# newbie with a grain drill



## BryanM (Sep 20, 2009)

I need a little advice. I have a International grain drill #10 grain drill w/grass seeder. I tried to plant or overseed some orchard grass but the seed keeps getting plugged up in the seed cups and tubes. I cleaned and dissasembled tubes and cupps a blew thru the hoses and cupps with compressed air. It will start working but will not be consistant with the flow of seed.

Are their any tips or tricks I can do or ck anything? thanks


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

The seed tubes can't have much of a bend in them or they will plug with the light O grass seed.Maybe you need to shorten them up?Or tie them some how so it is a straight drop to the opener.


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## JD4755 (Apr 17, 2008)

Sometimes spider webs can do that.. compressed air will blow through them but they will stop up seed, get a wooden dowel or something and poke through each tube


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Agreed on the spider webs. Our Hiniker air seeder is bad about that sometimes. The spring after we plant treated seed isn't so bad, and some years we have to pull each tube off, get a fishtape, put a rag on the end of it and pull it thru to get all the webs/eggsacs out.


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## deerrunhaycp (Oct 17, 2008)

Are you running it through the small seed box, or the main grain box? OG doesn't really handle going through the small box, we put ours in the main boxes and haven't had a problem.


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

If there is any type of bend - I would look there if there are any that are sharp. I have had it that I have driven too fast, and the small seed meters plug with seed. And I have had some spider webs clogging a few tubes already. On the one drill, we mounted the tubes so that that would vibrate a bounce around a little, the other one has pretty straight drops right into the seed openers, so each individual tube bounces around. That will help - the more the tubes bounce around, the less likely the seed will stick fast on the inside...

Rodney


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## BryanM (Sep 20, 2009)

I ended up going too the big hopper too drop the seed. threw. I did wash out the tubes on half the drill and It helped but not a lot. the tubes are from the small hopper too right in front of the press wheels. the tubes are held in a holder and are open at the end just too fall out in the furrow that the disk cut. I cant determine if the problem is the tube or the cup I think its the cups because I run it with out the hoses attaches and seed sometimes getts caught and jambed up in the cups. Is orchard seed a seed that easliy gets tied up and bunches.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Can't say or not if orchard grass bunches. Have always used a Oliver drill of one kind or another to plant hay with. Have a Superior 64 now and we removed the tubes from both small seed boxes and let those drop onto a piece of sheetmetal mounted under them to help disburse the seed more.

I remember when I was a little kid and could barely lift a bag of oats, using my Grandfathers old Oliver drill with the tall steel wheels on it and the wood boxes to plant a field of hay. Had small boxes as well as I remember, depending on the size of the field a person could make 2 or 3 rounds then had to stop and top all the boxes off. Got done planting and helped Grandfather vacuum all the boxes out, blew the drill off with compressed air, then sprayed kerosene inside all the boxes to clean the seed coating out of the seed cups. He oiled everything then ran it down the side of the road and parked it back in the barn down the road where it still sits now. Had to be over thirty years ago but those old Oliver drills had the small seed boxes mounted on the front up high with coiled steel tubes, we'd leave those loose on the ends and from driving they would get to swaying back and forth so it never looked like the alfafla was drilled on when it came up.


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