[AT] Oliver Iron Age Potato Planter parts issue

Spencer Yost yostsw at atis.net
Wed May 29 06:54:39 PDT 2013


McConnel makes cutters and mowers and are British.  I would be shocked if they make parts for an old planter.  Unless there was a second McConnel.   If so I never heard of them.  

I had a very similar part break on a very old hay rake a few years back.  It had two big, spring-loaded, heavy discs with a corrugated face on each that would "chatter" when  you hit an obstruction.  Otherwise the corrugations would mate and drive the unit.  It was cast iron and local foundry needed too much for pattern/mold making.  The part itself would have been halfway reasonable. I think it would have taken 2 weeks and a little over 250 for the mold and a disc.

A new-to-me rake that was in much better condition than my old one fixed the problem much faster and for only a few hundred dollars more.

Anyways, a planter is a more valuable and a $250 part may be worth it.  Plus you may have a little more time to work with than someone making hay too.  I wish you the best of luck!

Spencer

Sent from my iPhone

On May 29, 2013, at 9:12, "Grant Brians" <sales at heirloom-organic.com> wrote:

> My beautiful planter got broken on Monday! My workers were planting and
> somehow (I can't actually figure out how!) the drive clutch on one side
> broke - literally the two dogs on the casting broke off. Naturally as Oliver
> bought AB Farquhar in 1951 and Oliver shut down production of these models
> somewhere around the early 60's if that late, I can't find the part at all.
> I am going to have to have hte local machine shop make a reasonable facsimil
> of this part. But naturally I am looking for backup parts for this unit as
> it is literally a critical part of my farming operation.
>     Does anyone have any suggestions as to where i could find parts? The
> Yesterdays Tractors website has several people who said a few years ago that
> McConnell in NY still has/makes parts for the Iron Age units, but I can not
> find any information that suggests they are still in business now.
>           Grant Brians
>           Hollister,California vegetable, fruit and nuts farmer
> 
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