Price for barely used "barn find" NH 68 baler?

Ed S.

Well-known Member
Location
Middle Tennessee
[i:eb4c564719]This is cross-posted in the Ford 8N forum as well.[/i:eb4c564719]

My NH 68 baler is simply worn out and it broke down right at the end of first cutting – one of the pickup teeth shafts wore completely through at the center support and broke in half. The others look worn, too, and while the baler did ~600 bales with only two or three missed bales, she's just tired. Chains are sloppy, knives are worn and the wooden slide blocks need replaced. It really needs a complete overhaul, in other words.

So I've been looking for a replacement, and came across one that fits the 'barn find' description - it still has paint on the knotter gears!

nh68.jpg


They're asking nearly $3K for it (which I would negotiate). I realize $3K will get me into newer or higher production balers, but they're going to have tens of thousands of bales through them and will probably need some TLC, just as mine did when I bought it.

I like and know the 68 pretty well at this point, and as I'm only haying about 11 acres, it's not a bother that it's a "slow" baler - my rack help still can't keep up with it, so no worries. I'll also be able to use my old 68 for parts (at least ones that aren't worn out).

Just thought I'd see what opinions folks have (either way - every opinion is a data point), and if I do pursue the unit, what price I ought to aim for.

es
 
I gave more for my second Gehl 1475 round baler than I probably should have,but it had baled darned few bales and like you said,I have the old one for parts. Over time,that means a lot.
 
For 3000 dollars I would be looking at a Deere 336 and you should find a good one for that kind of money if you do not need a bale ejector. It sounds like there could be some merit in rebuilding yours. Schematics can be found online giving part numbers then you can go to your local dealer and get a tally of the prices to know where you stand. Some things such as shafts can be found used but be in very good condition. If it is going to cost more than several hundred dollars to rebuild then I would look at another machine and if you are willing to spend I would look at the 336 Deere.
 
If it is going to cost more than several hundred dollars to rebuild then I would look at another machine and if you are willing to spend I would look at the 336 Deere.

That was a thought, but 336s in the Middle West seem to *start* around $3,500 and go up rapidly from there. I've also considered a 24T, but they're spendier than the 68 (for a "normally well-used" one). I would think I can negotiate this 68 down to $2,500 or $2,750, so any alternatives would have to be in that range or lower, and would have to be in exceptional condition. Otherwise, I'd be looking to spend more like $1,000-1,500 tops for your typical "I stopped baling/started round baling and am selling off" baler.

I looked at a NH 67 a week ago that was "okay," but decided it was not what I want. It's lighter-duty than the 68 and is missing nice features like a swinging tongue, etc. He wanted $1,600 for it and was willing to take $1,250.

es
 
25+ years ago i traded a new axe for a NH 68 with a neighbor.:lol:
I baled for many years with that baler till one day the plunger gearbox piled up.
 
Nice looking 68. $3,000 sounds like a lot for that old baler. It is possible that inspite it's good looks that the wooden plunger
slides are rotted or insect destroyed. The slides on my 68 were both. The plunger adjustment screws should work/move, else you
can't adjust the knife clearance, short of using shims. BTW, on my plunger slides, couldn't really see the extent of the damage
until we pulled the plunger.

For $3,000 - IMHO, there ought to be some expectations out of the box. It should be field ready and demonstrated that it can make
hay. The screws that hold the knife should easily come out. The feeder tines (the aluminum ones and they are 4 - plus two rice
teeth at the right hand side of the feeder bar) should be about 13-14 ish inches long. If they are shorter, they are wore and likely
need replaced to get hay to the far side of the bale chamber. Look for bad grease seals on the feeder and main drive gear boxes.
The knotter drive sprocket shouldn't have any wobble in it. Are the needles welded? Does the plunger stop work or is it frozen?
Are the U-joints in the drive shaft in good shape and does the slip clutch work on the flywheel? Does the flywheel wobble - like it
has a worn bushing?

I'm not saying NOT to buy this baler at this price, but I bought my 68 for $550 and have put about $1,000 in it, including new tires
and aftermarket needles. In many ways, it is like a new baler.

All of the above are wear items. If you spend $3K and have to put $500 or more into it, I'd look for a more modern baler. The good
news is you have a ready parts baler. If you went over it like I did mine, you might come out for $1,000 or less and have just as
good a baler.

If the baler works as advertised, you just like the design of the 68 and you don't care for the hassle of rebuilding your 68 (and
while my rebuild was not difficult, but it was time consuming and knuckle busting), then try to get the price down as much as you
can. Might be a decent baler.

OTOH - you can buy a much more modern baler for the same $$$'s or less. As much as I like my 68, I don't know that I'd buy another
one - unless it was a parts baler.

Good luck,
Bill

Bu
 
I've seen a half dozen 336 balers at auction the past couple of years. Straight, decent paint, and with ejector they have run 3600 to 4300 dollars. Good ejectors bring 500 to 750 dollars. I missed a couple auctions and ones that have a few dents, missing shields, no ejector or hydraulic tension but run perfect have run 2300 to 2500 from what I am told. I guess I will consider myself lucky that should I need one I can buy one very reasonable compared to other areas. We tend to pay more for used tractors and combines so it all evens out in the end.
 
(quoted from post at 13:46:39 07/02/15) Why don't you go in there with 20 bills and see what happens.

Talked to him on the phone a while ago (4 hours from here), and he won't budge a nickel on price. He's already had some offers (I started at $2,500), and has turned them all down.

Told him I'd have to think about it! :p

Ed
 
Years ago a guy said to me ," son it ain't age, its the miles". @ $5.00 a bale it will only take 600 bales to pay for that baler. There is an Amish guy around New Holland Pa. rebuilding super 68's and super 69's . With a new motor he is getting around $9,500 totally rebuilt. Check the eyes of the needles for wear . That balers probley got more bales thru it than you think. Still could be a good one. Or it could be one that never was right and thus didn't get used much.
 
If the baler works as advertised, you just like the design of the 68 and you don't care for the hassle of rebuilding your 68 (and while my rebuild was not difficult, but it was time consuming and knuckle busting), then try to get the price down as much as you can. Might be a decent baler.

Well I know for sure now he's not going to budge on price. I did confirm it's essentially a new baler - always stored inside, and barely used. It's a museum piece, really. Dried-out seals will be the biggest concern, I would think. It will definitely need new rubber on the off side, too.

Time is my biggest shortage right now - haying is not my day job, and my day job has me working a lot of overtime right now. So tackling a baler rebuild simply isn't in the cards this summer. I'm pretty sure if I dig into mine, it's quickly going to be "pulling the thread that unraveled the sweater!"

So, I can buy another well-worn 68, change horses to another model/brand (that I won't know what the weaknesses are), or spend twice the price on an essentially new 68 that I know and have some spare parts for.

I guess I'm kind of trying to talk myself into writing a big check!

:shock: :D

All of this is good input, BTW.

es
 
That's an absurd amount of money to pay for any 68 baler. Period. Allocating $5 pre bale to the ownership cost of the baler alone and claiming it's paid for in 600 bales as someone suggests is simply voodoo accounting.
 
Well... at least you know he has an alternative source of income to support his crack habit... In my opinion he's asking 3 times what a premium 68 would bring and 6 times what most of them bring.
I think if it was me... I'd spend a bit of money on the crate you have and get it in better working order.
If you just want to get another baler... you can get a lot of small baler for 3 grand. I guarantee you, you'll at least get something that has tapered roller bearings on the wheels and steel plunger rails instead of a bronze bushing and wooden plunger slides....

Rod
 
I don't know about crack but he is looking for collector type money for it. Probably was the last list price before that model was discontinued. He is looking for some white collar guy that will not think twice about cutting a check for 3000 dollars as the white collar guy is looking to recapture his younger days so to speak. I've seen this with corn pickers and planters. There are more than just a couple of 237 JD corn pickers priced at the last year made list price or close to it and while in good shape they are more than a step away from being new in appearance.
 
I saw a an old New Holland 467 7 ft haybine, in very nice condition sell for 2,650 back in Feb at a consignment auction. The area was Shenandoah Valley of Va. near the town of Winchester. It had seen plenty of use, but had been kept in a shed. I thought it would go for around $800 because of its age.
Saw a 24 T Baler in decent shape go for $ 2,850 last year in Central Ohio.
 
I paid $450 a super 68 in the fall. The paint does not look as good on mine as your photos as it was in a falling down barn, but the lack of wear in the thing is totally incredible. I know for a fact it had not been used in 25 years or more

No way in hades would I pay $3k for a 68. For that kind of money start looking for a 268, 273 etc and have something for your money plus you will spend less.

That particular 68 as good as it looks is a $1200 to $1500 baler and that is because of its outstanding looks IMOP. If it looked worse then more in the $700 to $800 range.
 
he's asking 3 times what a premium 68 would bring and 6 times what most of them bring.

$500 used to buy a 'working order' 68 around here (that's what I paid for mine over ten years ago), but while searching around over the past 3-4 weeks, I've seen nothing worth looking at under $1000, and most pushing $1500. 24Ts are higher yet. Anything worth looking at is ~two hours away, too, and if I'm buying a well-used baler, I definitely want to see it in person.

I was really aiming to spend under a grand, but simply am not seeing any options right now. $1500 appears to get me what I have now, only functional (but who knows what issues it will have when I start using it!). "Baling when parked." :wink:

I realize $3K is crazy high, but the difference would buy me a baler I know and like and that's at the [i:7b3f859b32]beginning[/i:7b3f859b32] of its wear cycle, not the end. The same money spent on the next step up from a 68 isn't really going to give me anything functionally over what I have with the 68 – I don't custom bale (so no roading), and only do ~2K bales a year, so high production really isn't a benefit I would benefit from.

I'm going to plan to go ahead and look at another 68 tomorrow afternoon (yep, it's two hours away). It's listed for $1K, and if it's as worn and sloppy as mine, I'll probably pass on it.

But second cut is down, and should be ready to bale sometime next week… clock's ticking!

Keep the opinions coming (for or agin') - they're helpful.

es
 
Well there is JD 14T not to far from me for $1000. Has been for sale a while so quite sure he would deal.

Older guy that is simply too old to use it anymore. Highly doubt it is on craigslist or advertised anywhere. Simply sitting in his yard for sale. Barn kept and honest good shape old baler. I do not believe it has covered all that many acres either. SW ohio too far for you to come though.
 
(quoted from post at 16:04:44 07/02/15) I doubt a new 68 cost $3K. $3K would have bought a new 273 10 years or more later.

Well, inflation being what it is, $3,000 in 1958 = $24,000 today! That'll buy a lot of baler!

I did just look at some 273s, and they are around for $2500-3500, but none anywhere near me. Looks like a nice baler, tho!

es
 
Not that I needed a baler but the area Deere dealer had a couple of new 338 and 348 balers they needed to get sold last year and I think the 338 could have been bought for 24,000 dollars. Maybe the 3,000 dollars for the NH the OP is looking at is arbitrary as far as the seller goes. But usually when a fellow digs on these kinds of things they find out that the number is the last list price when new unless the market dictates more such as with 1972 JD 4020's. Anyways, 3000 dollars sure bought a lot in terms of an implement during the 1950's and 1960's.
 
Continuing to poke around on the interwebs, and found a 24T about 1.5 hours from me for $1900… Of course, it's the opposite direction from the 68 I was planning to look at tomorrow…

JD24T.jpg


es
 
If it looks good and will be trouble free for years that piece of
mind of getting of work and counting on a baler to work it's cheap.
Nothing worse than getting off work rain on the way and just start
baling and something breaks.
Saying that when my dad sold the auctioneer announced that it was
only used on a small farm but we filled 4 barns and stacked outside
plus custom baled. It looked clean and good but the knotter was so
loose you could turn it out of time by hand we borrowed a baler to
finish the last year . I also on my balers i would take spray paint
every year after baling and paint the wear spots the next year of
baling the paint color would even out and it would look like it
never have much use . So check carefully and look at the needle wear
that's your best test
 
So check carefully and look at the needle wear that's your best test

Good advice… the NH is four hours away, unfortunately! Here are a couple more photos, showing the knotters (note the paint on the gears), and the rear (very slight wear from the twine on the rear panel…).

68knotters.jpg


68rear.jpg


es
 
It has little use if you notice the wiper
under the needle the shaft that operates
that and where it hooks in the hole shows
little wear . wouldn't it be nice if that
letter from bill wouldn't show up in the
mailbox and I guy wouldn't have to go to
work think of all the fun things you can
get done. I missed buying a lot of things
because I was at work
 
I have had 2 balers for 20 years. I always buy the second one in the winter when I don't need it, and get a fabulous price. Once you own and operate a particular model,
you can spot a good deal a mile away. So think about using it, cleaning it, then selling it, once you buy the 2nd one. But, I agree, that price is very high.
 
If you like the 68 Balers to use then I'd look at it in percentage of wear on it from new if its still 95% and your baler is 20% no way you could put your baler in that shape for $3000 and really no matter how much you spend on a worn out machine you're still putting new parts against worn out ones and it never ends.
 
(quoted from post at 19:17:46 07/02/15)
So check carefully and look at the needle wear that's your best test

Good advice… the NH is four hours away, unfortunately! Here are a couple more photos, showing the knotters (note the paint on the gears), and the rear (very slight wear from the twine on the rear panel…).

68knotters.jpg


68rear.jpg


es

I don't think I've ever seen knotter gears with the paint worn off.
 
Rebuild your old one, and you'll know it even better!

Why don't you put up a few pics of your current machine and let us look at it. Maybe
it's not as bad as you think.

Seriously, that baler's in nice shape, but $3 large is way too much. and new or old,
all of 'em break down.
 
Is this on a dealers lot? What is a bale of hay in your area sell for? I go to a few auctions around . Extra nice pieces command top dollar, like a New Holland 467 haybine I saw sell for $2,650 a few months ago. I value a piece of equipment for what is able to do for me. A piece thats going to break down often vs a piece that's going to be trouble free. It cost money to be broke down.
 
The fact that is has paint on the knotters says two things to me... One, it was stored inside all it's life. Two... it never saw much grease.
The cord hanging out of the right tire also says something... It tain't no virgin.

If you want to really assess wear, look at the elongation of the holes in the needle eyes, the slop in the wiper arms and the slop in the twine/tucker fingers. If they're all loose you can depend that it's done a bunch of work. You can also look at the angle the plunger sets at when the knives are side by side... look at the gap at the top and the gap at the bottom... if the top is sagging away that would suggest that the left rail is well worn...

Rod
 
Okay, so I'm back from looking at two more balers - the 24T I mentioned above, and a 273 that popped up a half-hour from me.

The 273 didn't look too bad at first glance, but as I started inspecting the plunger bearings, the forward/top one was crunchy and already missing ¼ of it's ball bearings. The left side bearing was worn with a 1/16" ridge along its edge, and the right side one I could not turn by hand. He was asking $3K OBO, but it looks like it needs work, and probably has a lot of other marginal areas.

Gonna pass on that one.

Then drove up to look at the 24T, which turned out to be in fairly good sort. No welds on the frame, good floor, plunger had a little slop laterally and vertically, not not too bad. Needles and their yoke were new, as were a number of parts in the knotters. This one is at a small dealer, and they said it came in on trade and was baling last year. I could probably haul it home and put it right to work, presuming there are no lingering issues (all the new parts do give me pause, as someone might have simply given up on fixing an issue after spending some money on it).

So that one's a possibility.

I canceled driving 2.5 hours to look at a tired-looking 68 this evening. Will keep the bookmark, but the more I look, the more I'd rather get something that's not 95% worn out.

I then talked with a fellow who has a 273 for sale in TN, that again looks pristine in the photos. He said he's the second owner (bought from the son of the original owner, and sold new from a local dealer). He bales a couple hundred a year for his horses, and had it painted after he bought it. Said the orig. owner baled a good bit with it for a while, then went to rounds and shedded it for years until the current owner bought it. He baled with it two weeks ago, and said it's never given him a problem. So it sounds like one that's in much better condition, but I can't see it in person without a 16-hour round trip. *sigh* He wants $2900 for it…

273TN.jpg


So for the same money as the 68 that started this thread (plus the hassle of arranging shipping), I looks like I *can* get into a 'next generation' newer baler that - on the surface - sounds like it's not seen really heavy use over the years…

At this point, I'm rapidly becoming less inclined toward the "nearly new" 68…

More to think about…

es
 
UPDATE - I had the guy in TN (who is retired, so a little older than me!) email me some closeups of the needle tips of the baler, and if you ignore the shiny paint, there doesn't appear to be much wear (to my eye) - certainly not long grooves like my 68 has.

273needles.jpg


I went ahead and put a deposit on it to hold it for now…

es
 

Even though all us old farts bought good balers for way less, maybe we need to pony up and face the passing of years and inflation. I bought my first baler, a Ford 250, at a dealer inventory reduction auction in 1987 for $25.00. It was rusty and they couldn't get another bid. I greased it and ran it for three years, but then I added on acres, and got a JD 336 for $2,000. I got $250 for the old Ford 250, and it got hauled to Idaho. I expect that it is still baling hay there, and maybe got sold again for $2500. Look how much I lost by selling it when I did. I think that I need to move the decimal point over on everything that I am thinking of selling.
 

Even though all us old farts bought good balers for way less, maybe we need to pony up and face the passing of years and inflation. I bought my first baler, a Ford 250, at a dealer inventory reduction auction in 1987 for $25.00. It was rusty and they couldn't get another bid. I greased it and ran it for three years, but then I added on acres, and got a JD 336 for $2,000. I got $250 for the old Ford 250, and it got hauled to Idaho. I expect that it is still baling hay there, and maybe got sold again for $2500. Look how much I lost by selling it when I did. I think that I need to move the decimal point over on everything that I am thinking of selling.
 
Just wanted to thank everyone for the advice and opinions (either way). When I get a chance to upload the pics, I'll start another thread on my broken 68, which I used to bale this weekend on a small plot - I made 85 bales, and only had one break, and that when it hit the ground as I was drop-baling. Despite missing one row of pickup teeth, the 68 made nice (if a bit ragged) bales, and only slight banana effects on maybe 10% of them.

es
 
Those 68's are special to me. Sure is nice hearing the stories of others' experiences. The old, worn 68 hayliner at my neighbor's farm fed ALOT of cows before it finally bit the dust.

Looking forward to seeing your pictures!
 

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