Faster Emergence, More Vigor
– Doesn’t overpack
– Aggressive furrow closing with self-limiting depth
– Creates ideal zone for crop emergence & rooting in a wide array of conditions
– Durable and trouble-free
– 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 apart
Closing Wheels for Planters
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.
Spoke Design
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.
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.
More on Toe-out Wedges
“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)
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
Related Products
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Spring; Medium Extension
Learn MoreMedium 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).
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V-Closing Wheel Bracket JD 7000 / 7100
Learn MoreV-Closing Wheel Bracket with Cast “T” handle, Eccentric bushings and Hardened hex step bushings. Fits JD 7000 and 7100 and accepts bolt on style closing wheels. Includes hardware kit to bolt wheels onto bracket (standard 5/8 bolts). Closing spring not included; see Exapta’s M.4433 & M.4466.
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Keeton, Dual-Tube w/ Universal Bracket (WaveVision-Ready)
Learn MoreThe Universal Bracket fits Deere 7000s thru XP (& Max-Emerge 5 [without BrushBelt] if brkt legs cut & hole drilled in shank, or if converted to XP guards), Kinze 2000s, White 6000s – 9000s, & some Kinze 3000s (non-EdgeVac, prior to 2013). (Kinze EdgeVac & all 2013 & newer models [including 4900] need Scraper-Mount bracket instead.) (ME5 with BrushBelt needs Quick Attach Keeton.)
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 theT-whls on their planter not being ran with a seed firmer).
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.