new idea 299 haybine

[ford farmer]

considering a New Idea 299 heybine looks to be in good shape needs gaurds and maybe a sicle soon but it seems like it cuts good any one have any advice or experience with these? i also found a NH 479 but its farther away alot farther. but its 500 cheaper i havent gone to see it yet but they say it cuts well it just dosent look pretty. what should i do if i do decide to get a new haybine?

 

[Don-Wi]

My experience is with a New Idea 290, which must be a little bit older I would think, but it's a good machine. Parts aren't too hard to come by, and the rollers are in no danger of needing replacement because of delamination.

When set up properly it cuts great, but so should any other machine that's set up right.

We've replaced ours with a Hesston hydro-swingm for hay, but we kept it just for cutting swamp grass. Kinda sucks having to do maintnance on it every year for 1 or 2 days work cutting, but our 14' hydro-swing wouldn't work very well in those conditions and would put too much material in the windrow.

Donovan from Wisconsin