Great Plains AS20 Operator Manual - Manual (Page 21)

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19 4/14/05 Great Plains Mfg., Inc.
Section 4 Hitch, Drill, & Planter Adjustments For No-Till Planting Conditions
AS15 and AS20 Planting System 148-153M
Leaf Spring Adjustment
The leaf spring located just ahead of the vertical pivot on
the All Seeds Hitch is designed to provide just enough
force to help keep the hitch square and stable for turning
around at the ends of a field, and to add stability for op-
erating in rough and irregular field conditions. Proper
leaf spring adjustment is important for smooth operation
between the hitch and the planter or drill. During assem-
bly, the 3/8" u-bolt on the outer ends of the leaf spring
must be tightened enough to pull the ends of the leaf
spring forward so the force from the leaf spring doesn’t
interfere with the installation of the center pivot pin. Once
the pivot pins are assembled, the nuts on the 3/8" u-bolts
must be backed off to set the proper leaf spring stabiliz-
ing force. For proper adjustment, square the hitch with
the transport frame and adjust the 3/8" u-bolt lock nuts
on each side until the leaf spring rollers just make con-
tact with the roller pads on the transport frame. Make
sure both the right and left sides are adjusted properly
when the hitch is square to the transport frame.
Drill & Coulter Adjustments
Down Floating Gauge Wheels
When using a 3-point mounted drill on a All Seeds No-
Till Hitch, the drill should be equipped with downward
floating gauge wheel links. Downward float on the gauge
wheels is necessary to maintain a constant uninterrupt-
ed drive wheel rotation in no-till conditions.
Current Great Plains drills have down floating gauge
wheels as standard equipment. Older Great Plains drills
require two slotted gauge wheel links (Great Plains part
no. 120-171A) or two spring loaded gauge wheel links
(Great Plains part no. 120-106A) to achieve the neces-
sary down float for no-till drilling.
Drill Adjustments
The following adjustments should be made with a half
full seed box:
1. Lower the All Seeds Hitch and completely retract the
transport lift cylinders. Set the front tongue cylinder
so that your coulters are at the desired depth. Note
the setting on the cylinder depth gauge so that you
can return to the same depth after lifting the drill.
2. Make sure your 3-point drill is equipped with down
floating gauge wheels. Set the drill gauge wheel to
the desired setting to maintain the proper frame
height for your style of drill.
•
For 00 Series drills with straight arm double disk
openers, the bottom of the opener frame tube
should run approximately 17 1/2 inches above
the ground.
•
For 10 Series drills with parallel arm double disk
openers, the bottom of the opener frame tube
should run approximately 21 inches above the
ground.
Maintaining the proper opener frame height allows the
double disk openers to contact the soil properly and fol-
low uneven terrain while maintaining the proper seed
placement.
3. Next level the drill with the level link adjustment or
top link adjustment trunnion.
•
For 00 Series drills with straight arm double disk
openers, there should be about 2" of gap be-
tween the spring rod casting and the spring rod
cross bolt when the drill is level as shown in
Figure 4-4.
•
For 10 Series drills with parallel arm double disk
openers, the drill is level when the opener mount
is about 1" to 1 1/2" higher than the opener body
as shown in Figure 4-5.
Normal Spring Rod Setting
Figure 4-4
10548
Leveling the Drill
Figure 4-5
12163