yeoman

Anyone on this site have one of these planters? Know where to find seed plates and planter parts?

keyshunter

There are usually 309 plates on ebay, but, compared to John Deere or International, they are quite pricey. I believe that New Holland dealers can still get some Ford planter parts.

yeoman

So I've heard. Thanks.

psandhu

i have a dearborn 12-20. it's the same planter as the ford 309. ford bought out dearborn. in the last12 months, i've only seen5-6 auctions for 309 planter plates. they went from $10-$40 a pair.

yeoman

Psandu,

If I find plates for a Dearborn 12-20 will they work in the 309?

psandhu

i bought some plastic 309 plates for my dearborn. had to use a jigsaw to enlarge the inside diamter of the ford plate by 3/16" so it would fit in my planter. every dearborn plate i've seen is metal. if you can weld and use a grinder, and have a ford plate for a pattern, you can probably convert a dearborn plate to fit a ford in about 30-45 minutes. i really doubt you'll find dearborn plates though, ford bought them in the 50's and changed the inside diamter of the plates when they started producing them.

yeoman

As popular as these old plates seem to be, maybe I should design an aluminum mold so I can make the basic plates from epoxy resin and notch them for a variety of seeds. Hell, maybe even sell the molds on the net!

keyshunter

I don't think they are all that popular. The 309 was discontinued in 1979 after about 22 years of production. They were never as popular as the International or John Deere 2 row planters, and most new parts have pretty well dried up. NH does have some parts andabout 32 different plates currently listed, however. Lincoln Ag, which specializes in new plastic planter plates and has hundreds in stock (at $11 each), does notlist any for the 309. I suspect that the market is just not there.

Interestingly, agood 30 year old 2 row mounted planter, of any brand will usually bring more today than it cost originally. While a 4 or6 row planter of the same vintage and condition brings about 20%-30% of its original cost.

yeoman

Keyshunter, where can I see the "32 plates" NH has listed for this planter? Is there a website to which you're referring? I have the NH parts manual and that's probably about the number of plates listed but the manual suggests nearly all the planter parts are still available. At least, the number of NLS (no longer serviced) parts are indicated to be few versus those for which NH shows a part number. Many of the parts such as nuts, bolts etc. they indicate "procure locally" and those shouldn't be a problem. Have you owned one of the 309's?

keyshunter

Yeoman,
Yes, I have a 309 planter. I was at my local (30 miles) NH dealer the other day. I asked the parts man which plates are available for the 309. He brought up the list on his computer screen, and I counted 32 numbers--corn, sorghum, beans, cotton, and peanuts.