NEW Holland 66 Square Baler. Good price?

[whitmerlegacyfarm]

Im rely not worried about missing a few bales. He said he had cheap synthetic twine in it cause he had it around n was to cheap to not use it up he said works great with teal twine from his experience with hos new baler. Also just got off pphone with him, he says he has sum hay layin in field that got rained on from a few weeks back so he came rite out n say he could show me it balin. N I alredy offered him 600 so I feel he is goin out of his way. Im hopfully gettin it Sunday

 

[AKfish]

Im rely not worried about missing a few bales. He said he had cheap synthetic twine in it cause he had it around n was to cheap to not use it up he said works great with teal twine from his experience with hos new baler. Also just got off pphone with him, he says he has sum hay layin in field that got rained on from a few weeks back so he came rite out n say he could show me it balin. N I alredy offered him 600 so I feel he is goin out of his way. Im hopfully gettin it Sunday

It's been stated here on TBN that the knotter assemblies are likely on the "south side" of being worn if the baler won't tie reliably using plastic twine.

Switching over to sisal will get the baler working more reliably if the knotter's are getting tired..

AKfish

 

[blueriver]

I think it looks like a 68. Either way its worth the $600 ... no offense AKfish ... these balers were built to use sisal not plastic...most folks crowd a baler and don't let it do its job. As stated ... keep the windrows even and not too large. Learn the machine, practice makes perfect...learn to adjust the tension to get the best bale.

Everyone thinks a square baler is complicated. Get the operators manual, service manual and learn how to perfect the operation, timing is critical... in thick hay slow your speed ... in thinner hay shift up.

Apples to organes ... my JD wire baler does the best at about 2000 rpms.
whitemerlegacy ... didn't you just do some square bales? Are you looking for an additional baler or did yours not do the job?

 

[AKfish]

I think it looks like a 68. Either way its worth the $600 ... no offense AKfish ... these balers were built to use sisal not plastic...most folks crowd a baler and don't let it do its job. As stated ... keep the windrows even and not too large. Learn the machine, practice makes perfect...learn to adjust the tension to get the best bale.

Everyone thinks a square baler is complicated. Get the operators manual, service manual and learn how to perfect the operation, timing is critical... in thick hay slow your speed ... in thinner hay shift up.

Apples to organes ... my JD wire baler does the best at about 2000 rpms.
whitemerlegacy ... didn't you just do some square bales? Are you looking for an additional baler or did yours not do the job?

None taken..

Don't know if the OP is considering "good quality" plastic twine or not - especially if the original owner discounted the past problems off as "cheap" twine.

All the better to switch over to sisal - especially given that's what they're designed for!

Much is just plain common sense... if the goin' is tough - let the baler work through it. Pushin' things hard and fast - something's bound to break - matter of when - not if.

AKfish

 

[whodat526]

None taken..


All the better to switch over to sisal - especially given that's what they're designed for!

AKfish

isn't plastic better since it is a more consistent side but i agree the sisal is less abressive and was designed for it but we always run plastic but have lots of parts in stock for nh balers so never really worry about the string type to much

 

[blueriver]

isn't plastic better since it is a more consistent side but i agree the sisal is less abressive and was designed for it but we always run plastic but have lots of parts in stock for nh balers so never really worry about the string type to much

Yes ... some balers just won't do good on the plastic. I don't know why they just don't. I've found if that is the case run sisal. My old JD 14 wouldn't run it and I had a IH 24 (or 27) don't recall now...it too missed bales on plastic. Not saying it wouldn't miss one occassionaly on sisal.

Now the wire tie I have now. Just steady pumping in hay and crapping out good solid bales ... I really like that. BUT again even windrows and do not over feed it. Find that right pace and the bales will be made and made right.

 

[AKfish]

Now the wire tie I have now. Just steady pumping in hay and crapping out good solid bales ... I really like that. BUT again even windrows and do not over feed it. Find that right pace and the bales will be made and made right.

Fellow up here has had a JD346 for sale for several years now. He's priced too high... But, that's like everything else up here! I'm kinda just lookin' around for a spare baler. Not too serious; but, it'd be nice to have another in the shed. Or 2 in the field at the same time if everything's runnin' behind and the weather's movin' in!!

Nonetheless, I did some lookin' around the internet for 346's and could not find very many twine models. Quite a few more wire machines.

Don't know nuttin' about wire balers!

Alot comes down to cost - purchase price and operating costs - and repairs. Wire seems like it would cost alot more than twine. How about repairs? Be more to fix a wire baler?

Thanks. (Don't mean to hijack the OP's thread - PM if you'd like.)

AKfish

 

[blueriver]

Fellow up here has had a JD346 for sale for several years now. He's priced too high... But, that's like everything else up here! I'm kinda just lookin' around for a spare baler. Not too serious; but, it'd be nice to have another in the shed. Or 2 in the field at the same time if everything's runnin' behind and the weather's movin' in!!

Nonetheless, I did some lookin' around the internet for 346's and could not find very many twine models. Quite a few more wire machines.

Don't know nuttin' about wire balers!

Alot comes down to cost - purchase price and operating costs - and repairs. Wire seems like it would cost alot more than twine. How about repairs? Be more to fix a wire baler?

Thanks. (Don't mean to hijack the OP's thread - PM if you'd like.)

AKfish

Several years ago there was a run in this area for the JD 346 ... I think the Jimmy Carter years and alot of peanut hay was baled. Those are tough balers and I can't say much for parts availability, cause I just have not needed any (knock on wood) The JD website shows them with a great breakdown and parts list. This particular model had the auto oiler and was disabled before I got it. Don't know why it was, has no effect on the performance.

Everything is pretty much the same with the exception of the knotters these are actually what I call ... twisters... that wrap the wire instead of a knot.

Wire does cost more. About 2X's as much ... Folks round here will pay an extra dollar a bale for wire, therfore the extra cost washes out. And the old wire from the bales is always hanging around for fence repairs!!!

I knew nothing about wire balers. In fact all I ever used was twine. When I decided to start square bales and talked to the old boys around here all I heard was wire wire wire and very few twine balers available.

As I said earlier, any baler has a comfort zone and once that is found it will eat up the hay and crap out the square bales.

 

[AKfish]

Several years ago there was a run in this area for the JD 346 ... I think the Jimmy Carter years and alot of peanut hay was baled. Those are tough balers and I can't say much for parts availability, cause I just have not needed any (knock on wood) The JD website shows them with a great breakdown and parts list. This particular model had the auto oiler and was disabled before I got it. Don't know why it was, has no effect on the performance.

Everything is pretty much the same with the exception of the knotters these are actually what I call ... twisters... that wrap the wire instead of a knot.

Wire does cost more. About 2X's as much ... Folks round here will pay an extra dollar a bale for wire, therfore the extra cost washes out. And the old wire from the bales is always hanging around for fence repairs!!!

I knew nothing about wire balers. In fact all I ever used was twine. When I decided to start square bales and talked to the old boys around here all I heard was wire wire wire and very few twine balers available.

As I said earlier, any baler has a comfort zone and once that is found it will eat up the hay and crap out the square bales.

Thanks. Sounds like the 346's are pretty reliable.

Hay is right at $9/bale - average - up here in Alaska. That's for a 50lb timothy or brome grass bale. Have seen some advertised on CL's for as high as $12-14 a bale.

Another dollar premium for wire would not go over too well - I don't guess... Afraid that many horse owner's will be gettin' out of their "horse hobby" if everything keeps on the current pace of cost increases.

And there's no cow market - at all - for hay up here, realistically.

AKfish

 

[whitmerlegacyfarm]

Hey all yea I was able to run 45 bales threw it. Around 20 bales is missed 3 in a row. One side was tied n the other wasnt im thinkinkin it was tieing just hay was to wet plus may of had tensioner to tight so was just just popping the knot. Atleast thats my hope I was baling a lone so I couldnt keep n eye on it. I gog it greased n cleaned up n stored away for winter now.