ATV drill

[bigbluetruck]

Here's where I'm going to document my build of an ATV drill out of a 11ft John Deere Van Brunt "B" drill.

I picked up 2 of these on a sale last fall and now that crops are in, fertilized and cows are to pasture I have a little more time in between irrigating and making hay.

Both are in good shape, havent been used in a few years but stored inside so that helps. This one is getting cut in half to make 2 drills, it's really a fairly simple process. The other is going to be made into a 11ft 3pt drill.

Turns out, if you take the hitch off, you need to block up the back end or it will tip over, luckily no one or the drill was hurt!

Got the box cut in half, the left side of the right side frame angle in, and everything blocked up ready to split after I cut

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[bigbluetruck]

I'll add that the other half of this drill will be for sale when I'm done with it.

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[cutman]

How do you just cut a drill in half? What tool do you use?

 

[bigbluetruck]

One cut at a time lol.

Sawzall and a metal blade. For the frame I'll use the sawzall and or a cutting blade in a 4" angle grinder

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[cutman]

Cool. It never ceases to amaze me how handy so many of y’all on this forum are. Can’t wait to follow along.

 

[bigbluetruck]

Outside of cutting the box and making 2 new end plates, it's a pretty simple process. I've already got 2 axles from the same model drill I got from a scrapyard. I've just got to go pick up a few other odds and ends for it.

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[Drycreek]

So what you will wind up with is two 5.5' drills ? Will these be no-till or will you have to prep the plot ? As you might guess, I'm pretty ignorant of drills and such. I was raised on a dairy, so if you want to know about shoveling cow crap I can clue you in !

I'm very interested in a drill, but I can't afford $10,000 just for deer food.

 

[bigbluetruck]

So what you will wind up with is two 5.5' drills ? Will these be no-till or will you have to prep the plot ? As you might guess, I'm pretty ignorant of drills and such. I was raised on a dairy, so if you want to know about shoveling cow crap I can clue you in !

I'm very interested in a drill, but I can't afford $10,000 just for deer food.

Yep 2 5.5' drills. Should be just right to pull with a 4 wheeler or side by side.

I don't know a ton about drills, these are the 1st two that have ever had permanent residence on this farm lol.

As far as no till or prepped, I'm going to use them mostly as a no till drill, but I wouldn't want to rely on them to make a living that way. They're designed to be used on disked fields, they are probably 1940s vintage.

For what I'm using them for, food plots, waterway seeding, etc, they will work fine. Think of a throw and mow with some slight disking action.

And between our momma cows and a feedlot, I've had plenty of practice with cow s**t lol

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[bigbluetruck]

Had a little time before dinner today to get some done.

First I had to grind off the head and pound out the rivet and holding the mount for 2 of the disk units, I had already welded each side so each half of the mount could go with its respective half of the drill.

Can't turn back now Sally!

It's been halved!

This is the disk mount I had to cut in half when I made my cut. I welded everything up to strengthen the frame.

Before anyone thinks this is going exactly to plan. I thought that the 2 holes would line up perfectly with the holes in the side plate of the wheel. Turns out they didnt, so being lazy, I just decided to weld the plate to the angle iron. I'll probably still drill a hole or 2 and bolt it, but I doubt it'll need it.

Its sitting on 2 wheels! A surprise was the tire on the axle I picked up was still full of air, have no idea when it was filled last.

I'll still need to get 2 new tires, and next time I go over to my uncle's shop, I'll have him cut out a piece of sheet steel with the plasma cutter to cover the end of the seed box. Its nice having a welder/machinist/blacksmith for an uncle.

I'm going to start on the hitch next, I want them ready to at least roll out of the shop if we happen to need the space. Give Dad less reason to bitch about my projects lol.

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[buckdeer1]

I have a couple just alittle bit newer that i was looking to do this also but was thinking about just welding new spindles on.I have some fairly sandy ground and use them as min till to plant wheat.Back years ago farmers would pull drop tubes out of chutes and plant alfalfa with them.I have at least 1 I would make a person a decent deal on if they are looking for a project

 

[bigbluetruck]

I have a couple just alittle bit newer that i was looking to do this also but was thinking about just welding new spindles on.I have some fairly sandy ground and use them as min till to plant wheat.Back years ago farmers would pull drop tubes out of chutes and plant alfalfa with them.I have at least 1 I would make a person a decent deal on if they are looking for a project

I was planning on making the one side, but I found these and they were already taken off! Sometimes a guy gets lucky lol

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[bigbluetruck]

We got some nice rain last night, and since its Sunday I decided to get as much done as I can. Outside of making the endplate and putting the small seed box on, it's done.

My extra axles didn't come with the bolts to attach them, I couldve went and found some, but a couple minutes with a torch and some ready rod and that was done.

At some point in its life someone has caught the tongue with the back wheel of a tractor on both sides bending it with this nice curve, I thought itd work well with the 4wheeler, but without a drop hitch it tipped the drill back too much for my liking.

So I got the torch out again and notched both sides of the tongue, and with a little "persuasion" from the "little" hammer in the background I got it straight enough for me and welded it back solid again. Finally I shortened and welded the hitch on to the main frame.

I also discovered I'm going to have to find some new idlers gears, these are quite worn, but the main drive gears are good enough.

Here's my "farmer engineered" solution for a depth adjustment handle lol

If you're going to work on these old drills, it helps to have the right tools, this "chain beaker" is almost indespensible for getting those flat chains apart

Finally out for its maiden voyage around the yard! Pulls nice and the trip mechanism worked good after a little lube.

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[bigbluetruck]

Please ignore the messy yard in the background, Mom would have a cow if she knew I was putting pics like that out for strangers to see lol

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[T-Max]

Please ignore the messy yard in the background, Mom would have a cow if she knew I was putting pics like that out for strangers to see lol

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That planter is cool! I didn't even notice a yard! Haha!

 

[bigbluetruck]

A few things you learn the 2nd time around, I mounted the other axle so the other half is mobile now. But this little "nub", I figured out it's not really needed, so that saves a lot of headache trying to drill the hole as you can see where I missed and had to grind out to make it work on my drill

A perk of living on the farm, dad had some of this 20/50 chain laying around from the older combines, wahala, a new drive chain!

I decided that the drive chain tensioner has had a few acres on it, its worn almost halfway through, so I welded it and ground it back down, it'll probably outlast the rest of the drill now lol

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[CTM1]

The mechanical aptitude some of you guys have always amazes me. Look forward to reading and seeing more.