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Before you know it, seeding season will be here. To ensure your seeding equipment is ready to work come spring, it’s important to perform routine maintenance throughout the winter. Our Engineers have compiled the following checklist of recommended farm equipment maintenance.

Air Drill Maintenance Checklist

1. Check your air drill for cracked hydraulic hoses or places where they are rubbing through and replace any worn components.
2. If your drill uses pneumatic packer tires, ensure you have enough spares and they are filled to the manufacturer’s recommended PSI.
3. Check for worn/missing opener tips, tubes that have rusted through due to moisture/fertilizer residue, loose hoses, and loose bolts.
4. Check all primary and secondary hoses for wear.
5. Ensure there is no rust in the manifolds as it can plug the outlets, hoses, or openers.
6. Ensure the manifolds have no holes.
7. Check the level of the drill to ensure accurate and even/consistent placement.
8. Do a calibration to ensure metering system is working properly.
9. Test to make sure there is adequate air flow by removing the hose from the opener and pointing it up in the air. Seed and fertilizer should be propelled upwards at least 12″ out of the end of the hose.
10. Make sure all the seals on the air cart lids and at the manifolds are in place and in good condition.
11. Consider mounting a screen on your fill auger so you can screen out fertilizer lumps to prevent plugging.
12. Test all electronics to make sure everything is communicating properly and that no wires were chewed by rodents while in storage. Leave plenty of time for diagnosing electrical issues.
13. Tighten all linkages that have bushings. In most cases, the bushing is slightly longer than the part that it goes through, so the nut should be torqued so that the bolt and bushing never move. If they have not been torqued adequately, bolt holes can become egged out, resulting in thin, worn bolts and causing a loose, unsafe machine that can be costly to repair.
14. Grease everything including your wheel bearings. If there is no grease zerk on the hub, remove the dust cap, insert a grease needle between rollers on bearings and continue pumping until grease comes through the bearing from the inside out. A well-greased hub should provide many years of trouble free service.
15. While the dust cap is off, take the weight off the wheel and check that the bearings are tightened properly.

Dutch Openers recommends that Producers always follow proper maintenance and installation instructions provided by the manufacturer. For more information contact Dutch Openers at 1.800.663.8824

Rogan Milatz is a local producer and employed as a Design Engineer by Dutch Openers.