A Guide to Agricultural Replacement Parts

Ground-engaging parts on agricultural equipment eventually wear out, so growers should regularly maintain and replace these parts to ensure peak performance and efficiency. Replacing them at proper intervals reduces the chance of sudden breakdowns and can extend the lifespan of your farming equipment, while saving you frustration and yield loss. At the same time, having a reliable parts supplier can significantly decrease annual production costs and reduce costly downtime. Here’s everything you need to know to simplify agricultural replacement parts.

When It Pays to Purchase Agricultural Replacement Parts Ahead of Time

Dealing with a machine breakdown or operating a malfunctioning planter can lead to a loss of quality or yield. There are so many unpredictable factors involved in planting that unreliable equipment shouldn’t be tolerated. Purchasing a few spare parts a year keeps your gear in shape and saves you from unexpected costs and downtime. Procuring newer, more efficient technology to replace obsolete agricultural machinery parts can also increase growers’ comfort, convenience, and profitability.

As the days get longer and the temperature rises, many growers begin to prepare their planters for the upcoming summer season. This is a great time to inspect your agricultural equipment and replace any parts that may be worn or damaged. Here are some tips on what to look out for when rebuilding your planter this summer:

1. Disc blades: During the fall, disc blades are typically used in both spring and summer. After putting them through a full growing season, it is wise to inspect them and replace any blades that may be worn or damaged.
2. Feeder house: Ensure that your feeder house chain is in condition by inspecting it for signs of wear or damage. If needed, replace the chain with a new one.
3. Rasp bars: Similarly to the feeder house chain, rasp bars can also become worn over time. Inspect them and replace as necessary.
4. Cutting platforms and grain heads: To ensure maximum performance, look at replacing the knives, guards, poly skid shoes, drive heads, belts on your cutting platform or grain head.

Rebuilding your planter during the summertime is essential in order to ensure optimal performance for the upcoming growing season. By inspecting and replacing any worn or damaged parts you can help extend its lifespan and get the most out of your equipment.

The Most Common Agricultural Replacement Parts

Operating a planter with worn-out components can affect your yield. Maintaining and upgrading your planter with high-quality replacement parts ensures your equipment is in peak condition and can create consistent, even emergence.

The most common agricultural replacement parts that you need to replace on a recurring basis are:

1. Planter Replacement Parts
2. Seed Drill Replacement Parts
3. High-Speed Tillage Disc Replacement Parts

Planter Parts

Seed Discs

You should replace your seed discs after you have worn off a half inch from the original size. Some common sizes for OEM seed discs are John Deere 15 inch or Case-IH 14 or 15 inch, and depending on which series planter you have, Kinze 15 inch and White 15 inch. Another thing to check is if the bearings are not loose. Continuing to use the seed disc after a half inch of wear means you’ll lose depth and blade sharpness, negatively affecting the efficiency and effectiveness of your planter.

The seed disc is one of the most vital agricultural machinery parts. Blades from the OEM tend to wobble, and when you need to plant small seeds like carrots, the importance of a high-quality seed trench can’t be understated. Purchasing a replacement part that runs true and maintains its sharpness gives you the advantage you need to create effective seed trenches with excellent yield.

At RangeLine, we find that many seed disc openers in the market do not stay sharp for the life of the blade. RangeLine Group offers a more expensive seed disc with a longer bevel that wears sharp throughout the life of the blade. Each one is inspected to meet our quality standard of 50,000ths or less wobble. We offer two hub styles, a cast hub for no-till planting and a pressed hub for conventional, minimum, and strip-till planters. We also use peer bearings in our hubs.

Gauge Wheels

Planters use gauge wheels alongside the opener blades to maintain precise seed depth control. When the wheel rests where the seed disc leaves the soil, it can prevent sidewall blowout. We offer a variety of different gauge wheels, such as the standard 4 inch by 16 inch assembly, 3 inch by 16 inch assembly, reduced inner diameter gauge wheels, and standard profile, as well as spoked gauge wheels for less than ideal conditions.

Parallel Linkages

Parallel arm linkage allows your row-unit to ride through your field smoothly. Parallel linkage enables your machinery to flex with the frame and follow the contour of the soil. Over time, the bushings in the parallel linkage wear out; they wear into the arms, creating slop in the row-unit linkage that allows the row-unit to move side to side and negatively affect the seed placement.

Operating with poorly maintained parallel linkage results in seed trenches with varying depth and leads to uneven emergence. With RangeLine Group, you can update your parallel linkage bushings with our kits and arms.

Seed Drill Replacement Parts

If you’re not sure when to replace your seed drill parts, the best rule of thumb is to do it as soon as you notice a drop in performance or if you detect any wear and tear. This will ensure that your seed drill continues to provide you with accurate seed placement and yield data. Don’t let yourself be surprised by a breakdown when you need it the most. Invest in quality seed drill replacement parts from RangeLine, including:

• Stock bearings, pins, and bushings
• Seed firmers for drills