CA Draw Bar Solution for Planter

Bought a pretty nice planter last summer that came off a WD. Pretty much decided a CA hitch simply would not exist to find seperate for it but thought why wouldn't the CA draw bar fit right where the WD did. Somebody else on here had or has a similar problem. Seems these are way easier to find set up for WD than CA. I started by removing all of the WD monkey motion associated with the lift and the markers. 2 chains like shown and bolting the CA bar on the planter hitch and wala! As for the markers I have them in nice shape but have decided not to use them for now because I figure I can follow my wheel tracks just as good. Planter in the pic is in the beginning stages of going back together after 20+ hours of power washing and degreasing. The old guy must have poured a whole qt in each hopper after every season for 40 yrs because I never seen anything as greasy as that planter was. Good thing was it perserved it all. I'll repost when its all together. I decided to just get it in working condition this year and maybe in the future I'll take it completely down for a complete restore. I did dissasemble completely the seed and fertilizer hoppers, sprayed with oven cleaner and power washed everything. The sprayed flat black to hold it till I do more.

Chalmersbob wrote: You don't need to bolt the drawbar the way you did. See the c shaped bracket about the end of and above the drawbar? The end of the drawbar slips into it and a pin is inserted. no bolts needed. I have a sub soiler with the same hitch and use it on my CA. Bob

That was what I explored first but it didn't pan out. Way too much slop and bar would ride up so depth control of the runners would have been impossible. There is a considerable space between where the drawbar is and that pin support. If the support had been close to where the bar goes through then maybe it would have worked. Besides another hole would have been needed to properly position the lift point and as it was I didn't drill any other holes in the drawbar, just in the planter tongue.

Yes bolt the drawbar in where it is supposed to go, and hook the chains up vertical so you don't bend anything, I have mine hooked up to our CA and it works great. It is hard to see but here is a picture, if you want more pictures let me know. I have since hooked the lift chains up to the bolt holes closer to the tractor and the markers to the holes farther away from the tractor and it works good.

Original setup for CA had cross chains that why I did it that way. Still plenty of slop. Can't imagine leaving that draw bar loose though. Every time you lift and lower it will be slapping the planter tongue. So far in mock trials its glass smooth and has all the side to side and angled float you would want or need. I will entertain that maybe straight chains would be just as good too. The cross seemed to just add a little stability without loosing the float.

I've never seen a set on a CA bent either but most of these tractors had original equipment used with them. I have seen the forged steel WD and 45 lift arms bent, more than likely cause something had pulled from the side of the arm instead of straight up.

You can't lift enough weight with a CA to bend the lift. The width of the arm spacing doesn't really effect the peformance of the implement as long as the implement can swing. I use a WD plow on my CA without any modifications. I also use a rear cultivator from a WD on my CA, but there the mounting is tight. It took a little spacing of the lift arms on the cultivator. Bob