What are the performance differences between these 2 planters? I know the 7000's can be older than the 7200 but what are the differences in their inner workings? Would they be noticeably different on sorghum or soybeans? For reference I currently notill sorghum and soybeans on 7.5 or 15' rows with a GreatPlains notill drill and am considering going to a planter for the sorghum.

-Paul

There are more aftermarket parts for a 7000 then a 7200 if you have a frame you can build a planter from shoup's parts.

The 7200 conventional frame is similar if not the same to the 7000.

7200s were also available as a 'conservation' (what we have) and are a lot beefer construction.

7200s can be vacuum planters, but only the later vaccuum version can be updated to the Precision Planting equipment.

7200 row units can be set on 15' centers; 7000s are a little wider, and can only be set down to 18-20' spacing.

Good luck- there are lots of choices out there.

7200 HD no-till is heavier, & beefier than a 7000. I don't know what size You are looking for; But my experience is with the 6 row 30' on both. If I was going to buy a new planter today though.. Kinze 3000 without a doubt! But that's just me.

According to my book, the 7000 planters, size for size, are heavier than the 7200 series, both in the standard and conservation models.

thanks for the responses. i don't know which way i'm going to go yet but now I understand a little more.

paul

The 7000 and 7200 finger meters have the same internal parts. I find that the 'black plastic cover' breaks more often on the 7000, but is not a real pricy item. The 'butterfly' drive on the shaft of the 7200 meter is subject to a lot of wear if left to run dry. For ease of repairing I like the 7000 meter better.

Both meters have a tendency to allow some 'skips' with flat seeds, but are very accurate with round seeds. I prefer the Kinze or Precision meters over the JD for accuracy of all seed sizes.
LA in WI

I have a Precision Planting machine and I can assure you that factory Kinze meters are miserable at metering seed. The finger carrier on a Kinze is very flexible and will NOT meter as well as a John Deere or PP meter. A Precision meter will let you meter a wider range of seed sizes more accurately but they do require more user attention to do so. They are not a 'pour and go' meter. A John Deere finger carrier is much more rigid than the Kinze counterpart. The PP finger carrier is very similar to a Deere except the individual fingers are numbered and the 'flags' are shorter than the original Deere style. Deere went to this shorter flag carrier many years ago. If I were to build the perfect meter I would use a Deere finger carrier and a PP back plate with the adjustable brush. The curved seed belt PP offers is ok as well but is not as much an improvement as the back plate is. A Skip Stop metal cover is a good improvement as well.

Original 7000 covers were made of a different kind of plastic that got extremely brittle over time. Deere subbed this part many times and finally found a compound that is much tougher. These newer covers will all fit on a 7000. Another thing that makes the covers break is drive misalignment. Each metering unit and box should go on the same row each and every year. They should be checked periodically for alignment, especially if one is no-tilling in hard or tough conditions. Mike

Mike, I am on my 3rd Precision Planting machine thru 15 years and have installed thousands of PP components. I also have many new prospects bringing in KZ or JD meters for inspection/calibration. In spite of those thinner carriers, the KZ fingers, if in good condition, will produce fewer skips with flats than JD. With round seed, the JD do fine and the KZ will sometimes produce a few multiples. As skips are the most costly in a field I do not install any JD parts in any meter.

The thinner KZ finger carriers do well until the finger wear dictates replacing with PP sets. That 'scare story' about those KZ carriers is mostly negative hype.

Yes, the PP components are the best performing.
Yes, the PP composite back plate with the adjustable brush is the way to go. With fingers showing wear in any meter, I always replace with a PP finger set.

However, I do not push new PP parts on a customer until the situation warrants (running the meters on the machine is the real test). If new parts are warranted, I always check with the customer first and, after I give him the options, I let him decide how he wants to spend his money.

LA in WI

Check the skip stops for cracking every chance you get. 'Nuf said.

Speedball is our Camille Cascode Constant Current Source upgrade for the Crack headphone amplifier. The 22.1KΩ plate loads of the 12AU7 input triodes are replaced by C4S loads, as are the 3KΩ cathode load resistors of the 6080 triodes.

In my experience the thin Kinze carriers are not 'hype'. I am not a Precision dealer and do not care if I install them or not. I recently did two different Kinze planters with one being only three crop years old. They complained it never really did the job they expected it to do. Every row in the planter was not up to expectations regardless of seed size or type. I usually run at least three different seed sizes on each test. All components had been replaced EXCEPT the carriers as they appeared to be ok. I had a used John Deere carrier on hand from my previous planter (7000) and installed it just to see what happened. It worked much better. We went ahead and installed PP parts, including the carrier, and it would consistently plant in excess of 98.5-99%. It would only do about 91% as delivered. While I have not done this for as many years as you have I HAVE rebuilt finger meters for nearly 30 years. Every Kinze/Shoup carrier that I have checked has acted EXACTLY like this. Mike

Farmer Zeb, my previous comments are about corn seeds. I have no experience with sorghum. Sorry.
LA in WI

I believe the main difference is the 7000/7100 are a mechanical planter (finger pick up or use a seed cup for smaller seeds). The 7200 is a vacuum planter.

A 7000 planter could be had in a plate or plateless version. A 7200 could be had in these versions as well as the vacuum version. In the row units themselves you can adjust the closing wheel down pressure with a lever rather than the long bolt in the 7000 series planters. The closing wheel bushings in the 7200 are larger and are eccentric bushings to more easily allow aligning them with the seed trench. The 7200's also have disconnects on the drive wheels where the 7000's do not. The 7200's also have more sprocket combinations in the seed transmission and the chain is easier to change. While both are excellent planters the 7200's are much more user friendly and have heavier parts in some areas. They are a better planter than the 7000's, although they are still a very good and reliable planter. Mike