532 Ford baler

[Jeff McIntosh (IN)]

Anyone have any experience with one of these balers?
How do they stack up?
There is one for sale locally and was wondering.
Jeff

 

[Mike S 806/H]

we have a 532, it works great I like it better then our new holland 273

 

[RodinNS]

It's a good baler, but many parts are NLA and the ones that remain are expensive.
The baler would need to be in good condition and cheap to consider it, or so I think....
I have one, I like it. We bought it new.... but in all honesty I'd be looking for a NH or CaseIh/Hesston inline if I wanted another square baler. If you just want a budget beater for a couple thousand bales and the 532 is in good shape it will do fine.
Just make sure that the plunger is tight (and the knife guide is good), the feed fork bushings are good and the knotters aren't worn out. Also keep in mind that the rubber base pickup fingers are something like 15-20 bucks EACH, so don't buy one with a pickup missing a bunch of fingers...

Rod

 

[Jeff McIntosh (IN)]

It just came up at local dealer.
I went to an auction on Sat. after a 430 IH non all twine, but it went way out of my budget, $1650.
I'm just looking for a decent baler to run 500 to 1,000 bales a season for myself and to sell to the horse people here abouts and stay at a price of less than $1000.
How are parts on the older NH balers, like the 68's and newer?
Jeff

 

[RodinNS]

Dunno about the 68 because I've never really looked. It's probably a good deal better than the 532 though.... keep in mind that NH has had a considerable vengenance of late in organizing the obsolence of a lot of older parts. If it isn't turning over fast, it's gone. You are safer with a popular model from a parts point of view.

Rod

 

[The Bachelor]

Rod,

I just upgraded from a 532 to an inline Hesston. I now have remember that a smile is a frown turned upsidedown.

I just scrapped the 532. The last straw was trying to chase down a knotter part. The dealer no longer had any in inventory and I got chased off a porch trying to buy the part of a fencerow baler. Once I swallowed hard on the price (about 15k), I've been smiling ever since. Them things stack like they came out of a mold. I haven't had a different sized bale yet!

But year 2 is about to start...... stay tuned

 

[Anonymous-0]

We had a pair of them at one time, and they drove my father nuts at times, but once the bugs were out of them, few thousand bales per year was not that bad, that is about what we did each year. I also remember both working pretty good at times, but don't get me wrong, until one of his friends helped him straighten them out, not sure if he would have recommended them even when new. We had a ford dealership and sold many of them, but I can remember seeing a few taking space in old barnyards or fencerows in the late 80's only to be ID'd by our dealer sticker, a lot of people said they were ok, but remember that when the hay is down, and it screws up, rain coming, can't find parts ...., you know where that is going. You really need to know what shape it's in and how it's working, if not what the others said about other balers might be best, especially with the parts being so obsolete, one of these might just be best for a restorer and show. Even if it's in good shape, everything working and like ours used to often enough, it will screw up on you at the worst possible time, I grew up thinking all balers were like our 532's, but that is not the case though. I don't know the technical problems inherent with them, was just too young, my father would switch places and I would bale to give me a break from stacking. Do remember a good friend of my dads could always adjust those knotters and keep them working. That is why we had 2, get some nice hay or alfalfa down, something goes wrong, you have another or can take a part if you need to. Had 2 ford moco's too, and one MF pto rake, that MF never broke down ! I took it all in for trade '85, have not baled on this property since.

We had one with a kicker and that thing just about had my father fit to be tied, breaking bales, tossing belts, just never worked after that, maybe a few seasons, we took it off and slid the bales on the wagon tongue, it broke too many or tossed too many belts, always wondered what happened, but what a pain, he told me once he almost went back to the house to grab a gun to put it out of it's misery, I think he was serious, another time he stopped hard in the windrow while I was stacking the wagon, and I fell right out the front of the wagon, baler did something wrong, he never even knew I was on the ground, I quickly rolled to one side, was a smart kid, knew enough to get out of the path of the wagon stay the h@ll away from that baler at all times.

 

[Jeff McIntosh (IN)]

I called my local MF dealer today, he has a NH 273 on the lot. Someone else has spoken for it but that may fall thru. If it does I"m on it.
It"s new enough parts may not be a problem and it"s a New Holland.

 

[Dubv1980]

I have some experience here!
I started last year with a Ford 532...spent a huge amount getting it straightened out (I had bought it for $100.00)...I baled a few fields with it, then the plunger arm grenaded and broke parts which are no longer available, so I gave it away for free on craigslist. I then got a IH #46, which I put more money into, and is now fully functional. This winter, I found a working Ford 532 for sale and picked it up for 450. To make a long story short, when it was working, it worked great, but it took awhile to get the knotters squared away. There are not many around my area, so as a back up, its fun to have as an oddity, but the parts availability for the old IH 46 is much better.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I have been running a 532 for a few years now. Paid 850 for it and have ran about 2500 bales a year through it with very little trouble. I have heard parts are hard to get, but I have not had any trouble so far getting teeth, packer fork bushings, and a spring for the chamber. Of course I am known for using the stuff no one else wants, and will not haul off. I don't have 1,500 in my square baler, big round baler, rake, mower combined, (paid 200 for my big round baler and put about 200 in parts getting it running). My mower belonged to my father who purchased it new in the mid 50s. The rake was one I tried to sell, but no one would give anything for it so I kept it and still use it. My advice is if you are like me and do not bale many per year, and asking price is right it is hard to go wrong, as it does not take long to pay for itself. I sold $600 worth of hay the first year I had the $400 round baler, so the way I look at it I paid for it the first few bales out of it. On the other hand, if you are going to put a couple thousand bales on the ground at once I would either buy a parts machine, or a machine that is easy to get parts for. I don't lose any sleep over mine, but I do not put more than a couple hundred bales on the ground at a time either so if it does give me any trouble it is not a big issue, and it is easy to hook up to my $400 baler and roll them up.

 

[Jeff McIntosh (IN)]

Well it's not a Ford or NH but I bought a 14T John Deere, found it within 5 miles of home.
The guy used it last year and it looks to be in good condition.

 

[burkmont]

bought a 532 baler about 15 yrs ago for $800 and just put our first major repair into it last summer. your local dealer will stock some parts. try frys machinery in muncy penna. for more parts ! this baler has earned its keep.