DEUTZ ALLIS 385

Any one have or have used a DEUTZ ALLIS 385  4 row planter? need to know the good and the bad. would like to replace my JD 1240. thanks David

 

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Mine was a great planter! The only thing that sucked a little bit was it wouldn't completely close the furrow in established alfalfa-orchard grass sod. But it did about 80-85% of the time, which probably was all I could hope for. We tried it just to see how darn good it really was. I was very happy with it. My mechanic brought it to me and set it up, he had me keep shifting up through the gears in my 7000 and finally had me running in 3-3 wide open throttle, which was about 7.5 mph. That's how I planted corn in drilled bean stubble all the years I owned it.I used it in standing corn stalks also and it did great. It put a kernel of seed about every 6-6.5 inches without many misses. It was superior to the neighbors red and green planters in wet conditions.  Needless to say I loved it. The only thing other than normal maintenance was you need to replace the wear plates when they wear, but they are not hard on them. I sold it on my sale when I retired, but I wish I had it back to plant my 5 acres that I grow corn in now.

Still not a better unit on the market. The blowers were not the best setup. Pretty hard on altenators. The stands was as good as any. The closing disc on the gage wheels was what set the planter above the rest. When Agco got together if they would have put the white and allis planter together they would have had a great planter. Put the white hydraulic blower,and metering ,with the 385 unit.  The wear pads were the worst part of the 385. Landoll made the metering out of cast aluminium,instead of plastic,that helped the metering units

Deutz sold off the planters to Landoll. I think they still make them.

I have never heard of anybody complain about the 385 planters.  Parts are getting harder to come by even from Landoll though.

Very good planter. If it is air make sure all the eletric motors, wire connections and altanator are in good condition, and recieve 12-14 volts to the motors. Some run a ground wire from the frame to the tractor. Like IG said if you plumb it with a white planter air supply you will have more than enough air for the 385, I think Tbran tried this.