What is a good older small square baler

[loggerbud]

What are some good older square balers that require lower amount of hp and can still get parts.

[jwal10]

New Holland and John Deere....James

[loggerbud]

Are there certain model numbers that are better than others

[jwal10]

How old or how much do you want to spend....James

[loggerbud]

I want summin decent price probly 3k is about the max I would wanna spend

[jwal10]

I would get new enough to have the super sweep head, pickup teeth are closer together and wider. You will need the smallest in each model range. 300 JD would be the 336. New Holland 200 or 300 series. New Holland made a lot of different models, I would want the newer hay feed system, they make the better bales. The older the baler the smaller you can get. NH 66 and JD 14T....James

[loggerbud]

Is the nh 273 or jd 214 decent balers? That's what my research is turning up.

[jwal10]

JD 214 is a bigger baler than the 14 and 24, good OLD baler. JD balers also hammer harder on the plunger than NH. 273 NH is a good baler, It may even have the clean sweep header. Also remember you want twine not wire. 214T not 214W. JD I would go 336, better yet 337. They also made a smaller 326, 327....James

[DaleK]

Lots of MF 124s going strong around here in that price range.

[ksfarmer]

I've got a old JD 24T that I've had forever. Now that I'm retired and got rid of all my bigger equipment, I still bale a few hundred bales of wheat straw and most years about 200 alfalfa using my Farmal-40 which has about 36 PTO hp. Does a good job. It does hammer a little but most of that is due to worn bushing on the plunger head. Mis-ties a bale every 25 or 30 bales, but I can live with that.

[Deerefarmer41]

Bought a Case swather and NH baler four years ago. Both probably from the early 70's. Paid $1200 for the two. Have done very little work on either. I only bale about 2000 bales a year so not used heavy.

[FarmboyBill]

Kansas, What is a Farmall-40? I know the F-20s and 30s. AND a wheatland W-40

[mulemom]

We baled thousands of bales with a NH 270 (or 272-I'm too lazy to walk up to the shed and check) pulled by a farmall super c. I think the c was rated at 21hp brand new. My dad was the baler man for the local dealer. He bought the baler new-the first thing I remember him doing was putting stainless knotters in it. Whatever you get make sure the knotters have been covered and are rust free. Around us it's hard to find someone who's really good with setting them, there's nothing more aggravating than a baler that won't tie.

[FarmboyBill]

Amen to your last m,om. Ive got a great OLD Case bailer that runs great, has its own engine, but wont tie. Maybe Ive found a mechanic who says that he has square and round bailers, and then I run into a young guy in his 30s who a mechanic bragged on that owned the place he worked at. I talked to the guy and he said that he hadn't worked on one since he was a teen but hed take a look at mine for $80hr. I said nope to that. Waiting on the first guy.

[Ramblin Wreck]

I bought a fix it up JD 336, and we finally got it going OK (came with a broken knotter). Before buying, the consensus I seemed to find on the hay forums was that the older NH's tied better/more consistently but the JD's made a heavier/tighter bale. I wanted the heavier bale. I've got about $2K in mine as is, but I want to do more work on it in the future (new springs and new tires).

[ksfarmer]

Originally Posted by FarmboyBill

Kansas, What is a Farmall-40? I know the F-20s and 30s. AND a wheatland W-40

The Farmall-40 is a new model that came out 5 or 6 yrs ago. Made by 'case IH. very similar to the New Holland models. Utility or compact tractors. I bought mine new after selling all my bigger farm tractors and equipment when I retired. I bush hog weeds, plow the garden, spray brush, grade the drive, and move big round bales. It handles 1500 lb bales if I'm careful.
I think Case-IH came out with the line as sort of a nostalgia trip. It's a handy little tractor for a ol retired fart like me.

[FarmboyBill]

I thought all you had to do to to have a tighter bale was to turn those 2 cranks at the back of the bale chamber clockwise about 20 turns, and youd have a bail you couldn't slip your fingers underneath the string. Ive hade those in the past, and I HATE them. Also HATE those way to lose.

[jwal10]

JDs do make good straight solid bales. But so do the newer NH with the improved hay feed system. Tightening down the bale chamber makes a heavier bale but does very little for a straight even bale, not them bannana bales....James

[rambler]

New holland 69 through 271 are good old lower volume square balers with ample parts support. I'd put them at $1000 or half or double that depending on the wear and demand.

On your budget you could get into some of the 300 model New Holland balers which are more modern, faster, better pickups. 310, 315, etc.

JD likewise has the 14T and 24T as the older dependable balers. They have the next generation I believe also a 300 series of models which are a generation better and faster.

I would pick from these. New Holland is preferred locally.....

Paul

[rambler]

Originally Posted by mulemom

We baled thousands of bales with a NH 270 (or 272-I'm too lazy to walk up to the shed and check) pulled by a farmall super c. I think the c was rated at 21hp brand new. My dad was the baler man for the local dealer. He bought the baler new-the first thing I remember him doing was putting stainless knotters in it. Whatever you get make sure the knotters have been covered and are rust free. Around us it's hard to find someone who's really good with setting them, there's nothing more aggravating than a baler that won't tie.

Not a 272.

270 has a straight pto shaft, 271 has a post on the hitch with an extra joint in the pto shaft so you can turn shorter. Otherwise exact same balers.

Good balers, if everything it set up right and good. Nice to have 35 hp on them, pulls a hay rack or bale basket behind real nice. Your Super C will get the job done, but that's a tad light....

Paul