[littleharoldeh]

Hi there, wondering if anyone has ever had a fix for the banding tip on a stealth open. I use a 3.5 inch paired row 9 inch spacing on a flexi. I know the obvious answer is get a new opener. Trust me Id love to but with all the money I;m sinking into rebuilding the manifolds and meter boxes I kinda wanna avoid buying 10 grand worth of new openers. Next year. I never have issues with the seed runs plugging and if they do only one plugs and at least seed is still coming out of the other row. Anyhow, I;ve read some snippets about using shims/spacers/washers on the top bolt. I've also changed the banding tip to a Gen Manufacturing tip. Its a gumbo with a much larger heal and it did help improve somewhat. For Flexicoil and GEN 300 openers (GEN 49-1?, GEN 74-2?, GEN 59-3? point) | Wearpoints | Wearpoints
My soil has clay. Its heavy, Eastern Sask area. Appreciate any input. Thanks

 

[dfarms11]

We had the same problems for years. I was ready to switch to dutch openers because of it. After talking to one of dealers at length about it they said to put the spacers on the top bolt like you mentioned. 2 years running and not one plugged run. Best investment I've made on the air drill.

 

[littleharoldeh]

Thanks for your reply. So what exactly are these spacers? How big. I dunno if they would know what those are at the dealers here since they are a old opener. Glad it helped you. What kind of soil you working in?

 

[skfarmboy]

I should have spacers if I can find them, I am not home now to check.
PM if you are interested

 

[soccerdad]

I had the same issue. They are auto body spacers used to align the doors. Sort of U shaped with a tab on the top. About 1/8" thick. Put them in the top bolt and it angles the tip down just a bit so it does not plug, unless you decide to stick it in the mud. :22::22:

 

[littleharoldeh]

1/8th sure doesn't seem like much but if it does the trick great. What kind of soil tho were you going thru?

 

[soccerdad]

Our soil is heavy black loam. I said the same thing when the dealer suggested them, so I only did about ten openers at first. Once they were on, those ten did not plug. So I did the rest. Last year the only time I plugged was if I turned with the openers down and it was really wet last year.

 

[abfarmer]

if you cant get shims use washers they wont get lost

 

[dfarms11]

Mostly we have black loam. Although we do have our fair share of gumbo. Your dealer should be able to get the shims however washers would do the same job.

 

[bad altitude]

We were always being supplied with aluminium shims from the dealer that I always thought were a Flexicoil part number. They were the slotted type mentioned above which made them easy to install or remove. Just loosen the opener mounting bolts and slide in. In our soils we used them more to prevent plugging of the rear paired row seed boot and also help extend the wear of the small protrusions on the bottom of that paired row boot (pre carbide era).But I believe they will help prevent plugging of the fertilizer opening as well
.
On the down side when running the openers tilted slightly forward with the shims in, IMO you will get more seed bounce and your seed placement will not be as good. Also with the openers forward the tips will run slightly deeper so if you have rocks you will be pulling more of those beloved things and experiencing more opener breakage. The field finish may be slightly rougher as well.

 

[farmbybrotherinlaw]

If you still need the slotted shims, Atom-Jet also has them in stock. Their part number is ZT-CZNK00 and they are used for converting any 47° shank over to fit openers built for the standard 50° shank.

 

[bussard]

My last drill, these shims were installed, I have never used them in the past and was not sure how they would turn out, since they angle the point deeper..

Been three years now and they still are doing a good job, I also have the carbide tips and found that I can increase double shoot nitrogen because of better separation ..

Also found less plugging on paired row but also have the carbide on them as well..

Yes it could be a bit more rock pulling and a bit more rigidly but it's also nice to not have no seed burn on canola or wheat with 225 lbs of 46 going a inch bellow..