Case IH 530 spreader

Hi guys, I'm going to look at a 530 spreader tomorrow and would like to hear some pros and cons if any. The box is in really nice shape,decent tires but needs an apron according to the owner. He says one chain is stretched more than the other. He's asking $1300, the price of the apron is around $600. I may offer him a grand if I think it is worth it after inspection. Not going to see heavy use, just my gardens. Thanks guys.

I think the 530, 540, and 550 pto-driven spreaders were built at the same time, and they were built for about 2 decades and maybe even a bit longer. There was a hydraulic driven one available, too. 530 was the smallest. I think these were the last box spreaders CIH sold, and were basically old IH spreaders with updated decals.

Dad had a CIH 550 with the hydraulic endgate and a single beater for many years. We maintained it well, and I think the only repairs we ever did was replace the apron a couple of times, replace the apron sprockets, and put a new treated plywood floor in it. Sides were warranted to the original owner for life, and we did get a set of those and changed them. If we wouldn't have hauled soupy hog poo, the sides that were on it would have lasted another 5 years. We never broke a paddle on the beater even though we hauled some frozen chunks in the winter.

Manure rots everything, and that's what these were designed for. Look everything including the framework over well. Make sure it looks like it was greased regularly, and make sure the gearbox at least looks like it holds oil. Twine can wrap up and take out the gearbox seals.

Other than a poly floor would have been nice and the endgate never sealed quite right, that 550 never let us down.

If you like the price and condition and it will fit your needs, I'd say buy it. It shouldn't take anything more than a Farmall H to handle it unless you're going through mud or snow or want to really move with it.

AG

Well AG, I bought the spreader. It was on a beautiful horse
farm that catered to special needs children. Everything he
advertised it as was true. He was the one that maintained it
and everything looked in good order. The reason the chain
stretched on the one side is because the horse manure was
always loaded from that side and corroded the chain. He
hooked it up to a tractor and ran it for a few minutes and
everything else looked good. Some of the drive chains have
recently been replaced also. I offered him $1000 and he took
it. I'm going to pick it up tomorrow, I will try to post some
pictures when I get a chance. Thanks for the info.

We've had a 530 since 78. Had to do nothing to it. Big enough spreader to get something done, but small enough to not need a huge tractor to handle loaded.

When you're talking about a manure spreader, if it's pushing 40 years old and is still in working condition, what "cons" could it possibly have?

(quoted from post at 12:48:28 10/31/14) When you're talking about a manure spreader, if it's pushing 40 years old and is still in working condition, what "cons" could it possibly have?

Click to expand...

One "con" would be an odd apron chain link size. I don't think these spreaders used anything wierd or obsolete, though. Shoup, or a conveyer chain supplier may be able to come up with an apron chain if CIH can't or is too pricey.

Another "con" would be poor to zero parts support. I don't know how well CIH supports parts on these machines anymore. I would guess that most, if not all parts that could/should fail are available from CIH or are in some dealers' bins yet. I do know that there aren't any salvage yards that have rows and rows of retired poo-haulers for parts that I know of.

Another "con": It could have come from the local prison farm, and a con could be hiding on top of a loose apron chain under the box.

Sorry, I couldn't resist listing the last one.

AG