IHC hay balers

[oregonfarmer]

I have owned several balers made by International and they all worked fine. They get bashed by many and to them I say: anything can be fixed if you try and have a manual!

One IHC baler that I have never seen is 425. The flyer for this model shows a "Deering knoter" and several items that differ from 47 and 435. Was this a limited production or never made at all? This time was very bad for the compay and near end.


























































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[DeltaRed]

Never heard of a 425 baler. I did once have a 440.The baler itself was a fine machine.The knotters however were a different story. Even the dealer's knotter expert couldn't get it to tie right. it was eventually traded in on a new JD 336.My brother still owns it.

 

[Charlie M]

I like the model 46 I have. They do require owning a manual and having everything set properly and good quality twine. The quality twine part is getting to be a big problem if using sisal.

 

[fastfarmall]

I bought a new 440 Baler also,the one thing that was stellar, was that rubber tooth sweep pickup, i had to have the experts out from the factory too, to get it too tie,but the local IHC parts guy,Leo ,was way smarter then he was,and he eventually got it fixed !!!

 

[SadFarmall]

I have the 'dreaded' 45 Baler. The 45 is nearly deplored for its knotters, but mine works quite well. The knotters are a headache when worn. I don't how many thousand bales our 45 has made since 1948, but the machine keeps going.
SadFarmall

 

[DR. EVIL]

Neighbor we traded help with baling had an IH 55-T baler. Lots of days took three to bale, one on the tractor pulling the baler, second on the rack, third person to sit on twine box and check and re-tie every missed bale. And this was back in the 1960's, baler wasn't that old.

Neighbor's next baler was an IH #37, much smaller bale compared to the 55. But seemed to tie more reliably. Dad and I did 20 acres of 2nd cutting alfalfa hay one afternoon, just the 2 of us. Would not have got it all baled if we had knotter problems.

New Holland balers always had a good reputation of tying reliably.

 

[RedRoundhead]

On the home farm, we ran a 46, which baled all our hay (15,000/year) for 20 years - until the plunger arm broke. Never had any major knotter issues - must have been lucky?

Then had a 37 - was prettty decent. No real issues either.

Both always stored indoors, greased them at the start of each day. Bought both used.

I have a 430 all-twine. Only put up 1500/2000 bales a year with it .Only issue i had was with the bale length contol bellcrank bushings. Worn out bushings were binding the bellcrank, which made really long bales. Which then got the strings burned off by the thrower. Intermittently, lol. Was so glad when I figured that one out!

No complaints - only paid $120 for it in the early 2000's.

Probably because of the bale length issue,lol.

 

[dhermesc]

There was a 420 and possibly a 425. Smaller light duty baler that had a lot of things different than 430 and 440 (very similar). The 420 also puts out smaller bale (smaller bale chute). As far as I knew the 420, 430 and 440 all had the same knotters though.

 

[dhermesc]

In the early 1970s we bought a new 440 with the alltwine knotters. First two years we owned it we couldn't get it to make more than 50 bales without breaking at least one. The dealership sent their "baler man" out several times and eventually he threw his hands up and said that was all the better that baler would work. Had a "baler man" from another dealership work on it and after he followed the baler around for about an hour and made several adjustments it got to where it would go through a ball of twine without breaking a bale. It had 20K to 30K bales run through it every year.

 

[Charlie M]

In my experience over the years there are lots of guys that call themselves baler mechanics. When it comes to knotters a lot of them aren't.

 

[560Dennis]

We had a 50T , our first baler, at first we had issues with the right side not tying. We fought it the first year. Then dad said enough got the book out and it was work on , the shaft that runs out to the auger screw seems to me was out of time and was repaired. I thinks that why they traded in to Duda equipment in Albion pa. We bought.
I was about 11 years old at the time. Dad said he fixed the timing . I want you to read the book and set up the knotters for me. Here are the tools 🧰.
I sure did not want to sit on that twine box another summer and tie square knots.
I must had the lord helping me. 🙏👀That baler really never missed again after that. I?m sure it was six years putting up 500 to 600 bales every year.
We never took that great or care of it either. It sat out in the weather , snow covered ,I don?t think we even tarpped it maybe can?t remember.
Anyway I agree with you all ,these are one great baler imo.
That the story
I forgot this the motor book said to take the head offf and clean the carbon. I did that to. But I put anew head gasket on it and torqued it to specs. Well put the antifreeze in and startered it. Well the head ha a cracked water jacket.
I was about in tears as I walked up to my father and told him what was going on . He let?s try this old model t trick. Take and tongue the bolt on it beteewn 2and 3 ten more pounds warm . That?s seal the crack and as I said it ran that way for all that time. That was the best running little engine.
Good luck , don?t get discouraged it?s a great knotted.