I recently bought an old Dearborn 2 row corn planter. 2 of the teeth on the cone shaped gear that turns the gear for the seed plate are broken. This gear probably doesn' t turn very fast, maybe 10-20 rpms. It probably doesn' t have much stress either, maybe 20 or so pounds of pressure when the teeth engage the other gear.

Any ideas how to fix it?

most of those gears are cast,you will most likely have to try and find another gear.

If it' s cast it' s almost impossible to weld. We' ve used exopy metal kits on castings at work and I even used the same kit to rebuild the bottom end of my boat motor. Alternately, you may want to try bolting a machined piece of metal into the space where the tooth was.

Dan O.

If all else fails, you may be able to drill a couple of holes in line with the position of the teeth, screw in a couple of short bolts, and then grind the bolts to fit in the gear. I' ve seen old cane mills with this done and it seemed to work pretty good.

Try http://www.yesterdaytractor.com and see if you can get some help with the gear. Nothing on the internet? http://www.ytmag.com/implment/messages/archive23.htm
Try this page.

That cast can be welded. Take it to a shop where they have Stainless Steel rod. A good welder will be able to rebuild those teeth. They have to be carefull to not get the cast too hot, but it can be done. I have added metal to worn teeth and then ground them down to the right shape. The trick here is finding a Welder' s welder. (In other words, a master welder.)

Russ

I agree, a good welder with the right rod can build up the teeth and grind them to match the original. The are all kinds of specialty rod now. The gear will most likely have to be pre-heated to a specified temperature before welding. [&:] terry

i took it to a welder. 20 bucks and he was able to build up the area where the teeth were missing. i spent an hour or two with a dremel tool and was able to shape two teeth.

Wow, you' ve done a darn nice job. I' m really glad everything worked out for you and 20 bucks is pretty cheap. Thanks for posting the picture, you made my day. terry[&:]

It does look good. Did the welder say what type of rods he used?

Dan O.