher on the resolution setting, it locks a lot of customers email in boxes up. Not everyone has a high speed connection to the internet. Sorta have to split the difference in picture quality. Ken Sweet
Luremaker
Veteran Member
Ken...shoot the picture in high res and reduce the image size with an image editor and you'll be left with a much higher quality image to send to your customers without taking any more space in mailboxes. May increase $ales as well.
Hi Jim, I do not want to hijack the OP's post but I was thinking of trying liquid fertilizer next summer. I picked up this old 7 row 71 a few weeks back and it is set up with a manifold and tubes to spray phosphate right in with the seed. The fellow I purchased it from said he used it with corn and soybeans for years with this setup. Thought some would find this setup simple and helpful for liquid fertilizer.
Yes, looks good. Mine is a little simpler as I only use a 1 row planter. Some care needs to be used when adding fertilizer in furrow with seed as some fertilizer will burn seed. Bigger tank than my 15 gallon would be in order for 7 rower.
sweettractors
Advertiser
WE already do the image reduction and if I go any smaller, My over 60 customers probably won't be able to see it real good. I actually have lots of emails sent in here in 24 case size letters in the body of the emails. Old camera has logged about 10 Mil in sales, so I will stick with her a little longer. Ken Sweet
Luremaker
Veteran Member
I bought this 7 row planter for the tool bar. I'll never use a 7 row planter for the 2 acres of corn I plant. I'll put my already refurbished 2-row 71's on this tool bar after I cut it down.
Your right about JD parts listing being tricky. I got all of the diagrams etc except the plates info I need. I'm trying to determine which plate will work with today's field & sweet corn seed. I think the problem is the plates I have will not drop seed on a regular interval. They did work for sunflowers although planted them to thick. The range sprocket was in high, low should be better. Lincoln Ag says they have plates for 246's but they can't tell me which one's plant which seed. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
