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favorite square baler

Yesterday's Tractor Forums
growing up as a kid we had a NH 270 and it was a pretty trouble free baler that made nice bales and had enough capacity to keep our 40+ cows in hay and straw all year long.
Currently have a JD 24T and it had been pretty reliable.
Had an IH 46 for a bit when I was a kid and you couldn't feed anything into it too fast. It was not well liked.
 
My favorite baler is the one that is working. I have a JD 336,338 and a 346. Also have a Hesston 4590 inline baler. Any baler is good if set to specs and not abused. Have run NH, Case, Ford, Int, and the above mentioned balers.
 
WE only owned two, first one was an AC 303 dad wore it out then bought a NH 273 and keep it until he sold the farm year later. Both never failed us.
 

My MF 224. I had a JD 336 for about five years and then I needed to upgrade to a thrower. The 224 showed me what I had been missing! It will chew up huge double windrows no problem where the JD would break shear bolts.
 
Had a IH 46 and no feeding problems or tying problems. Had the thrower on it. Second baler we had first being a NH 66 and only got rid of it because could not find a thrower for it. And all these high capacity balers how do you manage to handle the bales comming out that fast? The NH 66 would push out bales faster than one person on wagon could handle them. I as tractor driver had to slow down because of that. We did have the engine on the NH 66 so had infinite variable ground speed avaible.
 
This NH 270 has been on the place when I was old enough for mom to take me along tot he hay now and play on a bale while the folks
unloaded hay and straw, and I'm using it this week for more straw baling. So as the only one I've ever used, I will have to pick it.

I would generally like the NH lineup, a tad newer would have the better pickup, and would perform well in my expectations.

Paul
 
Thanks for all the input. Many good ones mentioned, so many choices. Ones for sale around here are,
JD24T, great shape, $1,200
IH430, good shape $550
NH273, no thrower, $1,000
NH273, $1,200
NH273, $1,500
NHsuper68, great shape, $900
NH67,$400
Which sounds best?
 
After several of us having become over heated handling bales one year I would not look for any without the thrower. And I would want enough wagons to be able to do 2 days baling without having to unload a single bale.
 
NH273 have a great reputation. Be sure to get an extended tongue, 2 piece PTO shaft (easier to turn and better for wide
wheeled tractors) also look for a wagon hitch and an extended bale chute. I have no use for a thrower, so it adds no
value for me. Thrower wold mean you need $4000 worth of wagons to use a $1000 baler.
 
Do not buy the IH. The knotter is different than any other and parts and service is getting hard to come by. The 273 NH is a good baler but check the finger feed mechanism to make sure it is not wore out. I never cared for how NH feed in the crop but there are lots of NH balers so it must not be to bad. I did bale straw once that a NH could not bale because it was rotten and cut with a rotary combine. It broke up in pieces and the fingers would not feed it in. The Deere with the auger fed it in fine. I have a 24t Deere and like it for the three thousand we do a year. The thrower on the Deere makes a nicer more square bale than the NH will. If the NH 273 has the super sweep pickup (has the teeth closer together) that is a nice feature in later cuttings of fine grass or alfalfa hay. Dad had a new 373 and liked it but later replaced it with a 336 then a 327. You might want to consider a Deere 336 as they were a great baler and would have the super sweep pickup. I would sooner have a real nice older baler that a newer rough or worn out one. Condition is the key when considering any baler. Tom
 
How would that work out puting them in an overhead mow and you have to wait two weeks to get unloading help. With wagons even if you do not have barn room to put wagons in buy a large tarp for each and put it on to keep the bales dry when it pours down rain the day after you bale it. I do understand that some stack wagond will unload one bale at a time but you still need the wagon operator plus your mow help.
 
Out of all you listed I'd go with one of the NH273 balers unless the NH67 looked good but I have also been around square balers for a vey long time as in 40 plus years. I would not even look at the IH baler. And the JD24T I would also not look at it. I have owned use and worked on JD balers a Ford baler and NH balers. I have a NH271 that I use once In a while and a NH68 for parts.. Neat thing I have found is a lot of NH balers have parts that you can use on other models. Like the NH68 and NH271have a whole lot of parts that will work on both
 
You could stack em buy the barn then take em out of the stack and throw em on the bale elevator no different than unloading wagons probably easier if you use a thrower without stacking em on the wagon
 
I run a 24T so would recommend that, although NH are good as well. If the 24T has a thrower (ejector/kicker), make sure it's the model 30 hydraulic type (run by a
pump driven by belts on the flywheel) and not the older mechanical style. I added a hydraulic thrower to my 24T and it works great. Whatever you decide on, get a
manual and read up on the adjustments to make to get the baler timed and tying properly.
 
But when you do not have the room to stack withot blocking everything else. Wagons you can put at farm 5 mile away to have place to put them. And you would not have the chaff all laying on the ground to get wet and mold.
 
I always wanted a wagon chute and wagon but there?s no help to stack I am a one man show 99 % of the time . I can see what your saying on a system like that where you would be putting the bales in the mow . Are the throwers hard on the bales?
 
(quoted from post at 21:51:00 08/18/18) I always wanted a wagon chute and wagon but there?s no help to stack I am a one man show 99 % of the time . I can see what your saying on a system like that where you would be putting the bales in the mow . Are the throwers hard on the bales?
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Throwers are absolutely hard on the bales, but the standard procedure is to make them a little shorter. Mine are set to be 36 inches. Around here that is called a "kicker bale" Every now and then a customer will tell how they ordered hay from somebody else at a very good price, and when they come they are only 30 inches long. Less length, nice and straight and firm and they land and bounce and rarely get bent.
 
This was years ago. First baler was factory set for 36" bales, used it that way for years. Finally decided to darn heavy and got it set for 30" bales, lot easier handled. When we got a kicker set it down to about 26" bales and was a lot easier on old guys to handle. At that time I had just gotten married and my wife could also handle them. If I had good health and still making bales I would still want then not over the 30" length. Kicker or not.
 
Never had a problem but baler was set for about a 26" bale but it was all the weight any of us wanted to handle. A 36" yes you would have problems. The little more twine to make them shorter aut weighs potetial health problems from trying to lift too much for too long. I was already starting to feel that in my mid 20's. Now just a few days from being 75 and back hurts all the time. And that chaff that was on the wagons that got save and run thru a hammermill for feeding to the hogs. Dunping on ground you are too likely to pick up stones and other items to run thru the mill. And also likely to have gotten wet.
 
One other comment. Last year stacking on wagon I got overcome with heat in mow and grandpa and 16 year old cousin got overcome on wagon loading it. That is what pushed us to get the thrower. First baler was a New Holland 66, next with thrower was a used McCormick 46 bought at auction. Dad wanted a Deere, would have been a 14T at that time, but could not find an afordable one. After actually seeing a Deere I was glad we never found the Deere baler. And had mostly Deere equipment. And with multiple wagons you can pick the cooler and les humidity days to unload. And the wagons were just the flat bed grain wagons with added sides. And at what wagons like that sell for you can have good wagons for $300 or less. Hold about half these new factory built but time to change wagons gives you time to rest so you don't over do yourself. But then you are using about a 7' wide wagon that you can see way better on road with than the new 9" wide ones. So that is also worth something.
 
I vote for Hesston built inline balers. I have a Case IH 8530 with a thrower that when working right is second to none. No matter what type of conditions it makes perfect straight, tight bales. Lever a banana. I will put its "short" little bale against anyone's "long" bale for weight. Its not how big a bale is, but how much hay is in it. 25 years of technology between it and the old conventional style. Al
 
My favorite baler is the one that works the best. Currently I have an NH 273 that will miss the first couple of knots until the knotters shine up and then run all day. Dad had an IH 46 that worked great once we the manuals and replaced the bill hooks, put a new set of (sharpened) twine knives, properly shimmed. My least favorite would be a toss up between an NH 66 or an IH 45. The only thing I ever liked about either of those was when they went away.
 
Kerwin, can you tell by this picture. is this the mechanical kind you said not to get? If so, what makes the mechanical one bad?
mvphoto21772.jpg
 
Seems most of you like either the JD24T or the NH273. Half and half. I like the red one better because it would match my tractor better! But that JD sure looks clean.
 
The JD 14T I had wit ha thrower made half bales. Don't know who set it like that but that is how I got it. One year my kids got the kids from the church to come help. I had a trailer rigging up with side on it to catch the bales but even then to get a full load one had to stop and stack them. So the kids rode in the wagon and stacked the bales as they came flying in. The kids seem to enjoy them self's and there where time when one would turn the back on the baler and then get a bale to the back. The baler tended to throw 2 bales at a time and it took the kid a little while to understand that so they would step out of the way or 2 would try to catch one each
 
Not thrower on that one just the ordinary Shute where the bale falls to the ground unless your pulling a wagon and have some one riding the wagon to stack the bales as they come out. By the way looking at a baler tell you nothing. To buy one and have a good one you need to see it in action or get a good warranty on it because they can look very good but not bale one single bale. Also learned that one the hard way and cost me a lot of $$
 
Old, I'll be pretty lucky if I could get either a warranty or even have a guy happen to have some hay to bale to show me it works! I'll probably just have to take their word for it that it works well, which these days might not mean too much. So this JD would work the same as the one NH273 that doesn't have a thrower on it anymore. hmm, seems like those would be priced way less but they are right in the same range as the ones with throwers. There is that one NH273 that has a "hydraulic directional controlled belt thrower" for 1,200.
 
I put thousands of bales thru a NH 66 and if I was still farming and baling that would still be my choice.
 
I don't know if I would like that part, enough problems keeping on row when turning without having to adjust thrower as well. The McCormick 45 had a guide that droped over the toung of the wagon and automaticly turned thrower at right place when making turn. If on hilsides then that hydrolic thrower might work good but not if you are baling around and around and that is the only way we baled, none of back and forth only winrows.
 
While a thrower can be nice with out a wagon with back and side board they tend to break bales. When I had to JD 14T with thrower the first year or so I did not have a wagon or trailer to pull behind it so the bales would just fly into the air and hit the ground and some times break. Plus them being smaller made them hard to stack and stay staked
 
Forgot to say this. All the dealers I got my balers from would warranty the baler as to tying but that was about it. If your buying form a private party I would at the very least cycle the baler and make sure it ties and that the plunger safety stop works. Once you own a baler the first thing to check every season is the plunger safety or you will be replacing it the first time it does not work learned that one the hard way
 
(quoted from post at 08:53:39 08/19/18) The JD 14T I had wit ha thrower made half bales. Don't know who set it like that but that is how I got it. One year my kids got the kids from the church to come help. I had a trailer rigging up with side on it to catch the bales but even then to get a full load one had to stop and stack them. So the kids rode in the wagon and stacked the bales as they came flying in. The kids seem to enjoy them self's and there where time when one would turn the back on the baler and then get a bale to the back. The baler tended to throw 2 bales at a time and it took the kid a little while to understand that so they would step out of the way or 2 would try to catch one each
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Old, imagine, that! a baler throwing two at a time! was it a double-barrelled baler?
 
WHATEVER BALER YOU BUY, Change out the chains immediately after getting it home, AND BEFORE Running/possibly ruining it. you can ask me how I know this. But don't. Im about getting over cussing ALOT. lol
 
Don't think it was it was just a chain fire thrower. LOL. I know the kid learned real fast to listen for the thrower to kick in and move out of the way. A few got hit in the back by a bale or the kid would catch the first bale just to be knocked back by the 2nd bale. NO kid was hurt during this going on and many seemed to enjoy the fun of catching the bales and staking them
 
So you want him to start a nightmare before he owns a baler. Getting a baler timed for a novice can be the last thing he does to it. Yes I would look close at the chains and make sure there not worn out but I would not replace them just because. The NH271 I have has had only one chain replaced since I have had it and it sat in a fence row for who know how long before I pulled it out and got it working again
 
(quoted from post at 11:22:35 08/19/18) WHATEVER BALER YOU BUY, Change out the chains immediately after getting it home, AND BEFORE Running/possibly ruining it. you can ask me how I know this. But don't. Im about getting over cussing ALOT. lol
Click to expand...

There is an easy and accepted way to check chains for stretch.
 
Yes there is. Sprocket teeth should not be sharp on the needs of the teeth and you should not be able to pull the chain up much if any in the middle of the area it rides on he sprocket. If you can pull the chain up and away form the sprocket the chain need to be replaced and if the tip of the teeth are sharp the sprocket needs to be replaced. I learned that in my early motorcycle days back when I was 15 or so
 
Have a 430W IHC. It will take a enormous
amount of hay. Have all the wedges out.
Tightn it down, makes a 50 to 55 lb. Bale
36" long, wires so tight hard to get your
fingers under them. Never misses if wire
doesn't snarl at end. Have a 10 bale
collecter, grabber. $4000. Best money I've
ever spent! Not faster than a 4 man crew,
of young people. But One old guy and 14 yr
old grandson can rake bale andstack in shed
on pallets 300 or so in a day. And stay
cool. When son gets home from work he has
put 250 more in shed. Trailer will hold 200
5 high. Generally just put 150 on it. Oh grabber takes them off of trailer too.and stackes in shed. Never touch.
 
The 440 and 430 balers were huge improvements over the 47 and 37 balers they replaced - in both capacity and with the much improve "All Twine" knotters. We have been using a NH 276 for hay this year but had a break down and pulled the IH 47 out of the shed - there was no comparison in volume. The 47 was having trouble feeding the hay into the chamber (too full) in 1st with a our D17 (1.7 MPH) in windrows the NH276 was going through in 2nd, 3rd and sometimes 4th gear (4 MPH). The 47 baler is why I bought the D17, it had a slower 1st gear than my 350 Farmall (about 2.5 MPH) has - the end I bought a faster baler too.


The 440 can and does compete with the 276 in terms of volume and doesn't spit out banana bales in light windrows.
 
A lot depends on who you have that can work on them. The local New Holland/Case IH dealer has an excellent baler man that can get about any beat to death POS working and tying.


The local John Deere will gladly charge you $150 an hour and put a guy on it that will bill you while he watches Youtube videos and and reads and rereads the manual hoping to figure out how to make
adjustments - then get it wrong and keep billing you while he makes repeat "repairs" and eventually gives up and declares your baler "worn out" even though it now works much worse than it did before he
touched it.


Depending on where you are the opposite in dealers maybe the case or there may not even be a decent "baler" repairman in your area.
 
Sorry, I didn't see this post until now. Not sure if you'll see that I answered. Mechanical thrower on a 24T is run by a shaft coming out of the back of the gear box in
the center right of the picture. I've never run a mechanical-style thrower, but the ones that have come on my current working 24T and a couple of parts balers all had
various parts cracked and welded. Also, to change the distance the bale is thrown you adjust tractor engine speed. For the hydraulic type, there is a dial that can be
turned to change throwing distance. I agree, that 24T does look in decent shape, so you'd think the knotters should still be decent as well.

The plunger arm is another thing to check on a 24T, there are bushings on both ends that are to be greased every 2 hours of operation (not likely done). Bushings are still
available from Deere if they are worn. Newer balers use ball bearings at on the plunger arm instead of bushings.
 
kerwin, yes, I see your post and thank you. Really good info. I always keep an eye on my posts until nobody posts anymore on them for a few days. Also get email notifications.
 
Commercial Farmer, What? Are you serious? Are you all trying to confuse me? After a triple picture post from the other guy? You're all in on this, aren't you?! Hey Larry, I told her the 24T is the best. Ok, Moe, I'll tell her it's the worst and that NH is best. Hey Curly, you go tell her she should not get either of those, but a Massey... Okay, so I think I'll just pick one and if the guy selling it seems honest and tells me it works, I'll just take that one. I have no idea now which one to pick. Hahaha!
 
Just because a person says it works means nothing. A number of years ago we picked up a JD14T and was told it baled hay last summer and it would not tie a single knot. Found out it has some bent parts which meant the knotter parts did not cycle correctly. So that was a $1000 mistake. If it was me I would go with one of the NH balers but also cycle it to make sure it ties a knot as it should and check the chains and sprockets so as to know if there bad
 
Comparing the two is about like comparing a Farmall H to a brand new tractor. In another post he refers to having an IH 666 so I doubt he will spend more for a baler than he did his tractor. Tom
 
Many of us learned things the hard and costly way. LOL I brought a JD14T years ago and was towing it home behind my pickup. Something did not seem right so I stopped In front of a small gas station. The Shute side wheel bearing had gone bad and smoked things. I knew the guy who owned the station and he helped me get it fixed well enough to drive the 7 mile I had to go to get home. I learned the not make sure o check wheel bearings and grease them before pulling any thing home behind a truck. So if you buy one an tow it home check the wheel bearings and grease them before you take off
 
(quoted from post at 11:42:53 08/20/18) Just because a person says it works means nothing. A number of years ago we picked up a JD14T and was told it baled hay last summer and it would not tie a single knot. Found out it has some bent parts which meant the knotter parts did not cycle correctly. So that was a $1000 mistake. If it was me I would go with one of the NH balers but also cycle it to make sure it ties a knot as it should and check the chains and sprockets so as to know if there bad
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Old, Those parts that bend and keep the knotters from cycling correctly are the tucker finger drive rods. They only cost about $15 apiece back when I had my 336. Of course sometimes you can really mess it up good and you bend the tucker finger drive shaft too. But that is still only around $130.00. Of course if you pay them to put them in you can really rack the dollars up. Those tucker fingers are the best thing about a JD baler. If it isn't tying it's the tucker fingers 95% of the time Of course anyone who has been around a JD baler knows to poke them and be sure that they are free before heading out to bale.
 
Nope not on this one. It was the part that moved the tucker fingers and to replace that part you had to take a lot of it apart and hop you got it back right. The guy who owned it had me haul it to a JD dealer where they heated it straighten it and said it was good. We ran about 300 bale in it and that prat bent again.
 
(quoted from post at 14:33:42 08/20/18) Nope not on this one. It was the part that moved the tucker fingers and to replace that part you had to take a lot of it apart and hop you got it back right. The guy who owned it had me haul it to a JD dealer where they heated it straighten it and said it was good. We ran about 300 bale in it and that prat bent again.
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Yup, young fella, like I said the tucker finger drive shaft. It bent on my 336. It was about $130.00. Not that big a job to replace it as I remember. The problem with my 336 was that there was enough rust under the knotters, even though it had never been left out overnight, (Yeah Right!), that when it got a heavy charge of hay and went to tie, that the tucker fingers would get hung up because of the deflection in the top of the chamber. I finally cut the thin part out and welded some five eights angle stock in on the inward sides of both needle slots. That stiffened it right up so that the tucker fingers never bothered again.
 
The guy who owned it ended up just parking it by the creek and last I knew it is still sitting there unless one of the 3 or 4 flood we have had got it
 
Welcome to the YT forum! Some people will really like a piece of equipment, others think it's the worst thing ever made. Besides asking a question as you did, I also
search the past posts to see what people have had to say about a piece of equipment that I'm interested in. If I find 75-80% good opinions on something, then it usually
means that overall the equipment should perform well. But in the end it depends on price and condition of the actual item you've found.
 
Ya I bet a 24t was junk trying to run hay through it like it was a 575 and couldn?t figure out why it won?t do it then blame the baler .
 
Most if not all guys that run there mouth about how
big of a pos a piece of machinery Is either a have
never actually run it before but there uncles cousins
sister in laws uncle three times removed owned one
once they thought anyway . Or b they buy a wore
out machine don?t take the time or are to lazy to
read the manual and figure out how the thing
actually works and how to make the adjustments to
make it work like it should . And that is where 99%
of your complaints come from . And then there?s the
geniuses that complain because they expect a 50
year old machine half the capacity of a brand new
machine to perform the same as the new larger
machine and then it?s a piece of junk because it
won?t eat 36 feet of hay like a machine that was
designed for 36 feet of double windrows . And then
any machine has quirks and some machine will be
better than another . When you?re looking at 50 year
old machines these things have been figured out
buy now .
 
I always drill a hole and then tap the grease cap screw a zerk in and then pump grease in until I see out the back of the hub and head down the road
 
(quoted from post at 13:56:46 08/22/18) Most if not all guys that run there mouth about how
big of a pos a piece of machinery Is either a have
never actually run it before but there uncles cousins
sister in laws uncle three times removed owned one
once they thought anyway . Or b they buy a wore
out machine don?t take the time or are to lazy to
read the manual and figure out how the thing
actually works and how to make the adjustments to
make it work like it should . And that is where 99%
of your complaints come from . And then there?s the
geniuses that complain because they expect a 50
year old machine half the capacity of a brand new
machine to perform the same as the new larger
machine and then it?s a piece of junk because it
won?t eat 36 feet of hay like a machine that was
designed for 36 feet of double windrows . And then
any machine has quirks and some machine will be
better than another . When you?re looking at 50 year
old machines these things have been figured out
buy now .
Click to expand...

Are you trying to state that a JD 24T baler built in the 60's wasn't built with ""near anyway close to the same capacity"" as a much newer NH 575?
 
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