Central IL Planting Progress, Height Switches, & Connector Issues

The majority of the crops have been planted in the Central IL area. A few customers are still finishing soybeans and with the current weather forecast should be finishing up with those by next week.

Several customers have been side dressing with liquid and fast bars. I have seen a couple of height switches that were out of adjustment and it is always a good first place to look when having problems with product application. You can find the height switch status under the book and wrench tab in the rate controller in the readings drop down box. It will read “Switches/Status”.

I have spoken with several customers that are still having issues with section control setup and offsets. It is very important to double check your equipment offsets throughout the season and make sure that the measurements you have input are staying there every time you cycle the key when using the R series tractors. I suggest taking a picture of them with your phone or writing them down on a piece of paper you can leave in the armrest for quick reference upon start up. Hopefully this issue will be resolved soon but for now it is better to be safe than sorry.

I have also seen two instances where the connector pictured below causes problems with correct operation of equipment. Once on a 1770NT 24 row, the connector was just not pushed together enough and was causing intermittent problems on the GS3 display and not allowing proper operation of the planter. The second situation was on a new 2510L that the customer had just taken home and was preparing to use. The customer put water in the tank and attempted operation of the tool and the valves would not turn on allowing proper product application. Examination of the connector and a tug on the wires pulled the ground wire out. After proper replacement of the wire and insuring the connector was pushed together well, the tool worked just like it was supposed to. This connector is found on many John Deere machines and on the rate controller harness. The last situation was on a rate controller harness.

Central IL Planting Progress, Height Switches, & Connector Issues1