NEW Holland 66 Square Baler. Good price?

[whitmerlegacyfarm]

Hey guys i'm looking at buying this field redy new holland 66 baler. It just need baler twine. Guy bought a new model w/ kicker do to not having help. Says its redy to go. Was askin 850 and had it for sale for awhile and i've finally got him down to 600.00. He wants the barn space to is going to let it go. I think paint wise looks very well kept. What's everyone's thoughts. Thanks all i've attached a few photos of it. If i get this i will need a haybine, don't have the time to be sickle baring it lol. I'm only looking at making about 700 bales a year or so, inless i get into helping the neighbor who i used his 2 old balers this past year that didn't work to well. Thanks all

 

[KYErik]

If the knotters still work really well, then I think it is a fair price. I have a NH model 68 that is very dependable and still can still do 200-300 bales in a row without missing a knot. It is a slow baler so you'll need to reduce ground speed when the hay is really heavy (or just rake fewer passes into each windrow).
A reliable baler is worth an extra $200-$300 over an unreliable one- as you likely know, baler problems can be frustrating- especially if you are trying to beat a coming rainstorm...

 

[boomer1025]

Looks like a very nice baler for 600 bucks

 

[whitmerlegacyfarm]

If I get this baler I guess I will have to wait till next june to run it n makee sure its tieing. Got dry weather here but highs low 60s n frost every nite guess I could tinker with just breakin up a few bales n run them threw

 

[rankrank1]

Are you sure the baler is a 66? From what I can see that baler looks more like a 67 or 68 (67 and 68 are same baler other than the tongue. 67 is short tongue and has 1 piece PTO driveshaft and 68 is long tongue and has a 3 piece PTO driveshaft).

NH 66 uses a wadboard and auger to feed the grass into the plunger. 67 or 68 will use forks to feed into plunger and will not have an auger.

Regardless if in decent shape it is worth it although I would prefer a 67 or 68 over a 66.

As to your remark on sickles: Traditional Haybines (or mower conditioners) cut with a sickle bar and condition the hay through rollers. Really you can not cut any faster with a haybine (or moco) than a sickle bar mower as the cutting method is identical. The time savings is in only being able to bale a day or two sooner as the hay dries quicker from the roller conditioning process. A NH 66, 67, or 68 will all be considered low capacity balers so if you want to bale fast then look elsewhere. Of course, newer higher capacity balers require more tractor hp to run and cost more. Cutting fast will be require updgrading to a disc mower or discbine which again requires large tractor hp (and a cab or Lexan safety shield at minimum to protect operator from flying debris from the disc mowers).

Only 700 bales a year though is easily handled with old vintage equipment if it works though.

 

[flusher]

Hey guys i'm looking at buying this field redy new holland 66 baler. It just need baler twine. Guy bought a new model w/ kicker do to not having help. Says its redy to go. Was askin 850 and had it for sale for awhile and i've finally got him down to 600.00. He wants the barn space to is going to let it go. I think paint wise looks very well kept. What's everyone's thoughts. Thanks all i've attached a few photos of it. If i get this i will need a haybine, don't have the time to be sickle baring it lol. I'm only looking at making about 700 bales a year or so, inless i get into helping the neighbor who i used his 2 old balers this past year that didn't work to well. Thanks all

Ready to go: then I'd check it out by running a few dozen bales through it.

When I bought an MF124 two-twine small square baler a few years ago, the seller had used in the previous day to bale his 30 acre field. I paid $2K.

My neighbor bought an IH 57W wire tie baler about the same time (baler, rake, sicklebar for $1000). The baler turned out to be junk and since then he hires out his baling work.

I'd check that $600 baler carefully before handing over the cash. How about knotter parts--have you found a supplier?

You get what you pay for.

Good luck.

 

[rankrank1]

Ready to go: then I'd check it out by running a few dozen bales through it....

I'd check that $600 baler carefully before handing over the cash. How about knotter parts--have you found a supplier?

Good advice on running bales through it if possible.

The good thing about New Holland is that they are by far the most common baler in circulation so used parts are plentiful as well as most new parts too. Furthermore, most of the knotter parts have not changed since the 1950's so the interchange for the knotter parts is unmatched. Even John Deere and other manufacturers used variants of this basic knotter design so it is real common knotter design.

Your Massey on the other hand uses a knotter design all to its own so it is much more an oddball as Massey balers are not real common. Some would argue the Massey knotter as simpler and better is some ways, but the fact is it is still less common so parts will always be harder to get for for the MF whether new or used.

 

[whitmerlegacyfarm]

The owner seems very honest but i have not yet met him. I asked him if it was field ready and if it would need any thing done to it that he was aware of. He said when he bought the baler he sharpened the cutter. He said it may need touched up again. He put a new U joint on it and fixed the clutch drive last year. He also told me he found that if you polish the Knotters before each use they work much better. And just needs greased up good. I'm not mechanically inclined so what's everyone take on his response?

The reason i would like the haybine is to save me the extra day or two for drying. I work full time so i just don't have an extra day or two to gamble with due to rain or drying. I'm not worried about speed of baler or mowing. Just dry time is my biggest thing. I'm looking at 2 different haybines both are New Hollands. One is $600 and others is 850. Seems awfully cheap but i'm going to take a look and see if i might just have another deal.

Bad part about all this is i gota wait till next summer to use it all. I can't stop thinking about making hay. Just curious if everyone is like this or is just cause i'm new to this all. Was a lot of fun and very rewarding this past summer doing a 2nd cut on my field and a neighbors both times had trouble drying.

 

[flusher]

The owner seems very honest but i have not yet met him. I asked him if it was field ready and if it would need any thing done to it that he was aware of. He said when he bought the baler he sharpened the cutter. He said it may need touched up again. He put a new U joint on it and fixed the clutch drive last year. He also told me he found that if you polish the Knotters before each use they work much better. And just needs greased up good. I'm not mechanically inclined so what's everyone take on his response?

The reason i would like the haybine is to save me the extra day or two for drying. I work full time so i just don't have an extra day or two to gamble with due to rain or drying. I'm not worried about speed of baler or mowing. Just dry time is my biggest thing. I'm looking at 2 different haybines both are New Hollands. One is $600 and others is 850. Seems awfully cheap but i'm going to take a look and see if i might just have another deal.

Bad part about all this is i gota wait till next summer to use it all. I can't stop thinking about making hay. Just curious if everyone is like this or is just cause i'm new to this all. Was a lot of fun and very rewarding this past summer doing a 2nd cut on my field and a neighbors both times had trouble drying.

As a minimum, get the operator, service and parts manuals for this baler if you decide to buy it.

I do dry land haying (plant in Nov--harvest in May). So my equipment spends a lot of time idle. Every month or so I spray the knotters with WD40 to keep them clean and spray the feed cups in my grain drill with diesel. Keep the baler in the equipment shed along with the JD350 side delivery rake and keep the grain drill and sicklebar outside under tarps.

My neighbor works an irrigated 30-acre alfalfa field he harvests every 35-45 days. I help him out once in a while when he services his equipment.

 

[KYErik]

What he said about polishing the knotters is interesting- it sounds like he was having at least a little bit of intermittent trouble with them.

I store my NH 68 baler in a shed and I never need polish the knotters. Yet they always work good. I didn't bale at all in 2010, I just greased all of the zerks and it tied 170 bales in a row this summer (that was all that I baled this year).

Better take a good look at those knotters and be sure there is no play in the rotating shaft assembles that drive them.

I will say that in past years, I noticed that my knotters would malfunction if I was trying to bale too tight. It could just be that he just liked to make really tight bales.