I purchased an old square baler, a New Holland Super Hayliner 68, off Craigslist, site unseen, for $1000. I thought it was a good deal because it was delivered and had a lot of spare parts. I was told it needed work but had no idea what was wrong with it, and I have never baled hay before! In this video I start by testing out how it works, and I discover a couple big issues:
1. The bales were coming out curved, also known as “banana curls”
2. The knife wasn’t cutting well
3. The plunger knife was too far away from the static knife
4. The springs on the bale dogs were broken, and the bottom bale dog is completely gone
5. The oil in the gearcases was almost a solid
6. The wedges in the bale chamber were all broken and needed replacement
7. The wheel for the pickup was missing
8. The knives for cutting the twine needed sharpening
9. Almost every bolt is rusted/seized up
10. It needed a new tire
11. The wooden slides in the plunger all needed to be replaced
Besides those issues, everything was in pretty good shape for a 60 year old baler. All in, I probably put in about $150 worth of stuff (wheel, wood for slides, gear oil, rusty metal primer paint, and bale chamber wedges).
Towards the end of the video I put the Case IH Farmall 75C to work and baled a test windrow I put out in one of my hayfields. The tractor and the baler performed great.
This is a good video to watch if you are new to baling hay, want to buy an old square baler, or are having trouble with your square baler performance. Hope you enjoy!
driftlessinwi