Used my new New Holland 273 for the First Time - little long

[Farmallhal]

I bought a used NH 273 a couple of months ago and did everything I could think of to get it ready for it's first outing here on our Missouri farm. Obtained an owners manual and dove into it like I was taking my first drivers license test years ago. Learned a lot from it along with a visit to my NH dealer for his input. Had a neighbor who has been around balers his whole life (he has a NH 273 also) walk me through the whole thing as we greased it up and checked everything out. Learned a couple of things quite quickly. The right side wouldn't tie and we quickly traced that down to the old twine which was left in the twine box and through the knotters. We started with new sisal twine in the twine box but left the old to drag the new through the needles and knotters. That was a mistake as the old rotten falling apart stuff got all plugged up in the right knotter. Had to dig and clean that all out of the hooks or fingers part of the knotter. The same knotter had some surface rust which we had to remove with some fine emery paper to polish them and to remove the rust which wouldn't let the twine off after typing. The left knotter never missed a single bale all afternoon. Next getting the tension set properly and getting the bale lenght set for normal bales. It must have been set up for baling Halloween thing bales which were very short. That helped as we got a lot of ties while we worked on the knotter typing problems. The only other real problem was one of the forks which moves the hay from behind the pick-up into the bale chamber was rotated some what and needed reset or adjusted correctly as we could hear a little banging noise when it moved all the way to the right. The pick-up slip clutch was an early issue but that seemed to work itself out as we found the right size windrows and feed rate it could handle. Didn't adjust anything there yet and the rest of the afternoon was uneventful. We put 395 bales through it and the last 300 or more were done without a single bale not being tied correctly. I think this thing is good to go for the rest of the hay season and don't expect anymore issues from this point on for now. I will coat the knotter parts with a rust preventative for storage after finishing the hay for this year. Also will get everything out of the bale chamber and put something in there for rust prevention. The chamber was without rust when I purchased it and intend to keep it that way. Thought I should share the experience as I had a lot apprehension going to the field with it the first time. I did have a couple of other balers I could fall back on if I had needed too here in the neighborhood. It probably took an hour or so to work out the issues I pointed out. That tool kit I bought to keep in the baler tool box paid for itself yesterday along with the shear pins I had for the baler when a large stick got into a windrow and in the baler, Hal.

 

[Flurette Farm]

Well, Hal it sounds to me like you've made all the right moves and pretty much covered the bases.
On the new twine you should have gone back to manual and threaded it like discribed or the instructions should also be inside the twine box.
Good luck.

 

[Farmallhal]

Yes, you are correct with that approach - I think we made the decision to tie the new to the old as it didn't look that bad near the twine box. That old rotten stuff was somewhere downstream and when it got in the knotters it was just the real rotten stuff at that point. Yes, there is a decal in the twine box on routing the twine to the knotters. It is just amazing how one of these older low use balers can still just get it done with a minimal amount of trouble when everything has been well taken care of and kept out of the weather. In serviceing it after purchasing it and before going to the field yesterday I changed the gear box lube and if it is like most old farm machinery it was probably the first time it had been changed - it was certainly very dark and thick when I drained it out and it looked like the paint on the drain plug and the gear box appeared like it had never been taken out.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I got a used 273 about a year ago, hasn't missed a bale yet.

 

[old]

Are you sure your using the correct twine?? On some the bill hooks ate different for each ype of twine and that will cause you problems. Also check the twine knifes and make sure they are good and sharp that to will cause problems like you say your having. Oh and by the way how in the heck are you baling hay down that way?? Been to wet up this way to even think about cutting any down

 

[Farmallhal]

Rich, mowed it down Saturday morning and let it lay until around 8:30 a.m. Sunday (yes I missed church) and ran the tedder over it and let it dry the rest of the day (there wasn't even any dew here Sunday morning) and started raking it on Monday about 11:00 a.m. We started baleing it about 1:00 p.m. and after dealing with the early baler problems for an hour and half or so went right through it. There wasn't any dew again on Monday morning either. I got it mowed and baled and in the barn with no dew or rain of any nature. Just got lucky I guess as we baled my BIL's on Sunday afternoon and mine could have been baled on Sunday afternoon as well as that was a real drying day around here. Talked to another BIL who lives down south of Licking a little ways and while we got drenched yesterday he didn't get any rain in his area and in fact baled all day up until dark with a round baler. He was baleing again today as well. I guess the rain was more concentrated up around the lake and I-70 from what I saw on the radar and from the flood warnings. We'll be doing some more as soon as we can but looks a little iffy right now for the next few days. Take care and dry out, Hal.

 

[Farmallhal]

I was in Jefferson City this morning and stopped by my favorite New Holland dealer in Vienna on the way home to discuss my baler issues with him. The left hooks never missed a bale and they are chrome plated while the right ones (which gave all the early problems) appeared to be carbon steel which had surface rust on them causing the problems. I asked if we should change them over to chrome as well and he said if we went that many bales without a tie problem just smear grease on them before winter storage as cleaning them up probably corrected the issue. It appears the left side ones had been replaced somewhere along the line while the right side was original ones. The twine knives are sharp and cutting wasn't the issue. I'm using New Holland brand sisal twine I bought from the dealership along with my other supplies for the baler. Most folks around here get their sisal twine at MFA and use a brand called Royal Holland which seems to work very well in these NH balers. We'll see how it goes again the next time out to see if we need to modify or do additional polishing on them. Take care and thanks for your comments, Hal.

 

[Farmallhal]

That's great and this one is capable of the same performance but who knows how long it had set in a shed without being used. It certainly hasn't had that many bales put through it as everything is in very good condition everywhere. It just set too many years without being used which probably led to the surface rust issues. Thanks for your comments and from the performance I generally see with the NH 273 around here they perform very well indeed, Hal.

 

[old]

Ya if the weather man wasn't calling for rain and has been for the last few days I would have hay down right now. I have baled about 20 squares and 6 rounds so far but I also take my time doing the hay because of my back. Neighbor just left and came down just to talk to me about doing hay and he is trying to figure out if he wants to buy hay equipment to do his 20 acres or to just maybe have me do it and have him help with it. I told him the truth that do do it he will have to spend around $2000-5000 just for the machines and then the head aches that follow.

 

[Farmallhal]

I would hate to think of the issues with the equipment that can be purchased in the range you told him. I saw stuff that could be bought in that price range but now isn't the time to be buying the "needs work" equipment. I purchased a very good hardly used NH 273 baler of 1969 vintage which has set for years somewhere inside but certainly a very low useage machine for $2500. Bought a NH616 disc mower which had only been used for a couple of months before the owner passed away the next spring. It was only a couple of years old and in like new condition except for being used in the rocky southern Missouri hills a couple of months for $4600. I bought a new 17 foot four basket tedder which cost $4400. I went to several farm auctions and used tedders were selling for almost the price of a new one and certainly less then a $1000 between the two. I'm sure some deals can be found but won't be easy and the grass is ready now for the most part. I wish your neighbor well but hope he realizes the condition of equipment he is going to find in the range you quoted. I already had a good NH256 hay rake dad had bought years ago so didn't need to look for one of those but at the farm auctions I attended they certainly don't go cheap. So you can see good useable equipment is certainly not cheap even in these times and in an area where lots of it is for sale. I basically spent the feeder calf money this year on my own hay equipment so I don't have to wait my turn for folks wanting to do hay on shares late in the season and after the hay is past it's prime.

 

[old]

Yep when I showed him my stuff and told him the good and bad he then started talking about me doing his hay for him. Ya my stuff is a lot cheaper then what you have but then I have had it for years and have worked on stuff like it for decades

 

[GordoSD]

Alittle tip for a clean bale chamber for storage. When you are getting down to the last windrow, maybe 2 bales left, loosen the bale tension about 10-12 turns. You will have a real loose bale you can pull from the chamber easily.

Gordo

 

[Farmallhal]

I'll remember this from the gentleman in one of my favorite states, thanks for the tip, Hal.