Oliver 540 planter resurrection

I finally got her home!

She needs some grease and penetrating oil, but
other than this Oliver 540 isn't too bad.

The fertilizer box brackets are badly rusted. Could I
make this part with welding and some spare time or
would I need to go to an Agco dealer to get the
part?

The fertilizer box lids are sun baked and have
cracks and are very weak. Is there any place I can
find these? There aren't many of these planters left
in salvage yards here in Northeast Missouri or I'd
get them. Any sources for these hard to find parts?

How do I change the plates? The manual has been
eaten by bugs and that page is only half there.

Thanks for the help guys!

Sorry for the double picture
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I think that planter was also sold as a White 543? It was also sold as a Ford as well. They did a good job. Check on ebay for a manual. Tom
 
Until last year I had a 543, which is a newer version that used JD style plastic plates, yours might have the older unique-to-Oliver steel plates. The fertilizer box lids were still available from AGCO in 2015. I don't know about the box brackets. I know other fertilizer parts were the same on the later 5100 Seed Boss planters so those might be too.
 
Mine has the older steel plates, but I have 9 set so I'm hoping to get the right plate and sprocket rate to plant 75000 seeds per acre.

I'll have to go to the Agco dealer in Mt. Sterling Illinois and see if they can get me lids for the fertilizer boxes. Any idea on cost?
 
Check into JenSales. They specialize in manuals.They can get almost any manual ever published.Lincoln Ag Products for plates. Garanteed to be way cheaper than AGCO.
 
You don't want to go through ago for the lids. Last I checked they were $210 a piece. You're better off to run without them anyway, you can pile another 75-100 lbs of fertilizer in the boxes that way. My lids are all sun baked and cracked to so I just throw them on at night so the dew can't settle on the fertilizer. Fert hopper brackets are the same on a 540, 543, and white 5400 so that widens your search. Just don't screw up your auger tubes in the boxes when you unbolt the brackets. You probably won't find anymore.
 
I don't think I'll use fertilizer with This planter. The lids would have been more of a OCD detail. The fertilizer auger and the place on the bottom where the tube clamps on have completely rusted beyond use. The disc openers are going to be swapped out for 8 or 13 wave no-till coulters anyway so I couldn't use the fertilizer as it was intended.

One of the wheel bearings has gone bad too on the drive wheels. Is the bearing an easy to find part or am I grasping at straws?
 
I have the covers 40 each--manual 10 plastic plates 2 each call link_disallowed days 7-4 cst ask for larry
 
Agco still has the bearings new. Make sure the threads on the axle aren't stripped out when u change them. Mine stripped the axle threads and I damn near lost a wheel. I bought the last 2 new old stock 540 axles left in agco's system when I fixed it.
 
And if you aren't going to use the fertilizer attachment I would just take the boxes and related fertilizer stuff off and leave it off. If you have your heart on trying to no till with it that would leave you room to build some suitcase weight brackets so you can hang some iron on there and try to push the planter in the ground.
 
I'd rather do tillage, but my ag teacher is a strict no-till farmer and the schools 5 acre plot is under his authority so I can't do anything about it.

So could I replace the fertilizer opener with a yetter coulter or would I need to mount a notill bar on the frame like a 543 had?
 
You wont be able to use the fertilizer opener assemblies and just replace the coulters if thats what you mean. You will have to get rid of the fertilizer openers completely and replace them with actual yetter no till assemblies. Just dont go welding anything to the frame because you will fill it full of weak points. Youre going to have to make clamps for them to attach like everything else on the toolbar.
 
So I'd just have to make a clamp to hold the coulters on? That doesn't sound too difficult.

I still don't know how to change the plates or switch sprockets to adjust the seed population. Can you help me out there?
 
Take the boxes off and flip them over. 2 bolts holding the bottom plate on, take them off, they are 2 different size threads so you can't put the bottom plate back on wrong. Once the bottom plate is off the seed plate comes out. For populations you're going to want a book. Floyd county museum is you're friend.
 
I can call them right? As I understand they handle all of the Oliver manual reprints. How much would a reprinted manual set me back?
 

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