Tar River SAYA-507 No Till Drill
- Thread starter breddick
- Start date
Buckhunter10
5 year old buck +
My dealer has been great, but they have been transparent as well. They told me it was March, then July, then Fall time, ETA. Hopefully, yours will be sooner but you might want to call your dealer to see if they have a pulse on it. Hope it works out for you buddy!
I really want to move to a blend. I ordered the summer release blend from green cover seed for all my plots this spring. I'm up to 8 acres total now. I'm hoping to have a good summer crop then drill right through it in September with the fall release blend. Any suggestions on calibrating the drill for a blend @ 40# per acre?
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
There are several good videos about calibrating a drill. I posted one good one one earlier....but most of them are similar. With the SAYA you will need to pull it 150' (measured) to allow the seed cups to dispense seed into some plastic bags. I used three seed cups and some math (from the videos) to determine the seed rates. Even then it takes some tweaking to get it right. Google calibrating a drill and see the videos on same.
I may try a method this summer.....in where you just turn that rolling basket "x" number of revolutions to operate the seed cups / drops. That may take less time that what I did last year. One thing for sure.....is that you get pretty good at guessing the settings as you gain some operation time with the drill.
I bought most of my seed needs for the year from Green Cover. I did buy their summer and fall release blends. Also going to put some sunflowers and buckwheat into some poor soils this summer. Everything gets rye again this fall.....along with a brassica and clover mix. Grains / legumes / brassica always present......and sometimes some forbs.
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Buckhunter10
5 year old buck +
Finally heard my drill might be ready by summer! I hope that stays true!
Also - I launched a seed company, I was so tired of poor mixes without regard to balanced C:N ratios - so I set out to bring some solid mixes to market!
vitalizeseed.com
Also - I launched a seed company, I was so tired of poor mixes without regard to balanced C:N ratios - so I set out to bring some solid mixes to market!
Home | Vitalize Seed Company | Vitalize Seed Company
Build Better Soil with Our balanced carbon to nitrogen seed mixes and System Learn More Vitalize Seed Company will help you Cycle plant nutrients the way na ...
vitalizeseed.com
john volkman
5 year old buck +
picked up my drill yesterday, thanks to those on this thread i had my dealer go thru and adjust everything before i picked it up saving me some headaches. I plan on changing out the nuts for lock nuts and once the rain stops here in WI ill get started using it.
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SWIFFY
5 year old buck +
Haha... Mines been sitting at the dealer all winter. I called them today and told them to make darn sure they tighten the nuts and bolts and make sure the coulters line up with the openers! I figured if I pointed it out before hand, they may pay a little more attention to it, or at least know I'm going to! 
I want to calibrate the seed cups myself to make sure those are all at true zero.
I want to calibrate the seed cups myself to make sure those are all at true zero.
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
At one point I considered replacing the "Mickey Mouse" clamps that are used to set up those seed cups. Then I priced some split clamps. Yikes.....those little split rings are speedy. The ones on the machine are likely a one and done adjustment.....so I am leaving all as is.Haha... Mines been sitting at the dealer all winter. I called them today and told them to make darn sure they tighten the nuts and bolts and make sure the coulters line up with the openers! I figured if I pointed it out before hand, they may pay a little more attention to it, or at least know I'm going to!
I want to calibrate the seed cups myself to make sure those are all at true zero.
I don't think you need to put lock nuts on anything or replace bolts with stainless (unless you really intend to run fertilizer through it - bad idea IMO). All the bolts had lock washers on em IIRC.
Edit: I do think lubing those drive chains and checking the fasteners (set screws) holding those sprockets would be a good idea. Also, mine came with a stripped grease Zerk......so I found a larger size and threaded that into the plastic cap that covers that bearing for the rolling basket . Use care when pumping those full of grease as they are held on by a single bolt and could easily be broken free when pumping grease into the cap.
I dont have any ideas about parts availability on these drills. Anybody had parts ordered? I suppose there is considerable standard fasteners and such....but some repair parts may be hard to source.
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Picking my 507 unit up tomorrow, dealer had 6 in stock yesterday, thought about it overnight and decided to get one. When I called back today, he had 4 left and after mine there was 3. He got an overstock shipment and was shipping them all over the country. I am in PA and he was sending one to Idaho today. Tar River told him there would be no more units available until next year and the price would be $1000 more, not sure if that is true but that is what he told me. Anyway, great forum and look forward to all the advice given to set my unit up. It's my first year on the property and I will be using it to plant food plots on about 5 acres, the rest of the 30 acres is going to be corn but that will be planted by my son-in-law with his JD 7000. Units have been near impossible to find, my only other option was a Woods CSS60 which is a good unit, not no-till but would have worked out. Woods was 9K, the 507 was 6795.
Buckhunter10
5 year old buck +
What dealer did you get it from? I’ve had one on order from a Pa guy since last December.
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
^. Was just looking at TractorHouse.....and Zimmerman (located in PA) seemed to have allot of drills in stock. Can't remember the city.....
Zimmerman had some great pictures so that I could remember how to adjust the depth somewhat from here in AZ. My small brain cannot contain such stuff.
Zimmerman had some great pictures so that I could remember how to adjust the depth somewhat from here in AZ. My small brain cannot contain such stuff.
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Wind Gypsy
5 year old buck +
My esch drill shipped from Zimmerman in Bethel today.
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
I'd kinda like to have a look at your drill sometime this summer. Seems like a quality product.
Buckhunter10
5 year old buck +
Well that’s who I’ve had my on order with since December - so I’ll be making some calls today. Thanks.
Wind Gypsy
5 year old buck +
Just because they were on tractor house doesn’t necessarily mean they are in stock. They had my drill on tractor house when I ordered and I still had to wait for one.
Buckhunter10
5 year old buck +
Good point. Their website still says “put money down” so I’m guessing they are waiting still. I did notice price went up and they said it’ll go up again - next fall.
I got my drill from Jo's equipment in Winfield, Pa. He sold one after I called him and put a deposit down, then when I got there this morning the last 2 units had sold tags on them. Pretty crazy, 6 drills in 2 days.
I picked up my Saya 507 this morning and I have to say, I am a little disappointed with the quality at first glance. My initial thought was I should have spent the money and got a better unit but I had driven 3 hours to pick it up and finding other units is almost impossible for this year. My initial concerns were in the construction of the unit, the gear covers on both sides were badly misaligned, one of the scrapper blades was severly bent and another was stuck inside the roller cage. One depth controller was turned all the way down and the other was all the way to the top. I asked the dealer for another unit but the two had there were already sold. I went and looked at them to compare and each one had other things wrong with them (cracked grease caps, poor welds, etc). I guess I will have a lot of adjustments to make before taking this unit out in the field! The only other unit, I could find was an Esch drill but for the same size they are at least 22k.
Wind Gypsy
5 year old buck +
The price of the esch 5 and 7 footers is a hard sell when a Great Plains 606NT is cheaper.
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
^ This is pretty much my experience too. You need to spend a few days with the drill to put it into field ready condition IMO. Take your time with this.....and I think it will serve you well. There are many new models now on the market.....but nothing at this price point for a small drill. ......and they work.
