Great video, very thorough

My friend Ronney and I hauled hay one summer when I was 14 and he was 15. I’ve hauled many a square bales of hay. Never saw the balers in use up close. We showed up in the hays fields after the hay bales were on the ground. We had an Ford old truck, no doors on it. We tied a rope to the steering wheel and put the truck in granny low. Once we got a few bakes on the bed, I jumped onto the truck bed and stacked them from front to back. Ronney was a lot stronger than I was. He could toss a bale higher than I could. We got 55 bales on the wooden flat bed. We were paid a penny a bale to haul it to the storage buildings. We thought we were making good money. The days were long and hot. Neither of us had a drivers license. The truck did not have tags on it. It had a small water leak. We filled the radiator with water every morning, before we started our day. We stayed on the back gravel roads. Romney turned 16 and was legally able to drive at the end of the hay season. He sold that old truck for $150 and purchased an old Ford sedan. I think it was a 1953 model. I went to college, after high school, and Ronney got drafted and went to Vietnam. He survived the war. I moved away and lost touch with him. Nice to see people still using those old square balers taking care of them.

Very good Video and well spoken.

Thank you for this video; I purchased a 310 and this has been very helpful.

Very goodvideo I know 100%more about balers than before

Excellent video. Baler knotters are a mechanical marvel.

I didn't see it mentioned in the comments but i believe your pickup chain is installed incorrectly. The rear drive sprocket turns clockwise. The chain should travel from the bottom of the rear drive sprocket over the top of the front pickup sprocket (so that the chain will pull directly on the top of the pickup sprocket to reverse the direction) and then on to the lower idler and up and over the upper tensioner and back to the top of the rear drive sprocket. I'm looking at the nh269 factory op manual for my baler and it has an illustration (figure 55 on page 37) showing the routing.

Dad bought a 273 that was a 2 year lease return from a local university. First thing we did was change the bale length. It made 12 inch bales the university employees handled with forks(Dad called them union bales). We used it hard until 1996. Good machine!

Very helpful and useful video. Thanks

Good old baler. Clean all that chaff off of it, it attracts moisture and causes rust. Twine knives need to be sharp, dull knives can cause a myriad of problems. I replaced them every year, they're inexpensive enough. That orange twine sucks, use the blue that comes in 9600' rolls, it's much better. Good luck. Best regards from Indiana.

I learnt a lot from you. Thank you very much

Thi is a great video.. I am looking to do some cutting and bailing. These old hayliners look like good machines. I'll soon be looking to find one.

Lot of help thanks

Being able to test bale is probably the most important thing you did. My first baler was a NH 276. Well used when I bought it and my intentions were to use it for a few years until I could upgrade to a newer baler. That thing ran like the Energizer Bunny for years and years and years. Still going strong when I got out of the hay business.

@TheScientistHayFarmer

8 ай бұрын

Test baling is so important if you’re able to do it. I have heard countless stories of people who bought a baler that was “field ready” and it was a giant turd when they got it home.

This was excellent....thanks!

@TheScientistHayFarmer

Жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it!

I have a 1971 model, 273, it's had at least 350 thousand bales run through it, that I know of, still clicking rite along, I have had slack in the chains for the last 40yrs😅,

Another thing to check is the plunger guides that the bearings run on. My recent NH 280 baler that I purchased needs them replaced unfortunately.

In Australia this model baler was called a 275 Baler, the unit i had packed more on one side making banana bales, could never solve the problem so sold it and bought a 317, magnificent baler in its time.

@sheldon6993

9 ай бұрын

Love my 317 never misses a bale

Thank you much...

Ran my Dads Super 68 Hayliner , for years growing up. Kept a brush in the toolbox and brushed off the knotter ocasionally , otherwise it would skip a knot sometimes with a lot of chaff pilled up on there.

@TheScientistHayFarmer

6 ай бұрын

Got to keep them knotters clean. I blow off my baler and mower with a leaf blower every time I use it.

Grew up behind one of those

Also need to make sure the hay wedges are in place and check the condition of the knives, sounds like the plunger bearing are ok, I didn’t hear it hammering! Good video.

@TheScientistHayFarmer

2 ай бұрын

It’s a good point on the knives because they were very dull and out of adjustment and I had meant to show them and just forgot. I don’t use hay wedges.

Hello my friend & thx 4 the video, those 273's R great balers. U should shim the fiber wear blocks to remove the excessive side play in Ur feeder carriage. Also MOST importantly replace the missing PTO safety shield & chain guard on the pickup drive. If U R lucky ask former owner if he has them.

@TheScientistHayFarmer

Жыл бұрын

Thanks, I have been waiting for your comment :). Tell me more about about these fiber wear blocks to shim the excess side play. I take it that is the what I was checking the rollers on?

@jeffferanec4526

Жыл бұрын

@@TheScientistHayFarmer Shims are available @ NH, one side will wear more the other. If U had to 1/4" flat washers would work but harder to get in place.

This is a good review or me. I'm looking forward to one more year of a few square bales (150 or so) for my horses. I've been baling hay since I was a kid in the '60's. I'm using my neighbors 312 now. Did you mention checkin the universal joints? Thanks

Awsome video, I have a 268 and its been depenable. I may need you in the futher.

@TheScientistHayFarmer

Жыл бұрын

My grandpas 268 still sits at his farm, in the barn, hasn’t been used in decades and has been covered up in old feed bags. I could buy it for $300 and my family would like to see me give it life again as a back up baler. But I would have to ship it across four states so it was prohibitively expensive. Didn’t make sense from a business perspective.

Spacer should be tight but can spin other wise puts pressure on shear bolt flywheel always trying to go back check rollers on pickup bearings on end of tines check pivot pin on safety latch have a habit of kotter key brakeing an pin falling out oil pins on pilot on front over riding clutch little springs get weak an where’s pilot out permacully (sp)

nice video...some suggestions, check the slide blocks on the packing arms, it appeared that there was an excessive lateral movement. The packer rods should be checked for length and bend. Check the pick up wheel, alignment and bearing play. The needles looked good but could not see the twine wear, will a knot pass through the eye or is it worn and the knot will get caught and break the bale. Did not see the bale knifes, one on the plunger and the stationary one in the bale chamber. Judging from the bale you pulled out they need sharpening, ragged edges. Speaking of sharp, mentioned that the twine knifes had been replace, but are they razor sharp? Did not show the twine fingers on the bale hook that form the knot; is the hook worn of bent, how is the spring tension? A little heads up on your 311, the bale packer system is prone to failure; the bearing tracks wear, bearings seize, the arms come off and BOOM! NH does not support many of those parts. Started with an IH 46, then a NH68, to a NH273/thrower and finally a NH 316/thrower.

@TheScientistHayFarmer

11 ай бұрын

I’m taking a guess at what you mean with some of your terminology, but I’ll need to adjust the feeder tine bearings, the knife on the plunger is very dull and poorly adjusted. I totally forgot to show that but it was one of the things I checked initially. The needle eyelets were good.

cutter? In the early 80's I worked at New Holland at the New Holland Pa plant. I assembled countless of these units.

@TheScientistHayFarmer

Жыл бұрын

That’s pretty cool. You talking about plunger knives? Yeah, I did forget those but did look at them when I was originally looking at the baler.

@Dave-ll6ei

Жыл бұрын

Maybe you work on my 311. According the it’s serial number it was built in 1988 when Ford owned New Holland. It was sold new to someone in Illinois and now it’s back home in Pennsylvania and working like a champ.

One thing i think that mabe you didn't think about is required hp to run a baler. . Ive got a tractor thats 37 net hp @pto. Seeing mix results in people's opinion on weather thats enuf hp. Seems most folks shy away from smaller tractors on unflat land, as the force of the heavy plunger can affect a ligher tractor far more then a bigger one. 0.01c

@TheScientistHayFarmer

7 ай бұрын

A baler requires about 25 PTO hp, your 37 hp PTO tractor would have no problems running running this. The weight of the tractor is what becomes important on unflat land as you say, as well as the drawbar hp. Go check out my video “Baling 500 squares with a 25 hp Kubota L2501.” I run my 311 PLUS a fully loaded wagon with a little 25 hp Kubota. You won’t believe your eyes.

@BGWenterprises

7 ай бұрын

@@TheScientistHayFarmer i found it, very interesting. I could hear it drop rpms each hit. I looked it up, the L2501 As a hyd its 19.somthing hp net at pto. That por thing was working hard, LOL.

Great now I'll never sell my junky old 273. Stop educating people! 😁 One thing I would add is if you go to buy one and there is a bale in the chamber, insist they get it cleaned out and take a hard look at the bale chamber floor. They may be hiding that it's rusted through from years of leaving a bale in the chamber over the winter. Ask me how I know.

Looks like it's in great shape - I have to try your bungee trick for testing the knotters. That first haydog spring you looked at (top right) looked broken on the left side @ 12:53 ? After I shimmed out the wear blocks to spec (1.25"?) on the feeder carriage on mine, it got a lot quieter ;)

@TheScientistHayFarmer

Жыл бұрын

I’ll have to check it out closer. I’m going to replace all the springs anyway.

@TheScientistHayFarmer

Жыл бұрын

You’re the second one to comment on shimming the wear blocks. Looks like I need to do that so am going to look into it for sure. Thanks!

@oxfletch

Жыл бұрын

@@TheScientistHayFarmer The official shims are stupid expensive, but not sure why you can't just use washers? If you overtighten their screws, the blocks crack ... mine also had one block missing. Apparently the (lower?) rail moves up and down to close up on those rollers as they wear down to stop vertical movement too. My rollers were so trashed I replaced them though, should be 6 of them I think. After replacing mine ... I figured out that the aluminum fingers seem to be adjustable up/down to compensate for wear. Oops. I haven't figured out how to set the bent ones to correct length yet.

I didn't see waffle plates or other restrictor type bars to hold the hay in the baler chamber. Just past the hay dogs.

@TheScientistHayFarmer

Жыл бұрын

Are you talking about wedges or is this something else entirely?

@mattreinker8445

11 ай бұрын

I think he is talking about that angle like piece of metal you found in the tool box. When you look into the bale chamber there should be two on each side. I have them in my 68 baler. They help keep the hay from sliding back.

@TheScientistHayFarmer

11 ай бұрын

Yes, those are called the wedges.

I am going to look at a 273 this weekend. I made a checklist from your excellent video. All of your videos are extremely useful to me. I too am a scientist (geologist)/hay farmer, having started from scratch with a bare mud field of soybean stubble 3 winters ago. I prepared and planted it with nothing more than a Honda 420 ATV, a drag harrow, and a tow-behind spreader. Three years later I have a nice hay field, but I'm tired of giving half my hay to unreliable contract cutters who are always too late and/or have malfunctioning equipment. So my plan is to buy a baler, a bar rake, and a mower. I am only haying 7 acres and I want to keep equipment cost to a minimum. What is your opinion on sickle bar mowers? I like that they are mechanically simple, relatively cheap and take up a lot less room than a haybine. Am I nuts?

@TheScientistHayFarmer

9 ай бұрын

Sickle mowers can be great for small acreage, you will want a tedder so you can dry the hay down faster since it’s not being conditioned. You should look into a drum mower.

@schleppinghay

8 ай бұрын

Well, I did it, I bought a 273 yesterday! It passed all the checklist items from your video, minus one lower hay dog spring. Your video made it possible for me to evaluate a very complex device, about which I previously knew very little, with confidence. I encourage you to do similar videos for haybines too. Thanks again for a great series of videos!

@TheScientistHayFarmer

8 ай бұрын

Awesome, thanks for the words of encouragement and I’m so glad to hear the videos are helpful. Hopefully you read some of the other comments on this video too as there were some good ones pointing out things I didn’t cover. Be sure to check your plunger knife clearance and sharpness. I can almost guarantee the knives need to be sharpened and shimmed to get proper clearance. Great suggestion on the Haybine pre-purchase inspection as well. I will do that for sure. Believe it or not it takes a lot of time to make a video, both in filming and editing. So sometimes I get lazy in getting around to it.

@schleppinghay

8 ай бұрын

@@TheScientistHayFarmer fortunately, the PO had an extensive service done a year ago that included servicing the knife in the plunger chamber. The knotter knives were replaced, as were the upper plunger dog springs. I really got lucky with this one. Not only is all of the sheet metal extant, it is not bent or rusted out! It just has that old baler rust patina, with all the decals still good!

@schleppinghay

8 ай бұрын

I took your advice and looked into drum mowers. I found an 8' Reese with a built in tedder. I looked at a decent discbine, but they are monstrous and complex with many parts to fail. The Reese would seem to be the opposite. Only one cylinder (lift) as opposed to 5 on the discbine and just 3 belts and 2 drums versus all the turtles and rollers on the discbine. My question is this, do you think a conditioner is really necessary, or is the built-in tedder a reasonable alternative?

Yes i nead in india

How many chamber wedges does a 273 need as perscribed by New Hollands factory recommendations?

@TheScientistHayFarmer

15 күн бұрын

Im not sure as I don’t use chamber wedges.

Do you ever sharpen the twine knives on your square balers? If so, how? File, flapper wheel? Do they need to be razor sharp? Thanks

@MrSykes

Ай бұрын

A sharp twine knife keeps the twine from getting stuck on the bill hook and causing trying and breaking issues. There's a single bolt and nut holding each of the two knotters down. Remove those and you can flip the whole assembly up and get access to the knives. I just use a small fine tooth file once a year. Leave the lock nut and bolt a little loose to allow some minor movement when you put them back or else the knotters can bind up.

@rodney5656

Ай бұрын

Ok thanks

What about the rollers on the plunger?

@TheScientistHayFarmer

27 күн бұрын

You could try but they’re difficult to check.

How much did you give for a unit like that??

@TheScientistHayFarmer

Жыл бұрын

I paid $1300.

@TheScientistHayFarmer

Жыл бұрын

@Kernica1 it’s a lot of learning. Most of the videos on my channel are made for newcomers to the trade/hobby. So look around. That’s a great idea for a video. I’ll do that.

plunger-knifes

@TheScientistHayFarmer

5 ай бұрын

Yes! I forgot to show that but they were very dull and out of alignment. Getting that fixed as I speak.

Привіт я з України переглядаю ваші відео дуже цікаво адже сам маю нью холанд 268 і мені булоб дуже цікаве ваше відео деб ви розказали як виставити зажигання в такому пресі успіху вам у вашій праці а нам перемоги над агресором 🇺🇦🤝🤝🤝👍👍👋🚜🇺🇸

@TheScientistHayFarmer

6 ай бұрын

First of all, God bless you and all the people of Ukraine who are fighting for your freedom, your country, your rights, and your way of life against the forces of evil that currently occupy you. You have the support of an overwhelming majority of people in the US and you see many gold and blue flags flying here in solidarity. I pray for your safety and victory, and the continued support from the international community. Here is the link for the video where I show how to time the needles. kzread.info/dash/bejne/e4Orz8aeqre5otI.html Please stay safe my friend. Slava Ukraini.

@user-yu6uy9mh1u

6 ай бұрын

@@TheScientistHayFarmer дякую 🤝🤝🤝🇺🇦👍🇺🇸Героям Слава !!! Ми здолаємо цю нечисть і Україна буде вільна дякую друже за підтримку 👋👋👋👍я підписався на ваш канал !