My friend Ronney and I hauled hay one summer when I was 14 and he was 15. I’ve hauled many a square bales of hay. Never saw the balers in use up close. We showed up in the hays fields after the hay bales were on the ground. We had an Ford old truck, no doors on it. We tied a rope to the steering wheel and put the truck in granny low. Once we got a few bakes on the bed, I jumped onto the truck bed and stacked them from front to back. Ronney was a lot stronger than I was. He could toss a bale higher than I could. We got 55 bales on the wooden flat bed. We were paid a penny a bale to haul it to the storage buildings. We thought we were making good money. The days were long and hot. Neither of us had a drivers license. The truck did not have tags on it. It had a small water leak. We filled the radiator with water every morning, before we started our day. We stayed on the back gravel roads. Romney turned 16 and was legally able to drive at the end of the hay season. He sold that old truck for $150 and purchased an old Ford sedan. I think it was a 1953 model. I went to college, after high school, and Ronney got drafted and went to Vietnam. He survived the war. I moved away and lost touch with him. Nice to see people still using those old square balers taking care of them.

Also need to make sure the hay wedges are in place and check the condition of the knives, sounds like the plunger bearing are ok, I didn’t hear it hammering! Good video.

Dad bought a 273 that was a 2 year lease return from a local university. First thing we did was change the bale length. It made 12 inch bales the university employees handled with forks(Dad called them union bales). We used it hard until 1996. Good machine!

Being able to test bale is probably the most important thing you did. My first baler was a NH 276. Well used when I bought it and my intentions were to use it for a few years until I could upgrade to a newer baler. That thing ran like the Energizer Bunny for years and years and years. Still going strong when I got out of the hay business.

Ran my Dads Super 68 Hayliner , for years growing up. Kept a brush in the toolbox and brushed off the knotter ocasionally , otherwise it would skip a knot sometimes with a lot of chaff pilled up on there.

In Australia this model baler was called a 275 Baler, the unit i had packed more on one side making banana bales, could never solve the problem so sold it and bought a 317, magnificent baler in its time.

I have a 1971 model, 273, it's had at least 350 thousand bales run through it, that I know of, still clicking rite along, I have had slack in the chains for the last 40yrs😅,

Another thing to check is the plunger guides that the bearings run on. My recent NH 280 baler that I purchased needs them replaced unfortunately.

I learnt a lot from you. Thank you very much

Thank you for this video; I purchased a 310 and this has been very helpful.

Very helpful and useful video. Thanks

Very goodvideo I know 100%more about balers than before

This was excellent....thanks!

Thi is a great video.. I am looking to do some cutting and bailing. These old hayliners look like good machines. I'll soon be looking to find one.

Grew up behind one of those

Thank you much...

Good old baler. Clean all that chaff off of it, it attracts moisture and causes rust. Twine knives need to be sharp, dull knives can cause a myriad of problems. I replaced them every year, they're inexpensive enough. That orange twine sucks, use the blue that comes in 9600' rolls, it's much better. Good luck. Best regards from Indiana.

Hello my friend & thx 4 the video, those 273's R great balers. U should shim the fiber wear blocks to remove the excessive side play in Ur feeder carriage. Also MOST importantly replace the missing PTO safety shield & chain guard on the pickup drive. If U R lucky ask former owner if he has them.

Spacer should be tight but can spin other wise puts pressure on shear bolt flywheel always trying to go back check rollers on pickup bearings on end of tines check pivot pin on safety latch have a habit of kotter key brakeing an pin falling out oil pins on pilot on front over riding clutch little springs get weak an where’s pilot out permacully (sp)

cutter? In the early 80's I worked at New Holland at the New Holland Pa plant. I assembled countless of these units.

Awsome video, I have a 268 and its been depenable. I may need you in the futher.

This is a good review or me. I'm looking forward to one more year of a few square bales (150 or so) for my horses. I've been baling hay since I was a kid in the '60's. I'm using my neighbors 312 now. Did you mention checkin the universal joints? Thanks

I didn't see waffle plates or other restrictor type bars to hold the hay in the baler chamber. Just past the hay dogs.

nice video...some suggestions, check the slide blocks on the packing arms, it appeared that there was an excessive lateral movement. The packer rods should be checked for length and bend. Check the pick up wheel, alignment and bearing play. The needles looked good but could not see the twine wear, will a knot pass through the eye or is it worn and the knot will get caught and break the bale. Did not see the bale knifes, one on the plunger and the stationary one in the bale chamber. Judging from the bale you pulled out they need sharpening, ragged edges. Speaking of sharp, mentioned that the twine knifes had been replace, but are they razor sharp? Did not show the twine fingers on the bale hook that form the knot; is the hook worn of bent, how is the spring tension? A little heads up on your 311, the bale packer system is prone to failure; the bearing tracks wear, bearings seize, the arms come off and BOOM! NH does not support many of those parts. Started with an IH 46, then a NH68, to a NH273/thrower and finally a NH 316/thrower.

One thing i think that mabe you didn't think about is required hp to run a baler. . Ive got a tractor thats 37 net hp @pto. Seeing mix results in people's opinion on weather thats enuf hp. Seems most folks shy away from smaller tractors on unflat land, as the force of the heavy plunger can affect a ligher tractor far more then a bigger one. 0.01c

Looks like it's in great shape - I have to try your bungee trick for testing the knotters. That first haydog spring you looked at (top right) looked broken on the left side @ 12:53? After I shimmed out the wear blocks to spec (1.25"?) on the feeder carriage on mine, it got a lot quieter ;)

Great now I'll never sell my junky old 273. Stop educating people! 😁 One thing I would add is if you go to buy one and there is a bale in the chamber, insist they get it cleaned out and take a hard look at the bale chamber floor. They may be hiding that it's rusted through from years of leaving a bale in the chamber over the winter. Ask me how I know.

I am going to look at a 273 this weekend. I made a checklist from your excellent video. All of your videos are extremely useful to me. I too am a scientist (geologist)/hay farmer, having started from scratch with a bare mud field of soybean stubble 3 winters ago. I prepared and planted it with nothing more than a Honda 420 ATV, a drag harrow, and a tow-behind spreader. Three years later I have a nice hay field, but I'm tired of giving half my hay to unreliable contract cutters who are always too late and/or have malfunctioning equipment. So my plan is to buy a baler, a bar rake, and a mower. I am only haying 7 acres and I want to keep equipment cost to a minimum. What is your opinion on sickle bar mowers? I like that they are mechanically simple, relatively cheap and take up a lot less room than a haybine. Am I nuts?

plunger-knifes

How much did you give for a unit like that??

Yes i nead in india

Привіт я з України переглядаю ваші відео дуже цікаво адже сам маю нью холанд 268 і мені булоб дуже цікаве ваше відео деб ви розказали як виставити зажигання в такому пресі успіху вам у вашій праці а нам перемоги над агресором 🇺🇦🤝🤝🤝👍👍👋🚜🇺🇸