As farmers continue planting day after day to get as much done as possible, it puts more wear and tear on planter parts. Specifically, check planter hydraulic hoses to make sure they’re working as expected.
When connecting the hydraulic hoses on a vacuum planter to a tractor, be aware the hoses that power the hydraulic motors that run the vac fans need to be connected “backwards.”
Modern planters have at least two wiring harnesses that need to be connected. Some of the big, fancy planters have up to half a dozen wiring harnesses. Here are a few suggestions what to do if electricity isn’t flowing between tractor and planter like it’s supposed to.
Need to pull a new hydraulic hose through a planter frame tube? Before you remove the old hose, if you’ve got a bucket of old, used hydraulic fittings, find a “coupler” fitting and use it to attach the end of the new hose to the end of the hold hose.
Many planters now have special electrical connectors on their row units/seed meters that are a pain-in-the-fingertips to take apart. Here’s a few tips from Dan Anderson.
Many hydraulic leaks are easy to find and fix. A blown hydraulic hose is pretty obvious, and replacing the hose is a certain fix. However, identifying a hydraulic fitting with a slow leak can take detective work, and replacing a leaky fitting might not be as straightforward as it appears.
Connecting a modern tractor to a modern planter can be a challenge. Do it right and everything works correctly the first time, and then throughout the season. Do it sloppily, and markers raise and lower when wings should fold, or the first waterway crossing rips all the harnesses in two.
This spring I ran across a couple situations where customers caused hydraulic leaks on their machines. In both cases, the leaks were at the fittings on the ends of hydraulic hoses.
