IH 185 Fast Hitch 1 row planter

[DJ54]

I bought a '56 Cub Lo Boy w/ FH last weekend at an auction and a few attachments. I have 5 larger tractors with FH. Swore I'd never own a Cub unless it too had Fast Hitch. It looks rough but is promising. PO was restoring it and fell ill and passed some time ago. Most sheet metal has been painted fuel tank is clean as a pin inside. Apparently, the engine was stuck due from setting a while. Pulled the plugs and looked the best I could with a flashlight and could see some shine at the top of the cylinders. Put in a good bit of a 50/50 mix of Acetone and ATF and let it set a week. Pulled the starter yesterday and took a prybar and pried on the starter ring gear, and it turned. Made me feel a whole lot better about my buy..!!

One of the attachments I got with it is an IH FH model 185 planter. I looked up the planter to see what they were worth all I've found are 2 row and up mounted on tool bars, so assuming the 1 row may be fairly rare. I plan to try and plant sweet corn here at home and maybe some Sunflowers, and hopefully plant some ornamental corn, popcorn, and Sunflowers at a County farm park where they let our tractor club plant crops, then harvest in the Fall, for their Harvest Weekend held in Sept.

It looks to be in decent condition, just needs cleaned up well. I ordered a reprint of the owner's manual so as to get the correct plates. Doubt I get the Cub up and going by planting time, so will use it on my 140. Haven't looked at the manual yet, so will have to figure out how to make a row marker as there was none with it. Just wondering if anyone has a planter like this. If someone modified a 185 unit for fast hitch, they did a pretty decent job.

I tried to download some pics but apparently files are too large so will downsize them and attach later...

OK, got pics downsized...

 

[Bill Hudson]

If memory serves me correct, the 140 FH prong is larger dimensions than a Cub FH prong. So, you may have some fitment issues. If I'm wrong someone will be along soon to clear this up.

 

[SONNY]

cub is cub only!!! the others are bigger from what I was told long ago!

 

[Jim Becker]

IH did make a one-point hitch for the 185 planters. I believe there is at least one member with one. Others of us (including me) have the similar 184 planters with the IH one-point hitch. What you have looks like a shop-made adaptation of a planter unit that was originally on a tool bar. You are going to have to precisely set your depth control on the front of your Fast-Hitch to get the correct pitch while planting. Otherwise, it should work well following the manual's instructions. The Cub and 140 use the same size prong. So, using the planter on either tractor should work the same. Proper seed plates are determined by the seed hopper, not the planter model. Looks like yours takes the common Richmond style plates, which are pretty easy to find.

 

[DJ54]

IH did make a one-point hitch for the 185 planters. I believe there is at least one member with one. Others of us (including me) have the similar 184 planters with the IH one-point hitch. What you have looks like a shop-made adaptation of a planter unit that was originally on a tool bar. You are going to have to precisely set your depth control on the front of your Fast-Hitch to get the correct pitch while planting. Otherwise, it should work well following the manual's instructions. The Cub and 140 use the same size prong. So, using the planter on either tractor should work the same. Proper seed plates are determined by the seed hopper, not the planter model. Looks like yours takes the common Richmond style plates, which are pretty easy to find.

I was pretty sure the prongs were the same size. I have a Champion potato planter that was modified from horse drawn to single point for a Cub. Does a dandy job of planting potatoes, drops them at 10" O.C. Last year we planted 300 lbs. of potatoes in just under an hour:

I know the prongs on my 240 Utility are larger, but we always used the attachments for the Super C's on it, just made a space out of flat strap with a 90º on the end so the bottom tab would hold it in.

I'll have to go through the manual this Winter when it's too nasty to do much outside and look for plates. It came with a soybean plate in it, the only thing I can think of I'd use that for is to maybe get a 5 gallon bucket of soybeans off a buddy, and plant them for a cover crop on the garden. Shouldn't take long to dial in the depth, just have to play with it.

Thanks for the replies, I appreciate it..!!