MF 12 baler questions

n my quest to find a small square baler I can run with my 27 PTO hp, I ran across a MF 12 baler, shed stored. It appear to be in good shape, used last year and did fine. Owner did admit it eats shear bolts if you do not watch the wind rows. I wonder if that is a warning sign. He powered it with an older JD 2010 gas tractor. . He has a NH side deliver rake that he uses.

In looking it over pickup is in good shape, no bent tines, no major rust on unit. However several of the packer arms need work, one broken tip, two bent slightly. Bale chamber shows some ware on bottom bars and plunger is fairly tight, with just a bit of play when pulled. Unit will turn over by hand. He is asking $1000.

I plan to have my custom hay man look it over as he has used and rebuilt several. He indicated that if in good shape this would work for me.

Question - in researching parts I am finding they appear to be available, but a lot of posts on not finding them. Are parts readily available? AGCO catalog shows them, but says call dealer. What is the real story.

Any information you have would be helpful.

Local auctions start next month so I may pass and see what luck turns up.

I run a #9, which is very similar to the 12. The 12 basically had a wider pickup.

Yes you can overfeed and will shear pins. IF you are carefully and listen the to the baler you will NOT shear any pins. I run the #9 almost to capacity and at about 4.4 MPH no issues. Gear down for extra heavy windrows.

$1000 sounds fair if it needs nothing.

As far as parts? Haven't had to buy much if anything! We do have a part machine and there were many MF balers sold here so lots of parts machines to find "here"

Only things you really would need to buy are shear pins and twine tension springs (long dangling springs between twine box and knotters)

I got a 12 two years ago. Paid $500 and put $500 in parts. I put new billhooks , a few bushings and new twine knives in it. Never have sheared a pin but if I push it the slip clutch slips. Well please with it and parts have been easy but $$$.

I sold my 12 last year. It was in a little better shape then the
one you are looking at. Got 1200 and had three people in line
for it.nice machine but slow.

My Massey dealer has had no problem getting any parts for my #12. Check the knives in the bale chamber dull knives will shear bolts.

We had a 12 baler that sheared off the shear pins regularly. Changed the two shear pin bushings, and worked fine after that.
Possibly they are worn in the baler you are looking at? Wiggle the flywheel and see if there is any play...may have to loosen the existing shear pin a bit.
Wayne

I have had a #10 for 5 seasons, give $200 (scrap price) for it and have spent another $300 on it (2 new tires, pickup teeth, twine tension springs,some new chains etc) Custom baled 6300 bales this last season with very few missed knots. Get every thing adjusted right, keep full of hay and it will give good service.

Thanks Folks

I am getting different responses to parts availability. Local MF dealer (50 miles away) indicates hit or miss on parts. He recommended I take a second look at the Hesston 4570 that is available 50 miles the other direction.

I guess I will see what my custom hay man says.

Please keep the comments coming.
Thanks Keith

Forgot to mention, if he says it eats shear bolts
he may be using the wrong size bolt.It takes an
11/32 by 3 1/8 inch odd size shear bolt. I bought
them right from the MF dealer. I have seen many
people substitute other common size bolts that are
a hair smaller. This will cause the shearing
problem. There right bolt will taper down to an
5/16 thread at the end.

How many bales are you planning to run thru it a season?

Observe it working before buying it. If necessary take three bales of hay and feed them in and keep tripping the knotters. I likely cause of braking shear bolts can be running it too slow. It is often thought that running slower is easier on a baler, while actually the opposite is true.

(quoted from post at 12:41:24 02/18/14) How many bales are you planning to run thru it a season?

Click to expand...

To start out, probably 500 to 1000 (2 cuttings total). They are all small 3 acre lots in the subdivision. If we have good irrigation water you can get between 50 and 100 per lot. I have 3 or 4 folks wanting me to cut already. Hopefully a bit more each year. I am trying to stay local.

I am also wanting to use my compact tractor. It has 27 HP at the PTO, 34 overall and is hydrostatic driven so I can slow down the feed if needed.

Thanks

Sounds like what the 12 would be best suited for.
What type of forage are you bailing? MF stated 30
hp to run it in the literature. Something else to
check out is MF put threaded plugs into the
knotter grease points from the factory. You were
supposed to put in and remove the zerk at a each
grease point during service.The plug was then put
back in. Overtime folks tended to replace all the
plugs with zerks which can result in overgreasing
the knotters which can cause gumming up of chaff
and grease which can then result in tying
problems. Something to check out.Sorry if this is
TMI. I just really like working on 12s. A new new
to you machine can take some tinkering to get
dialed in but when working properly is a great
baler for a small operation.

LOL! I put all the zerks in the #9 knotters.

I only grease them one a season though. I got tired of messing with the hex key and moving a zerk around...

I hear ya. It's definately a pain. Baler orignaly
came with one zerk to swap in and out, some
engineers idea of a joke.