NH 282 baler

[3600Paul]

A local ag equipment dealer has a used New Holland 282 baler ( from the late '60s) for sale.

I have a small tractor: 30 HP pto, 38 HP tractor.

I received conflicting reports on whether my tractor can drive/pull this baler. Any thoughts?

Thanks.

[zzvyb6]

No problem. I used to run my JD 14T with a 22 hp Yanmar. Now I use a 35 HP JD. Even pulled a wagon behind it at one time. Now I run a NH 1012 to collect up the bales and deliver them to the barn or customers. A baler with sharp cutoff knives doesn't actually consume that much power. Some will complain about a bucking motion if the tractor is light weight, but that's usually a sign of a sloppy hitch or a driveline connection out of recommended position. I've seen complainers tractor's with the shear pin missing in the flywheel. Yes it was turning.

What have you go to lose? Small balers retain their present market value. Now you need a mower and maybe a rake. If your mower can be set up to windrow as it cuts, skipping the rake step will get the greenest (finest) bales to market as long as it thoroughly dries.

[3600Paul]

Thank you for the input.

I do have a mower and you helped me with a conditioning roller problem. The mower is a NH Haybine 472.

[RickB]

A 282 is a high capacity baler that makes 16x18 bales. If you want to bale with 30 PTO HP, the first thing to look for is a far more common 14x18 baler. You are asking for more trouble than you need to sign up for by trying to run a 16x18 baler with your tractor.

[rankrank1]

A 282 is a high capacity baler that makes 16x18 bales. If you want to bale with 30 PTO HP, the first thing to look for is a far more common 14x18 baler. You are asking for more trouble than you need to sign up for by trying to run a 16x18 baler with your tractor.

Plus one on the excellent advice from RickB as the 282 is a large capacity baler that makes 16x18 bales - not a good fit for a compact tractor.

That said your tractor will pull a baler, the key is picking the right size baler. (just like a 1/2 ton 6 cylinder pick-up truck will pull a trailer - it just will not pull the same trailer that a 1 ton turbo diesel pick-up truck will pull).

Generally speaking for a compact tractor:
New Holland models any number starting with 65 up to and including 273 would be good choices (skip the albatross 77 though).
John deere 14T or 24T (maybe a 214T but a 214T could be iffy).

Again generally speaking these balers will be 40 to 50 years old or more and were designed to work with the common low hp tractors that most farmers had during that era. Expect to tinker on them due to age and wear. As balers got newer they almost always require more and more tractor horserpower as the capacity increased in newer models since farmers were buying bigger tractors in the 1970's. There are brand new balers from companies like MicroStar and other outfits made designed to work with itty bitty little tractors but they cost 15k plus new and I have never seen a used one.

Literally hours worth or reading on this subject so happy searching on this site and I I would recommend searching on Yesterday's Tractor site also. Get creative with your seaches by putting really old low hp tractors tractors like Allis Chalmers B, AC C, AC CA, AC WC, Farmall A, Farmall B, Farmall C, Farmall H, John Deere B, Ford 8N, Ford NAA, Ford Jubilee, Ford 600 as you will find more archival references for old school tractors with low hp than modern compacts. All of these tractors I listed have less hp than yours but some do have more torque so keep that in mind too. Search modern compacts tractors too, but I expect there to be less in archives.

(FWIW I use a NH 65 baler behind a Kubota L285 that is 26.5 PTO max at WOT but more like 23 hp with throttle set at 540 PTO rpm).

[3600Paul]

Thank you all for the information. I will continue to search. The attractive thing about the 282 is that it is 4 miles away. But that does not outweigh the disadvantages of it.

[3600Paul]

Thank you all for the information.

A local dealer has a Hesson 4570 baler on the lot. It seems to be in good condition. The salesman is confident this will work with my small tractor (30 HP pto, 38 HP tractor).

Any thoughts?

[jagyzf]

The few people I know that tried an inline hated them and went back to NH or deere. I don't even know of a dealer around here that sellls them any more. I have heard they take more power to run and people don't like the strings on the cut side. That being said, they still make them, so someone must be buying them.

Here is a link to another forum that the question came up and most of the replies were positive. I saw several threads on inline balers over at haytalk.
Inline Baler Pros and Cons - Machinery - HayTalk - Hay & Forage Community

[rankrank1]

Sounds like you need to find another salesman as he either plans to make out on selling you a bigger tractor in the near future or taking that baler back on a loss by you.

Lets see What little I know about inline balers and it is admittingly very little but:
a) Inline balers typically have higher capacity due to the hay not having to make the 90 degree turn like with a traditional side feeder baler. (High capacity and a compact tractor simply do not go well together. 30 hp from a compact tractor is not the same as 30 horsepower from a utility tractor just like it is not the same as 30 horsepower from a lawnmower type engine. Torque is an important part of the equation and different between all three).
b) You have to straddle the windrow with an inline baler so ideally you need a wide front end (you have this) and high ground clearance (You do NOT have this) so again not a good fit for a compact tractor as the windrow is likely to be dragging under you and worse yet if you have horizontal exhaust a fire is likely.

[flusher]

Sure, you can handle that 282 baler with your tractor. Check out this video--a Farmall Super A running a baler similar to yours. Note: the hayfield is flat and check the size of the windrows--this baler seems to like that setup.

FARMALL Super A - YouTube

BTW: my baler is a Massey Ferguson 124 (similar to the 282) and I run it with a 2008 Mahindra 5525 (55 hp engine, 45 hp pto, 2WD, gear tranny 8F/2R, power steering, about 6500 lb with the 6-ft FEL and loaded rear tires). I hear the baler but can't feel any motion due to the baler operation while in the seat.

Good luck.