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Closing Wheels for Planters

LEGACY P/N WAS T 32TO - Thompson Wheel T32, Built-in Toe-out Oct 2023 - Now includes mounting hardware and washer to space away from row frame to clear clevin pin.
$145.00
Wedge, up to 6-degrees of toe-out for closing wheels held on by a bolt (most late-model planters; early Kinze, JD 7000 & 7200 with updated closing brackets). Fits either 5/8" or 16mm bolts. Ideal for tough conditions such as high-clay, low-OM soils, or soddy seedbeds.
$6.50
Medium extension spring for OEM planter closing brackets. Lighter spring pressures are required for spoked closing wheels. To regain the the fine adjustment range you need, consider our medium 55% spring for tougher soils (low OM, eroded, high-clay or sod).
$9.50
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Shroud, metric bore, Thompson wheel.
$13.50
Shroud, 5/8" bore, Thompson wheel.
$13.50
Medium extension spring for Great Plains twin-row planter closing brackets, 55% rate of OEM.
$11.00

All About Closing Wheels for Planters

Faster Emergence, More Vigor

  • NEW: Bolt-on star wheel = cost-effective replacement stars
  • Toe-out wedge built into shroud for easy adjustment!
  • Same proven spoke design we’ve used for 20 years
  • Zinc plating for even longer wear life
  • Doesn’t overpack
  • Aggressive furrow closing with self-limiting depth
  • Creates ideal zone for crop emergence & rooting in a wide array of conditions
  • Heavy-duty bearing with 5-year warranty (on bearing-type wheels)
  • Low mud and stalk accumulation
  • Ready to bolt on: no tearing brg-type OEM wheels apartT

Sizing Things Up

The bearing from a competitor’s wheel setting inside the Thompson wheel’s housing for its huge bearing. Our bearing features a triple-lip seal, as well as our unique, patented shroud to protect the bearing face from fertilizer and water. We’re so confident in our bearing arrangement, we guarantee it for 5 years.

High-Carbon Steel

The Thompson wheel’s high-carbon spokes resist wear and bending for an exceptionally long life. The thinness of the wheel allows it to easily enter the soil, for excellent breakage of the sidewall.

The blunt tip & tapering sides of the spokes further assist in crumbling the sidewall. The tapering sides gradually increase the resistance the spoke encounters while operating in the soil. This limits the depth, as does the overall length of the spoke itself (considerably shorter than some other designs on the market). So you get just the right amount of sidewall shattering, without digging too deep. The thinness is also what prevents mud accumulation on the spokes. It simply has nowhere to gather.

Built-in Toe-out

Exapta’s toe-out wedge is now built into the shroud for easy adjustment, from zero degrees, to 3° or 6°. Toe-out causes closing wheels (all types) to more actively engage and pull soil back into the furrow—the reverse of the opener blades prying soil apart to create the furrow.

No-till seeding (also known as zero-till) is a relatively new phenomenon, and more effective methods are continually being developed. In the U.S. & Canada, most planters and “no-till” drills are ill-suited to the task from the moment they’re built (they were engineered for tilled seedbeds). For instance, the original smooth closing wheels on all planters and no-till drills can overpack the furrow, especially when soils are damp, causing poor emergence and poor root penetration of the sidewall. Because of the soil structure in no-till, the solid wheel is ineffective at closing the furrow. To avoid the packing problem, as well as the poor furrow closing by smooth closing wheels, several aftermarket companies began offering spoked wheels to replace the original closing wheel.

New! 3-yr compilation of stand counts x row from Seeding Schools available. See how closing wheels and other attachments affect stands & root growth!

An honest assessment from numerous observations by 3rd-party scientists and farmers.

* Closing wheels that don’t pack the soil above the seed (a good thing) should not be used without a separate in-furrow firming device (Keeton seed firmer or seed-lock wheel).

Toe-Out Wedge Makes Thompson Wheels Even Better

The toe-out helps all spoked wheels to more actively engage and gather soil from the fractured sidewall and pull it back into the furrow—sort of the reverse of the opener blades prying apart the soil while creating the furrow. It even helps the beveled cast closers (non-spoked).

Pictured: Toe-out wedge on late-model JD 1700-series brackets.

Closing Wheels for Planters in the News

Featured in No-Till Farmer: For Ambitious No-Tillers: There’s No Place Like Home

Almost to the Colorado border, these far western KS no-tillers credit some of their success to good seeding equipment set up — including Exapta’s Thompson wheels on their drill as well as their planter (although we do worry about the T-whls on their planter not being ran with a seed firmer).

Read more

Featured in No-Till Farmer: Using Residue Layers, Precision Tools to Boost No-Till Profitability

Todd Yackley says he uses Exapta Solution’s Thompson closing wheels on his planter as an aggressive furrow-closing tool with self-limiting depth.

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“We farm clay knobs, sandy loams, and high-organic muck soils, often all on the same day. We tried a number of different closing wheels and found the Thompson wheels performed well across all those conditions. I run them toed-out about 3 degrees.” (Mojos, T-wheels & toe-out wedges on JD 1700-series planter)
Chuck Zumbrun
Churubusco, IN, Exapta customer since 2010 (Mojos, T-wheels & toe-out wedges on JD 1700-series planter)
“In wetter conditions, the T-wheels help close up the seed furrow. They help break up the dirt to get better cover over the seed.”
Howard G Buffet
Decatur, IL, Exapta customer since '04 (Thompson wheels on JD 1700-series planter)
“I’ve used the Thompson wheels and toe-out wedges for about five years. I’ve found them to be far superior to any other closing systems I have tried. They’re very versatile in the fact that they don’t wrap in tall cover crops like green cereal rye, and will close in hay sod where the furrow wants to open back up. Thompson wheels also shatter the sidewall, helping to reduce sidewall compaction in less-than-perfect conditions in corn or soybean stubble. They also work well in varying soil and moisture conditions in the same field. I would recommend the Thompson wheels to anyone who wants to improve their soil by using cover crops and no-till.”
Chris Broyan
Berwick, PA, Exapta customer since ’09 (T-whls & toe-out wedges on 12-row JD 1770)
“The Thompson wheels are definitely better than the [competitor spike wheels]. I really like how the Thompsons break up the sidewall. My stand counts are 4 – 6% higher with the Thompson wheels, and with fewer ‘dink’ plants…. I’m concerned that I’ve been using the wrong closing wheels [competitor spike] for the past 10 years.”
Tom Cannon
Blackwell, OK, Exapta customer since ’03 (Thompsons, toe-out, Mojos, chrome Valions on 16-row JD 1770)

Chris Horton

Chris Horton brings 25 years of management with him. He grew up on his grandparents farm in Reno County Kansas where they mainly grew wheat and cattle feed. He worked on feed lots as a pen rider and cow-calf operations before moving to Southern California where Chris started a new career in the transportation and transport logistics, eventually managing the western region for a large commercial vehicle leasing company. Chris moved home to Kansas, to manage a local Farmers Coop and then eventually the service dept for a tractor dealership. The opportunity to join the Exapta team came up, and he knew he wanted to be a part of this team.

Bob Pagel

Sales & Service Representative

Prior to joining Exapta, Bob Pagel was an Agricultural Territory Sales Manager for Ritchie Brothers, serving parts of MN, WI and IA. He continues to support his family farm in SE Minnesota.

Jon Zeller

Current Product Engineer

Jonathan Zeller joined Exapta excited to return to working with no-till planting equipment. He supported research of no-till planting and other ag related projects for 7 years with Kansas State University’s Agricultural Engineering Department after getting his engineering degree. He later worked 3 years for Landoll Company, LLC. where he gained experience in a design engineering role. Jonathan grew up on a small family farm in NE Kansas working with row crops, hay and cattle. Jonathan enjoys solving engineering problems and improving or creating products to be robust and easy to install and service.