john deere 1780 planter disk problem-bearings?

[jrv1023650]

We have replaced a number of disks on the units but the bearings seem to fail prematurely. We tried looser , tighter etc but do not seem to be curing the problem. The old disks do not seem to have any problem. What is going on? We tried alternate suppliers too. Thanks for any insight! 

[Shaggy98]

Can you keep using the old bearings and just replace the discs?

[farmerguy89]

make sure you have set the discs to have the appropriate length between the business cards when you do the business card thing. also, make sure you have a minimum of two shims on the inner part of the disc, and the washer on the outside.

[farmerguy89]

remove all rocks from the field.

[jc217]

I fought bearing problems for several years on my 1780.  I'm guessing at least one every three days.  The only way I solved my problem was to trade it off.  A solution I should have done sooner.

[jrv1023650]

I don't know the business card rule. How is that supposed to work? Thanks. We will try anything once or twice!  We did get advice to plant the seed on top of the ground but that did not appeal to us very much! 

[matt hagny]

Are you running the double-row bearings?  3.5mm blades?

Shimming the thicker 3.5 mm blades too tightly can cause bearings to fail prematurely.  Sliding business cards or paper in from both sides of the 'pinch point' of the blades, there should be 0.75 to 1.5" contact area, max -- for the 3.5 mm blades.  (The thinner 3.0 mm blades were far more flexible, and could be mashed together up to 3" of contact with no problem.)

Another thing that can cause bearings to fail is more load on one side of the opener than the other.  For instance, if you're running in firm no-till soils and have a side-band fertilizer opener running too close beside where the seed opener will run, this creates a continuous side-load on the opener bearings and they will fail prematurely.  You may also have problems with cracking the hubs or rivets attaching the hubs.