Feeding Hay Into the New Holland

Bill VA

Well-known Member
Hoping to get a window of weather very soon to try out the NH68. In the mean time, reading a ton of old posts to continuing my "schooling".

Sounds like the New Holland balers like to be fed a lot of hay - even the older ones like my NH68.

When does the baler cry uncle on a large windrow? Does the flywheel shear bolt or can you literally stall a tractor?

Aside from big windrows, anyone adjusting their feeder forks to the pick-up side to get more hay to the LH side of the baler? My three forks are pretty much like this: One on the middle and the other two sets at each end of the feeder bar.

Probably run the baler at 80% PTO this first go-round. I like to run my equipment at rated speed, but want to give this baler a chance to show it's stuff before I mash it.

Waiting on the sun.....

Thanks!
Bill
 
Slip clutch should slip when it gets too full of hay.

Could break the shear pin if a good slug hits just right, but probably most often the slip clutch should slip or you better adjust it.

Paul
 
The 68 would let you know by the sound....its an aquired thing. I can still hear the old beggar when the sun was going out of the sky....WHOMP... with every plunger stroke and the dust would start jumping off the twine box lid. That was the sign that you were building the last load of the day. We pulled thousands of bales from that machine, broke very few shear bolts.
 
(quoted from post at 15:16:11 08/26/14) Slip clutch should slip when it gets too full of hay.Paul

I was taught not on NH sq baler but on a green baler that the slip clutch should slip minutely on every PH stroke. If NH baler is feed too much hay I'll bet the FW pin shears
 
(quoted from post at 20:13:11 08/26/14) Hoping to get a window of weather very soon to try out the NH68. In the mean time, reading a ton of old posts to continuing my "schooling".

Sounds like the New Holland balers like to be fed a lot of hay - even the older ones like my NH68.

When does the baler cry uncle on a large windrow? Does the flywheel shear bolt or can you literally stall a tractor?

Aside from big windrows, anyone adjusting their feeder forks to the pick-up side to get more hay to the LH side of the baler? My three forks are pretty much like this: One on the middle and the other two sets at each end of the feeder bar.

Probably run the baler at 80% PTO this first go-round. I like to run my equipment at rated speed, but want to give this baler a chance to show it's stuff before I mash it.

Waiting on the sun.....

Thanks!
Bill

The manual tells you that you don't have to run the baler at 540,that you can run it slower. I broke a shear bolt last year. When they break it makes a bang!! In my 37 years of experience with my 68 they do like big windrows. Like was mentioned you will learn the sound of the balers sweet spot. One of my best memories from childhood is riding the fender of the Massey 165 diesel we had pulling the 68. In thick hay we ran it in either 2nd or 3rd gear in high multi power. You had the sweet sound of the Perkins diesel,when in high multipower the tractors have a whining sound, then you have the baler back there going...Ka Chung...Ka Chung....it was music to my ears that I can still hear. Unfortunately my Massey 175 is an 8 speed and doesn't have multipower so I can't hear the whine when I bale with the old 68.
 

Have you checked to see that the over run clutch is free and not stuck? When you have the baler running mash the clutch in on the tractor and you should hear the clicking from the over run clutch. It lets the baler continue turning but doesn't turn the pto shaft.
 
(quoted from post at 20:13:11 08/26/14) Hoping to get a window of weather very soon to try out the NH68. In the mean time, reading a ton of old posts to continuing my "schooling".

Sounds like the New Holland balers like to be fed a lot of hay - even the older ones like my NH68.

When does the baler cry uncle on a large windrow? Does the flywheel shear bolt or can you literally stall a tractor?

Aside from big windrows, anyone adjusting their feeder forks to the pick-up side to get more hay to the LH side of the baler? My three forks are pretty much like this: One on the middle and the other two sets at each end of the feeder bar.

Probably run the baler at 80% PTO this first go-round. I like to run my equipment at rated speed, but want to give this baler a chance to show it's stuff before I mash it.

Waiting on the sun.....

Thanks!
Bill

I have to disagree with the others. The slip clutch will not slip before it shears the bolt. It never happened for me. I went and looked in the manual and under trouble shooting, shearing flywheel bolts,the number one cause was baling too heavy. So there you go...straight from New Holland. If you overload it,you will get a bang and see the flywheel free wheeling.
 
Since you are waiting on the sun go get you some extra shear bolts so that when you start to bale you will have some. You will need them. Nothing like installing your last shear pin with lots of hay on the ground.
I can say the I've seen the slip clutch spin two time in my life but the number of sheared pins, well I'd like to have dollar for every one I've replaced. There's more ways to shear a pin than just a large windrow.
 
Got shear bolts on the list!

Also bought a spare pitman for the MF32 sickle mower - figure if I got one, I'll never need it - LOL!

Thanks,
Bill
 
Over run is definitely free. When I mash the clutch, you can
hear it clickin'

Thanks!
Bill
 
My 268 likes a fairly heavy windrow - and slower ground speeds to prevent over feeding. That said, with wife driving, not watching for lumps of hay due to second raking (wet hay), she blew 5 shear bolts and spun slip clutch once. Had to scream at her to cut PTO power. We're running a MF 180 with 6 speeds, and multi-power. Try to keep engine about 1300, 1400 rpm. Baler needs a certain amount of speed to keep running smoothly power through tougher stuff.
 
Dad got a new 68 New Holland in June, 1957. ($1642.75 for baler with jack and bale chute) I spent many hours during my high school summers loading bales on the wagon behind it.

The feeder system was the weak point of that baler. The tine feeder is spring loaded and has a closed top. If the windrow was too heavy or especially uneven with a lot of wads in the windrow, the pickup would force hay into the feeder area and often the tines would stall and cause the spring loaded rod to pull out and not move the hay completely into the chamber.

Action on the feeder tine assembly will be first indication of the baler "crying uncle".

Shear pins usually broke if the bale tension was too tight and/or a slug of wet hay meets the plunger knife.

On ours the slip clutch usually only slipped when trying to push through a slug of hay in the plunger after breaking a flywheel shear pin.

In 1962 Dad traded the 68 for a JD 14T which we thought had a better feeder system.

The 68 was a real sweet machine when everything was working right. I'd love to help do a couple loads with one.
 
Based on my experience with my 68 I would say that rather than putting it that they like a lot of hay, that they like a consistent amount of hay to make squarer bales. You can bale in light hay and it will do fine, but you bales quality as far as squareness will suffer more or less. They seem to like a constant flow of hay that gives it a good "mouthful" every plunger stroke. I don't know how to explain how much they like, just that too much is worse than not enough. Sheer bolts will break and the slip clutch can slip on the feeder if you over do it. I've spent a lot of time unplugging my 68. Best thing to do is keep the pickup teeth in good shape, make uniform windrows, vary your speed to suit the hay and learn to read the baler. Takes time, but they are good little balers.
 
Well said - doesn't matter too much about the
size of your windrows (within reason) - it's
really more about speed and feed.

Make sure you're in the right RPM zone for your
pto, and vary your speed only by gear selection.

A consistent windrow allows you to do that.
Otherwise, having to constantly slow down and
speed up will change the pto speed and leads to
inconsistent bales.

I'd also add that it is important to get a good
hay clog so you can see for yourself what a pain
in the #)$ it is to remove.

That way you too will automatically "just know"
how much is too much.

You can't know where the boundaries are unless you
cross them.

Don't worry - you'll have it mostly figured out in
your first two or three acres.
 
Regarding your slip clutch - you should check to be sure it's free. If a machine sets for a long time they can freeze up. Without the slip clutch working, you put a lot of stress on the rest of the drive line.
Good luck - when you get everything working right, baling can be fun
Pete
 

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