JD 14T Baler Advice

[scesnick]

For the last few years i have been buying hay for the horses. Well, as most of you probably know, Hay is starting to get expensive and I have about 30 acres of Timothy hay just waiting to be baled.
So, my wife grandfather is giving me his 14T baler. He said it ran fine 6 years ago when he put it in the barn. I know nothing about balers. Is there a good source for a manual for the 14T?

Also, I am going to have to tow this baler about 70 miles and I know this will be a journey and I will have to grease the bearings quite often. But, the tires are dry rotted and I want to get some tires already mounted on the rims before I head up to get the baler so I can just swap them on the spot.
Unfortunately I have not seen the baler yet and didn't get to measure the wheels or the offset or anything.
Anyone have any idea? ALl I know is that they are a four bolt pattern.
ANy help with this would be great...

 

[ddivinia]

For the last few years i have been buying hay for the horses. Well, as most of you probably know, Hay is starting to get expensive and I have about 30 acres of Timothy hay just waiting to be baled.
So, my wife grandfather is giving me his 14T baler. He said it ran fine 6 years ago when he put it in the barn. I know nothing about balers. Is there a good source for a manual for the 14T?

Also, I am going to have to tow this baler about 70 miles and I know this will be a journey and I will have to grease the bearings quite often. But, the tires are dry rotted and I want to get some tires already mounted on the rims before I head up to get the baler so I can just swap them on the spot.
Unfortunately I have not seen the baler yet and didn't get to measure the wheels or the offset or anything.
Anyone have any idea? ALl I know is that they are a four bolt pattern.
ANy help with this would be great...

I hear ya about hay prices. I am doing the same thing this year.

The good news - it has been in a barn.

Manual - I would try e-bay. There are manuals on there all the time. Might be able to get one from your John Deere dealer.

Maybe you can trailer it home?

You might want to just pull the wheels off and go have the tires swapped.

Best of luck - let us know how it goes.

D.

 

[atgreene]

Not for nothing, but........... sell it.

I grew up on a JD 14 T baler. Rode a hay drag behind it, rode the rear hitch pipe to roll hay out of the way for the next pass, worked on them with my father, you name it, we repaired it. Had 2 14 t's and a 24T. For 35 years he ran JD balers, then 2 years ago he bought a 30-40 year old reman New Holland. I personally thought he was crazy. After running it 2 years I can honestly say, JD balers of that vintage are junk. They bang, thrash, break shear bolts, notters miss etc... etc...

This old New Holland never misses a knot, runs quiet and smooth and can bale at twice the ground speed with less HP. Save yourself years of agravation, find a decent baler. When you need a baler you need it, 14 T's are hard to get parts for and really aren't much to write home about after trying a NH.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Wayne County Hose]

Wow, when we farmed 22 years ago, we had the opposite experience. We had a couple New Holland 66 balers, the guy down the road had a 14t. Seems like he was always bailing (or baling) us out. The 14t makes such nice square bales, they would stand up on end in the field. The NH would never do that. Not that it's bad one way or the other, I just thought it was neat.

The problems atgreene is describing are the exact issues we had with the NH. I can't count how many times we had the dealer out for those knotters. Shear bolts? Had a toolbox full of them in June, empty in August.

Maybe it's more to do with the maintenance. I was young at the time and didn't have a clue, my older brother was worse. He still doesn't.

 

[Rara Avis]

This is just another religious argument...RED vs GREEN...

Me I'm on the GREEN side...

 

[atgreene]

This is just another religious argument...RED vs GREEN...

Hardly.

I'm a green fan, but after seeing how smooth a NH runs, man, all those years of watching a JD shake itself to death seem wasted. Never would have believed it myself. I challenge anyone who has run a 14T 24T or 336 to try a NH of the same vintage and see for yourself. Both my father and I are converts, and we had bled green for years.

 

[RobS]

Could be you're both right on the Red/Green issue. Back in that era, there wasn't a lot of control over manufacturing and assembly, certainly nothing like what is typical today. Could be that ATG got a bad Green unit and WCH had a bad Red one. If they were all as bad as each has described, neither would have had the market longevity that they had.

 

[CumminsLuke]

I myself despise green, but I have run a wore out old 24T for the past three summers and it has only missed four bales out of about four or five thousand. I got it for free, dealer friend of mine who I had done a favor for gave it to me. All I have done was replace the bale wedges in the chamber that help hold the hay charges in place. The only time I've ever broken a shear bolt was when I got a big clump of wet hay up in the chamber and the flywheel shear bolt will snap. That has only happened twice in three years. I think the 14T's were a little more crude then the 24T's, but I think if you learn the machine well and keep it serviced and adjusted it will serve you well. Maintenence and adjustment are the key on these old girls.

 

[Rara Avis]

I myself despise green, but I have run a wore out old 24T for the past three summers and it has only missed four bales out of about four or five thousand. I got it for free, dealer friend of mine who I had done a favor for gave it to me. All I have done was replace the bale wedges in the chamber that help hold the hay charges in place. The only time I've ever broken a shear bolt was when I got a big clump of wet hay up in the chamber and the flywheel shear bolt will snap. That has only happened twice in three years. I think the 14T's were a little more crude then the 24T's, but I think if you learn the machine well and keep it serviced and adjusted it will serve you well. Maintenence and adjustment are the key on these old girls.

And you despise green????
You should immediately shift that terrible green baler to VT where we will suffer with it...

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Not for nothing, but........... sell it.

I grew up on a JD 14 T baler. Rode a hay drag behind it, rode the rear hitch pipe to roll hay out of the way for the next pass, worked on them with my father, you name it, we repaired it. Had 2 14 t's and a 24T. For 35 years he ran JD balers, then 2 years ago he bought a 30-40 year old reman New Holland. I personally thought he was crazy. After running it 2 years I can honestly say, JD balers of that vintage are junk. They bang, thrash, break shear bolts, notters miss etc... etc...

This old New Holland never misses a knot, runs quiet and smooth and can bale at twice the ground speed with less HP. Save yourself years of agravation, find a decent baler. When you need a baler you need it, 14 T's are hard to get parts for and really aren't much to write home about after trying a NH.

Just my 2 cents.

There are certain things Deere has done to put them at the level they've acheived. For the most part, their tractors are as good as anyone's and better than many. But it goes far beyond that. They've produced equipment in a number of areas where they've become the gold standard to which every other manufacturer strives to reach. Planters and grain drills are one area where they excell. Another has been the hay baler line. They take a back seat to no one. That's just the way it is.

I grew up around New Holland balers. My first baler was a New Holland 273. After a few years I made the switch to Deere. I've found what the majority seem to agree on. There is no better baler made than a Deere. The New Holland balers I've been around required considerably more attention and constant adjustment to keep them baling correctly. A 14T would have matched well with that 273NH. I know for a fact that my 273 wasn't trouble free, nor would it always tie correctly. It was one of the models that gave New Holland the rep for "banana bales". I'm sure not all 14T's were without issues. I know 273 New Hollands weren't perfect either. That's exactly why I traded (UP) to a newer Deere baler. (336) To get away from smaller capacity, older, less reliable balers from a different era. It's just not reasonable to expect a baler built in the 1950's to compare with a baler built in the 1980's or later.

Parts for Deere balers are unbelievably easy and quick to get, where the NEw Holland balers, especially once they got a few years on them, weren't supported quite as well, especially on the local dealer level. New Holland does an adaquate job of supplying parts, but relative to Deere's parts and service availability, the best NH can do is second. (NO ONE supports their products any better than Deere) The claim of "twice the ground speed with less HP" shot holes in the credability of your claims. Absolutely ridiculous. The ONLY way that would be true in any regard is if you're comparing NH VS DEERE balers made several generations apart. And that ISN'T a legitimate comparison. Comparable models from each brand are very simular in capacities and have been all along. Neither has EVER had a competing model that is capable of 100% more production that the other. Again, total nonsense.

I'm not exactly a Deere advocate, although I do own a few pieces of the equipment. What I do advocate is buying the best equipment my money will get me, regardless of color or brand. While both brands have their advantages, Deere has proven time and time again to be at the top of the game regarding small square balers.