NH 68 Baler?

[ewalker]

I am going to look a NH 68 this weekend, any advise on what to look for?

 

[old]

Just all the normal stuff like the feeder teeth and the twine needles etc.

 

[jdman(MO)]

and the slides on the plunger, gearbox seals leaking.

 

[Brendon-KS]

My FIL and I had to do some repairs this past summer on his 68 when the right hand stuffer finger got jammed into the slot it sweeps through. Actually, it didn't jam into the slot; it jammed into the sheetmetal right beside the slot. The pivot bearings had gotten loose over the years and allowed the fingers to flop around. This can be examined by opening up the panel right above the twine boxes.

Just a little hint. If you buy the baler and ever need to remove the entire top cover above the stuffer there are a lot of hidden screws to find. Unfortunately, these all are shallow head slotted screws that round out very easily. I had to cut some off because they are nearly impossible to keep a screwdriver in, if you can get on them in the first place. 40+ years of exposure to rodent "stuff" doesn't help either since the screws will be rusty. I replaced quite a few of them with regular hex head screws which made it a lot easier to put back together.

 

[Hogleg]

My old 68 did 183 bales today and did not miss a knot (being driven by my daughter). A great old baler if you find one in good condition. Mine is ugly as heck but runs like a Swiss watch.

I just got done replacing the plunger bearings. Open the top and shake the connecting rod to see if they paid attention to greasing since that zerk is one they tend to ignore. Regular greasing is a key to a good baler. You can run one into the ground if you don't pay attention to maint.

John