Planters Looking for parts for a my new old JD 1240 and 494 planters

JDeerekid · Apr 14, 2008

I recently purchased an old JD 1240 4-row planter and a JD 494 4-row planter. My father went up to the local JD dealer today and they told him that we can get new seed hoppers for the 494 but not for the 1240. Why is this the 494 is older but can still get more parts. Oh the 1240 is plateless and the 494 is a plate planter. What I need is new seed hoppers for each. I can get buy with the 1240 for now but I want to plant soybeans and I would need the plate planter for that as I do not want to spend the money for cups on the plateless. Any help would be appreiciated.

Farmwithjunk · Apr 15, 2008

The 494/495 was in production for many years. The 1240 had a short production run. They were the 1st generation plateless planters. The MaxEmerge line came along and made the 1240 obsolete. With few in the field, parts support dwindled away in time. It's been almost 35 years since the 1240 left Deere's inventory. Look at it this way. It's a minor miracle parts are still available for the 494/495's. They've been around for more than 50 years.

Check EBAY. Just a while back, someone had a set of hoppers for a 1240 listed on there.

JDeerekid · Apr 15, 2008

Farmwithjunk said:
The 494/495 was in production for many years. The 1240 had a short production run. They were the 1st generation plateless planters. The MaxEmerge line came along and made the 1240 obsolete. With few in the field, parts support dwindled away in time. It's been almost 35 years since the 1240 left Deere's inventory. Look at it this way. It's a minor miracle parts are still available for the 494/495's. They've been around for more than 50 years.

Check EBAY. Just a while back, someone had a set of hoppers for a 1240 listed on there.

So you are telling me I aught to get rid of the 1240 fast. I did price seed hoppers for the 494 at the JD dealer. Price is aroud 150 each. Seems high to me. They said that they are metal, do they make fiberglass replacements?