nh 66 baler

[timberbeast]

I bought a nh66 bailer last spring. I am curious what hardness shear bolt to use... Grade 5 or softer? Cant find anybody to bail my hay so I decided yo do it myself. Anytips on this bailer would be greatly appreciated. I plan on haying if it ever stops raining here in northern MN

 

[Leroy]

New Holland sells a special shear bolt for that baler, a standard bolt will only work in a pinch but never correct and will actually damage the baler. A standard bolt is just very slightly smaller just behind the threads and lets the bolt wiggle in the flywheel and the lever on the shaft into the gearbox and that will wallow out the hole so no bolt will ever do right. You will not be able to keep the shear bolt tight even if you try double nuting it. The correct bolt will not wiggle in that hole even if you do not have the lock washer and nut on. It is a 3/8" bolt but as I said the shank is a might different size and New Holland NEVER put a grade stamp on the shear bolt so do not know how close they were to a grade 2 or a grade 8. Dad bought that baler in about 1954 or 1955 and we used it untill about 1977 when it was decided it was time to get a kicker to load the wagons,and used kickers were not to be had. That desision came after I got heat stroke unloading bales and both grandpa and a cousin got the heat exaustion in same year of baling. And just 3 weeks ago I had 5 bypasses at age 67 so take care of your health in baling with that baler and go to New Holland and buy the correct bolts, you will find them no where else. Others will tell you a regular bolt will work and it will just so long till that knife edge on both parts where the shear bolt shears untill they become rounded and will not shear when they are supposed to. There used to be a repair kit for the flywheel shear bolt hole because people insisted a regular bolt would work and then they ended up paying big money to get that flywheel repaired. Probably not avaible anymore. We probably put up as high as 25,000 bale a year thru that baler with the 2 cylinder Wisconsion engine and that engine was so worn it was rebored once and in need of it again when traded balers. That is how much we used that baler not only for our own use but custom baling.

 

[Leroy]

Forgot to mention but if you have to use a standard bolt in a pinch like a sat afternoon when dealer closed till he can get them in the next week every load or even every half load shut down baler and retighten the shear bolts as you would think they should still be tight but they will not be and that being loose is what will cause most shear bolts to break. This is the same as the IHC 46 baler that replaced the NH 66 just because it had a kicker on it. New Holland was the better baler.

 

[timberbeast]

thanks for the info! great help and appreciated much!! working in the heat is something i did for long time, logger for 20 years, setting chokers and running power saw in the sun. Know all about heat stroke. No more trees, had to start farming. Have a great fourth and thanks again!