Pulled the trigger on an old baler

CDennyRun · Apr 28, 2016

Well, I finally found what I thought was a decent deal on an old baler. Paid $150 a IH 46 from a local guy, was barn kept it's whole life, until two years ago, where it was under a tree. It hasn't been used in about ten years, but was used and well kept before it was parked. Everything is there, everything moves, but it needs some work.

I plan to replace the chains, belt, grease everything and check the timing prior to hooking it up to PTO. The pickup teeth should be replaced, and I need to spend some time cleaning things up/lubing. Otherwise, I think it'll be a decent baler. Dogs are in good shape, needles look great, knotter assemblies look in tact and fairly clean, and there is no bad rust anywhere on it. I have the operators manual on the way, so I look forward to that read.

It's not pretty, but pressure washers and paint do amazing things! I'll be bringing it home this weekend, and can't wait to dive in.

Chris

VentracRandy · Apr 29, 2016

I have an old NH Super 66 that I got 4 years ago. It's never missed a bale and I do 30 to 40 acres of hay a year. I love the old stuff. It's usually a small investment up front compared to new and if it does break, I know I can work on it myself.

I hope you get many years of dependable service from it.

powerscol · Apr 29, 2016

Where are the gathering/stuffing forks? Cant see them in the photo. Just wondering.

powerscol · Apr 29, 2016

Are the gathering/stuffing forks still in good shape? Cant see them in the photo. Just wondering. Appears to be in fairly good shape - one bent piece of metal on pickup, not bad. be sure to drain the fluids and check the universals on the intermediate drive shaft. They make quite a mess when they let go and that big piece of steel flops around. I think you did well.

glockky · Apr 29, 2016

You will enjoy it.

I went through my new holland 68 this winter.

If nothing else you will get to know your machine really well.
Hopefully there is still some parts support for it.

farmeratheart · Apr 29, 2016

Hey Chris,

Boy those pix take me back! I spent many days of my youth either in front of (on the tractor) or behind (on the wagon stacking) a IH model 45 baler. That one had a 2 cylinder Wisconsin air cooled engine for power rather than a PTO shaft. That baler used to make the most solid bales I've ever handled. Enjoy the restore!

Frank

CDennyRun · Apr 29, 2016

VentracRandy said:
I have an old NH Super 66 that I got 4 years ago. It's never missed a bale and I do 30 to 40 acres of hay a year. I love the old stuff. It's usually a small investment up front compared to new and if it does break, I know I can work on it myself.

I hope you get many years of dependable service from it.

Thanks! I really wanted a NH, but they just aren't on the market at the moment. At least not in my price range. I'm glad your 66 is holding tight for ya!

powerscol said:
Where are the gathering/stuffing forks? Cant see them in the photo. Just wondering.

The gathering fork is tucked up in the bale chamber in those pics. It's in great shape. No cracks or welds! The universals seem to be in good shape, but I guess I'll know more when I put 540 to it. I'm sure I'll just end up replacing them to be safe.

glockky said:
You will enjoy it.

I went through my new holland 68 this winter.

If nothing else you will get to know your machine really well.
Hopefully there is still some parts support for it.

It sounds like there are some parts still available, but not all. I just got of the phone with my local IH dealer, and the guy was pretty vague about what they could get in. I'd love to find out what other IH balers had these knotters, needles, and so on. The guy I spoke with seemed like kind of a lump, so I'm sure that didn't help. Ha ha

Chris

powerscol · Apr 30, 2016

You can ask about your baler in the general form with these folks Red Power Magazine Community .
They helped me a lot with my sickle mower. It may be your baler was made by someone else and badged IH.

Hope this helps

CDennyRun · Apr 30, 2016

powerscol said:
You can ask about your baler in the general form with these folks Red Power Magazine Community .
They helped me a lot with my sickle mower. It may be your baler was made by someone else and badged IH.

Hope this helps

Thanks man! I'll check them out right now.

Chris

zzvyb6 · Apr 30, 2016

powerscol said:
Where are the gathering/stuffing forks? Cant see them in the photo. Just wondering.

Look carefully. The feed forks are currently within the bale chamber and on their way out.

powerscol · May 1, 2016

Yep - once he mentioned it I went back to the photos and noticed the arm location. On many of these old balers the stuffing forks can be messed up depending on the care. Looks like the OP found a gem.

ovrszd · May 1, 2016

Good find on the baler.

Getting harder to find old equipment. Many, many perfectly useable old implements went to the salvage yard when the price was up. I hated to see that.

Friend of mine runs a yard. Two years ago I bought a 12' tandem wheel disc that needed one bearing replaced for $120 from him. Got a 3x14 Massey plow for $50. Two prong big bale carrier for $25. 6' Ford 917 Flail Mower that needed two bearings for $100.

Makes me sick that our AG heritage has mostly been sold off to China and we buy it back in the form of a hammer.......

CDennyRun · May 1, 2016

ovrszd said:
Good find on the baler.

Getting harder to find old equipment. Many, many perfectly useable old implements went to the salvage yard when the price was up. I hated to see that.

Friend of mine runs a yard. Two years ago I bought a 12' tandem wheel disc that needed one bearing replaced for $120 from him. Got a 3x14 Massey plow for $50. Two prong big bale carrier for $25. 6' Ford 917 Flail Mower that needed two bearings for $100.

Makes me sick that our AG heritage has mostly been sold off to China and we buy it back in the form of a hammer.......

Yup, between the downed economy, "cash for clunkers", and sky high scrap prices, much of our history disappeared. Very sad!

Chis

Nissan197 · May 4, 2016

I also have an IH46. Bought it at an auction and have used it for the past three years. Usually it would miss tying a bale once every 100 bales or so, but last year went great and it didn't miss a single one. Did about 600 bales last year. It has been a great baler.

hawkeye08 · May 4, 2016

We had a IH 56 and two IH 57s growing up. Dad had old equipment generally but bought the first 57 new, made a big difference not to have to replace a bunch of parts each season... he then picked up the 56 and other 57 used. All three had the 4 banger gas engine on them so could pull with any tractor. Dad went through the used ones so we did not have any breakdowns usually. We could put alot of alfalfa up each day when we used all 3. Lots of memories, wishing you many years of enjoyment.

CDennyRun · May 4, 2016

Nissan197 said:
I also have an IH46. Bought it at an auction and have used it for the past three years. Usually it would miss tying a bale once every 100 bales or so, but last year went great and it didn't miss a single one. Did about 600 bales last year. It has been a great baler.

Glad to hear that! I've heard mixed feeling on the older IH's. On the same token, I hear mixed feelings on just about every baler out there. I hope this year it performs like last year for ya.

I'm hoping to have this old boy ready by the end of this month. Hopefully I'll find a good deal on a rake, and get in the game this year!

Chris

CDennyRun · May 9, 2016

I got the baler home, and gave it a good pressure washing. Got it all lubed up, and cycled it by hand. It was really cool to trip the knotters, and watch it do it's thing turn by turn. Most everything is in decent shap with the exception of the pickup cylinder. I'm pretty sure I need to rip it apart and rebuild it. It hangs up because, three of the five pickup finger rods don't rotate like they're supposed to when it cycles towards the auger. Other than that, the flywheel shear bolt is sheared, and I noticed one of the needels is set lower than the other, and that knotter looks like it was adjusted to compensate for it not being adjusted properly.

Aside from rebuilding the pickup cylinder, I'm going to replace all the springs, shear bolts, chains, u-joints, sharpen the knives, and change the gearbox fluids. At that point I think it'll be a great little baler.

Chris

ovrszd · May 9, 2016

No wagon hitch and ramp, but she's a beaut!!!!!

CDennyRun · May 9, 2016

ovrszd said:
No wagon hitch and ramp, but she's a beaut!!!!!

Thanks! I'm glad I was able to keep it from going to the scrap yard. I could always fab up the hitch and ramp, but I'll probably never bale more than 10 acres, so it's not too big of a deal. Plus my tractor doesn't have the ponies to pull both! ha ha

Chris

ovrszd · May 10, 2016

Anxious to see it in use. I too am glad it got saved. I'm in negotiations to save a Ford 7ft sickle mower. Should know for sure this week. Scrap prices are climbing back up so we'll lose some more heritage.