Welger AP630 buying advice please

[shanehobson]

I've been using a Welger AP71 for the past five years to make about 5000 hay & silage bales. It's rusty and has ongoing knotter problems.
An AP630 has come up for sale nearby. $NZ5600 (about $US4000).
It's being sold with a bent needle, so I can't see it running.

These balers are very hard to buy here and at $5600 seems cheap.

I'm attracted by the possibility that the design is newer than the AP71 so will be more reliable and I like the way it will unblock itself and just one shear bolt (instead of at least three in the AP71)

A few questions :
Any tips on inspecting the AP630 to find any common faults without being able to run it ?
I have a pile of AP71 spares, will any of these (in particular, knotters) fit the AP630 ?

Or is the AP71 actually a really good baler and I should just spend some money on fixing it ?

I'd be pulling the AP630 with my Zetor 6745

 

[shanehobson]

Went to look over the AP630 today with cash in my pocket.
Sure enough, one needle was bent out of shape. We took it off and turned the baler over the hand and it tied a nice knot on the remaining side.
Spun it up behind a tractor and fed some hay into it and it promptly wrecked the second needle.
Spoke to my baler mechanic who thinks he knows the cause (broken needle brake where it sits on the knotter shaft). Onsite inspection seemed to confirm his theory, but not absolutely certain.
Negotiated price down to $NZ5000 and towed it home.

Now parked in my shed at home. Going to order some needles from someone in Europe (perhaps agrodoctor.eu or agripartsdirect.co.uk, both quoting about 25 euros per needle).
They will take a few weeks to get here then off to the baler mechanic to sort it out.