385 Hydraulic Row Marker Problems

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   The 385 planter worked great in our first no till experiment putting corn directly into an old 12 acre hayfield.  I had a few bugs in the planter with blower fans and seized fertilizer coulters and chains and such, but eventually, but eventually got everything heated and pounded into shape.  It is working like a Swiss watch now, and it did a beautiful job of planting.  

The only problem I had that didn't have time to fix was the hydraulic row markers.  I had two problems.  First, when I raised the planter, the down marker would stay down.  Then, after turning around when I lowered the planter one arm would raise, as it should, but with one heck of a bang as it raised way too quickly, bouncing off the rubber stops and falling back, so I would have to retry it several times until I got it to stay up.  The stops areas got a a little bent, but I can straighten that up again, but need to slow the arm motion way down. 

I see it has a central hydraulic valve, and I read that there is a shuttle valve inside, I'm assuming something is stuck or broken in there.  Now that I am done, I can take the time to pull the valve, but is there anything in particular I should be looking for?  Is there some kind of flow restrictor that should be in the system to limit the speed of the markers lifting?

One last thing that surpised me was how hard the planter pulled.  It is only a 4 row, but the D17 would try to lift the front a bit if I stopped and restarted with it in the ground. However, when one considers it is saving having to plant, disk and harrow, it's not surprising that the various coulters require a lot of power to cut through sod.  We'll see how the field works out, but I was pleasantly impressed trying to do it this way over conventional tillage. 

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AllisUpstate Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Orange Level Joined: 06 May 2011 Location: Upstate NY Points: 1261	Post Options Post Reply Quote AllisUpstate Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: 385 Hydraulic Row Marker Problems Posted: 27 May 2012 at 7:23am
	The 385 planter worked great in our first no till experiment putting corn directly into an old 12 acre hayfield. I had a few bugs in the planter with blower fans and seized fertilizer coulters and chains and such, but eventually, but eventually got everything heated and pounded into shape. It is working like a Swiss watch now, and it did a beautiful job of planting. The only problem I had that didn't have time to fix was the hydraulic row markers. I had two problems. First, when I raised the planter, the down marker would stay down. Then, after turning around when I lowered the planter one arm would raise, as it should, but with one heck of a bang as it raised way too quickly, bouncing off the rubber stops and falling back, so I would have to retry it several times until I got it to stay up. The stops areas got a a little bent, but I can straighten that up again, but need to slow the arm motion way down. I see it has a central hydraulic valve, and I read that there is a shuttle valve inside, I'm assuming something is stuck or broken in there. Now that I am done, I can take the time to pull the valve, but is there anything in particular I should be looking for? Is there some kind of flow restrictor that should be in the system to limit the speed of the markers lifting? One last thing that surpised me was how hard the planter pulled. It is only a 4 row, but the D17 would try to lift the front a bit if I stopped and restarted with it in the ground. However, when one considers it is saving having to plant, disk and harrow, it's not surprising that the various coulters require a lot of power to cut through sod. We'll see how the field works out, but I was pleasantly impressed trying to do it this way over conventional tillage.

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Adam Stratton Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Orange Level Access Joined: 11 Sep 2009 Location: SW MO Points: 1363	Post Options Post Reply Quote Adam Stratton Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 27 May 2012 at 10:26pm
	I dont know for sure about the 385. The planters we run are the older Allis', but here are several thoughts. I am surprised it is pulling that hard for you. We pull an 8 row with no-till coulters with a D19 and dont have that sort of problem, and it is not twice the tractor a D17 is. What series of D17 are you using? Unless you have a series 4 or some add on actual 2 way hydraulics, that might be your problem. If the D17 still has the original high pressure low volume, that might explain a lot. Or I could be barking up the wrong tree. Once again, on our older AC planters the markers work just fine most of the time. They get their juice from the wheels, so when the planter goes up, they get the hydraulic pressure from the opposite side of the ram. Sorry if this doesnt help. I have heard lots of good things about the 385, so it should be a great planter once you get it figured out.

DanWi Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Orange Level Access Joined: 18 Sep 2009 Location: wttn Points: 1922	Post Options Post Reply Quote DanWi Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 28 May 2012 at 10:56am
	The markers do go up fast, its ben a long time but I do think we put some orifices or restricters in the lines, I also made some bumpers out of 3/4 thick cow mat material so they don't hit quite so hard.

AllisUpstate Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Orange Level Joined: 06 May 2011 Location: Upstate NY Points: 1261	Post Options Post Reply Quote AllisUpstate Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 28 May 2012 at 5:56pm
	Thanks Adam and Dan for the feedback. I am using it with a D17IV, and the planter is something like 83 vintage, so I don't think it is the tractor hydraulics that are a problem. I will take apart the valve, and see if I can spot anything obviously wrong, at least what is causing the arm not to raise when I raise the planter. I will try some restrictor valves of some sort to see if I can't slow the arms down a bit. Everybody seems to like these planters, and I can see why. Once I got the bugs out of it, it planted smoothly and with no problems. I paid less than $500 for it, and put maybe $300 more into some new coulter blades and a chain or so. The paint is in halfway decent shape, but I was going to start brush painting it as I clean up and work on each section. Trouble is, I don't know that I could stand to repaint it that horrid green color. I am tempted to throw some AC Orange on it, but...

DanWi Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Orange Level Access Joined: 18 Sep 2009 Location: wttn Points: 1922	Post Options Post Reply Quote DanWi Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 28 May 2012 at 8:31pm
	Other thing that didn't help us with the markers was I add solid shaft inside the markers for notill, after taking them in and out for different soil conditions now I just mount them on the outside with some hose clamps and duct tape. If you don't have cow mats to make those bumpers use the thick part of an old tire and cut some out.