Need advice on tread width vs planter

jimr63

Active member

Equipment
M5-091HDC, L47TLB, L4701F, ZD1211-72, GR2120-54, RTV-X1140
Jun 24, 2015
121
47
28
SOMD
So long story short, just upgraded from an old Allis Chalmers 333 - 4 row (narrow) corn planter to a JD 7000-6RN conservation till with liquid fertilizer tanks. The old AC planter was no problem for my L4701 2wd and I had the tractor wheels set at 60" tread width accordingly. I'm thinking the new JD planter is going to be too heavy for the L4701 so I plan on using my M5-091. So here's the question... The tread width on the 4wd M5 is currently set at 64" in the rear and whatever it is in the front to make the centers of the front and rear track the same. I can rearrange the rear ballasted tires, cast iron weights, and centers to get closer to the ideal 60" tread width for the planter but does it matter enough to go through all that when I'd prefer the little wider stance for everything else? FWIW, keeping it the way it is would result in a 6" clearance inside the tire width and 4" clearance outside the tire width from the center of the planter boxes on either side of the tires. Any row crop experts out there with some advice for this newbie?