When it came to hay balers, New Holland red was the only color to found on this beef farm. Most of those earlier 73 & 76 model balers had VE4 Wisconsin engines with a hand clutch and long v-belts up around the 33 inch diameter flywheel and that engine would run all day. We had a Model 73 that loved gobbling up long stem hay like timothy but short stem straw would take its time going up that canvas apron but it made beautiful square bales. Our 73 model had a 3 inch wide flat belt coming off the main shaft to power the pickup and knotter assemblies, most of the videos poster here show a v-belt drive to the rear. Over the years we had three Super 77 balers with VE4 engines and two 66 balers with small two cylinder engines. Then we decided to go "modern" and got a N.H. model 281 baler pto powered by a John Deere 70 tractor. We baled a "gazillion" bales through it and it rarely had a miss-tied bale. Eventually, all these balers were "retired" to the fence row. Advertised them for sale running or for parts, no takers. (Everyone looking for kicker balers) Tried selling the N.H. Model 281 for $1500, then 1200, then 900, then 500 dollars no buyers, unbelievable...!! Scrap dealer came and took all seven balers, trucked them over to Harrisburg, PA, dumped in to railroad cars after tearing off he rubber tires, shipped to Philly, balers were dumped into a ship's cargo hold and sailed off to who knows where.....!!

Growing up I loved running my dad's Massey Ferguson and Howard rotavator. A few years later I loved running a Friends antique farming and bailing equipment. I sincerely wish I could do that every year for the rest of my life. A few years later I bought my own small tractor and rototiller and went into business for myself. I wish I still had it, but life gets in the way. I got into construction and operated big equipment. But I still really love the smaller equipment and farming! Long live the crops!

My Dad had a super 77 ,ours had a air cooled 4 cylinder Wisconsin engine, it had a drive pulley with a multi vee belt slots ,that drive the fly wheel. My dad was an expert at fixing and rebuilding knotters. In later year ,we had several different models of Balers 66,268,273 ,278 , he built a work bench in the attic. Which was well light and heated . In the winters he worked on baler knotters up there .For hours on end , he tinkered away, and listened to Ball games on the radio . Other local farmers brought him , their knotters also , he had all the work he wanted ,while being semi retired, he was a lot cheaper the the equipment dealers, he would repair all makes of knotters ,john deere , ford , case int. But preferred working on the New Holland parts best . When the farm was sold, there was a lot of.5 gal buckets of old bill hooks etc. The new owner had some horses and he wasn't quite sure what the parts were. 3o years later he's still got horse , and he puts in hay and I now repair his baler. Knottets.

Hey, Noah is looking for his baler! ha ha ha What a terrific piece of old iron, glad it didn't end up getting melted down.

I remember baling with one of those back in my younger days. We worked on it more than using it. My Dad would not give up on it. Finally I said I would not help anymore if We didn't get a new baler. We purchased a new JD 336 with a thrower. Those old 77's were the cat's meow back when they were new. They just had too many working parts to wear out.

When I was a kid in high school I built a wood splitter form a NH 77 bailer. As I recall, I removed all the working parts except the flat flywheel and the 'plunger' or 'packer'. I welded a wedge on the end of the flat bail surface to split the wood. The plunger was run with a 5hp B&S horizontal engine. A long fan belt ran from the engine pulley around the fly wheel. If you tried to split a piece that was too tough, the belt just slid off of the fly wheel. Replace it and continue. We didn't have real gnarly wood - pine, spruce, aspen, and small maple. It would have been great for the straight grained red oak I own now. It wasn't the fasted but it was safer when slowed down. Obviously motor pulley size determined the speed. It was pretty safe as you worked from the side of the wood. Your hand was never in the way of the plunger. It was a good project for a farm kid and made my wood making much easier. I wish I could find an old 77 today - I'd build another splitter like I had. Aas, they are difficult to find - no demand for them so they were scrapped. The wedge was in the rear of the splitter - away from the tongue. So you could pile the un-split in a row and move forward as necessary. Split wood would be behind you as you moved along. All in all it worked better than I imagined it would when I started the project.

Grandfather has something very similar, from the 50’s? Had a Tecumseh engine on the front so that it was self powered. Used it up through the 60’s. Pulled with his Farmall H and towing a hay wagon out back. Charlotte, MI.

Just found your channel anyone running a 77 or super 77 is a good man they are the only baler that i have ever ran, good luck,and new holland never did change there knotter as i remember although they did finally put the knotter on top.

Wow that is really cool ! You sure don't see anyone baling with one of those . I hope you guys got the knotters fixed on it . Thanks for sharing !

Man, does this bring back memories growing as a kid up in New Braintree, Mass

I'll never forget the sound of the plungers when the knotters tied a bale. As I recall they also had yellow tension springs for straw. Ours also had a Wisconsin motor and it could be temperamental. As a kid, it seemed like it missed a lot of bales.

This brings back memories we had one of these balers with a motor, I know that if it missed tied you had one long bale lol thanks for sharing.

Nice tractor, plenty of power. Didn't have to double clutch it to get it going. I love two-stage clutches. 😁😀😉

I followed one of those making a 44" bale and it was huge bales - We hated it.

What a "Frustration"... U did WELL!

All of those early balers are a bit tempermental due to all the moving parts, each item has to be set right or no go. We had these 77 balers when I was a kid. their capable of good work, we had good luck with them. I would love to find one like that with the PTO drive, we farm with mostly vintage machinery here because we like it that way! Who the hell needs to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a few pieces of new paint just to farm. it's insane!

No matter what still better than the substandard trash out there today... machines like that were built to last and with the proper maintenance... last they have!!!!!

Many times the top bill hook and stripper finger get enough moisture that you may need to take crockus cloth to them they do not like to knot when rusty

My 269 is very finicky, when too tight it will miss tie. try loosening it up and gradually tightening down especially when chamber is rusty.

It would work better if the TRactor had a live PTO

First bale always misties.

It's neat, but not worth the headaches lol. Put it back in the the fence-row you drug it out of.

Could mess around that old shit they retired it for a reason get a decent Baylor

Throttle way to fast, knoters not setup correctly