How Old is Your NH Rake and Haybine???

Bill VA

Well-known Member
From my reply to another post,

"IMHO there are two pieces of hay equipment, regardless of ones opinion that is indisputable, and that is the NH rollabar rakes and haybines seem to last for 30 plus years and keep on going. Not sure the rotaries or discbines will"

How old is your New Holland rollabar rake and/or haybine? Are you still using it, how many acres a year and what model?

FWIW - New Holland still makes new the models 57, 256 and 258 rollabar rakes and the 472 and 488 haybines. I guess there is still a market for them.

Bill
 
I have a 55 and a Super 55 rake. The 55 was all red except for the yellow rims and was purchased by my dad shortly after his NH 66 baler in 1954. I would guess in '56 or '57. Rebuilt the gearbox 15 or 20 years ago and replaced some bushings with needle bearings and added some more grease fittings. It had a bent channel iron frame instead of a formed steel one. Added grease fittings to the rollabar bearings and the front basket wheel hub, made a new axle and bushings and rebuilt the axle to gearbox shaft. Use a Kuhn double rotor rake now but the NH rakes still work fine. Pretty good for something near 60 years old......Ron
 
The 472 is crowding 50 years, there was a 479 that is same cut as 488. It was real popular in 70s. I have kinda liked the 495 the 499 replaced it.
 
I have a 55 rake . No idea what year . I also have a Sperry/New Holland 488 Haybine . That Might date it .
I just bale my 2.5 acres 3 times a year.Also Have a 269 NH baler.
 
We still have a 256 rake that I remember using when is was in elementary school in the 80s so its a good 30+ years old. Now I use a Claas rotary rake but sometime hook the old 256 to the M for small fields or to roll the windrow over.
 
I'm still running the 479 that I learned to mow on. That was at least 25 years ago and it wasn't a new machine then. I also run a 488 that's nearly as old and a 1091 Hesston that my brother bought used around 2000.
 
Have a NH 256 rake think it was sold to the original owner in the early 90's,a NH 56 rake that's much older than the 256.two NH 456 trailer type mowers probably sold new in the 70's.All are in
good working condition and use them.Also have 4 working NH 851 balers and 3 851 parts balers that I use to bale my hay.Hard not to buy those balers when they sell for under $500.Bought one of the parts balers last Fall at an auction for $50 had a broken chain and a good bale of hay still in it.And I have a 404 NH hay conditioner I use sometimes still in good working order.
 
I don't know the model number but my first and last NH haying equipment was a 9' MOCO, Haybine, swather, sicklebar with a reel and crimper, whatever you want to call it. Had the swinging pin where you had to put a cinder block behind the right rear tire to get it in the cut position....big pia to carry a brick with you to the field, and jerk on it to get it back in the tow mode.

Biggest gripe was greasing the shaft on the implement end being it was an inclosed drive shaft. After a year of so of fooling with it I took my torch and cut a hole in the side of the thing to get at the zerk.

My baling has been with JD equipment which suited my needs just fine.
 

I have a 472 and 488 that are both at least 25 years old. I think longevity depends a lot on how they get stored. The 488 has never seen a roof in 25 years I know of, the 472 was always shedded until I got it. You can see the difference clearly. With luck, I'll get my machine shed repaired this year and an addition on it. Stuff lasts a lot longer that way.
 
First off, I do maybe 30 acres on average each year. Have a 1986 488 haybine that I bought in 2009 (30 years old). Great shape, nice rollers, have no plans on replacing it. At an auction 10 years a ago I got a deal on a 10 ft rotary rake that was too good to pass up, and 5 years ago bought a carted wheel rake. Those rakes took up all my shed space and I had to sell a perfectly good NH55 rake that I believe was 1960 model plus or minus a year or two. I regret selling this a bit, and would still have it if I had the space, and if I could take the ribbing from my neighbors because I have such a small patch of ground and owned 3 rakes (neighbor across the road has one double rotor rake and does at least 10x the acres I do). The wheel rake requires a tractor with dual remotes and the rotary requires 540 PTO of course. I have a 45 year old NH square baler as well for bonus points. The NH machines have passed the most test of all, time.
 

We have three 256 rolla bar rakes, one on each of the three farms we tend, One my FIL bought in the late 60's or early 70's, a 96 model with dolly wheels and a 07 model purchased after the owner retired and we started renting his farm.
Have mine and FIL's 451 sickle bar mowers that are both 70's models, most mowing these days is done with a 85 Claas WM30 trailed drum mower and 2014 Kuhn trailed disc mower, also have FIL's 2004 three point hitch Kuhn disc mower but don't use it often, pia to hook up. FIL passed in 2011.
Have a 61 model NH270 square baler for the few hundred square bales we put up.
Started out rolling hay with a early 80's Hesston 5540, then a 94 NH 640, today we have a 2012 NH BR7070.
Neighbor still bales with the Hesston and nephew has the NH640.
 
my dad got a new 256 in 1969 from 69 to 90 it raked 150 acres of hay three times a year and 100 acres of straw a year. some times more than once. only rebuilt the gearbox once. i am the third owner of a 258 that i got in 1990 dont know how old it is original owners went broke in the 80s. i had a 489 haybine for 14 years did 150 plus acres three times a year. have a 492 now.
 
I have a NH 55 rake that I purchased a few years ago for $400.00. Guy had just put a rebuilt gear box in it, didn't bother to check for oil or grease, the rebuilder didn't put any in it, and a bearing went. Fellow was frustrated, go another rake, and sold that one to me. Replaced the bearing and seal, FILLED IT FULL OF GREASE AND GEAR OIL, and it has been earning its keep ever since.
 
I didn't remember you having a 488. Didn't you pick up a Hesston 1120 this past year? What
are your plans for it?
 
Model 55 rake, 279 haybine, and a 270 baler. Rubber starting to come off the haybine rollers. Was like that though when we bought it 25 years ago. We just keep fixing it. Still in nice working order otherwise.
 
My FIL is still running a 490 that he bought new in the early 70's. Granted, it doesn't see a lot of acres and never sleeps outside so it has a relatively easy life.

Your question of whether rotary mower/conditioners (I'm a Hesston guy so I avoid using the "discbine" term!) is interesting. If you consider the number of acres that these rotary machines often cover in their lifetime it probably exceeds the typical sickle machine even if the years of life might be shorter since the average operating speeds are so much higher. And, many are purchased by folks who put up more acres per year. Having quite a bit of experience with both I'd say that with proper maintenance (most importantly being the manufacturer's prescribed changing of the cutterbar oil) I'd say that a rotary is probably easier to keep going longer under similar conditions since there are far fewer wear points.
 

256 rake here since 1985. "Sperry New Holland" serial plate.

Tines, both dogs/springs and two crosses are all that has been done to it.
 
Have a 55 rake bought years back used for $300. Had to rebuild the wheel drive hubs last season. Pretty pricey I thought but rest of rake is solid. Afterward decided might as well paint it. Have had a great time with 12 year old grandson giving it a rattle can new paint job. May even get decals if I can find some. I'm pushing 70 and it's not all that far behind me. Can't imagine modern technology with that kind of longevity.
 
(quoted from post at 17:40:34 03/21/17) I didn't remember you having a 488. Didn't you pick up a Hesston 1120 this past year? What
are your plans for it?

Yes, I did. I hope to be able to have both in the field this year. That's the beauty of having that 15 yo son that likes haying...

Gotta say, the Hesston is built a lot heavier than the NH. I like that.
 
Well, I have a NH 56 rake. Don't know how old. Don't use a NH haybine because all the ones I saw had damage to the rollers and they are very expensive to replace. So I use an IH 990. Probably older and so far is pretty much bomb proof.
 
I've had a 461 since 2010, and it must be around 50 years old by now. I only cut about 30-35 acres, once a year. My rake is a Ford 3 point PTO thing, also pretty old.
Zach
 
NH 56 rake, along with a New Idea 400 rake, and a NH 489 haybine, early 80s I think. Works for me!
 
We have a NH 56 rolabar, and we used it a lot over the 40 years we've had it. We finally had to replace some on parts it needed over this winter (about $300.00 for parts) its good as new now.
 
I still have a 461 mowco I started with. Been parked but covered for about 12 years. The rolls are original and very good condition. One of these days I'll pull it out, grease it up and run it for old times sake.i bought it around 1989. It always ran well but I eventually replaced it with a 469, which then got replaced by my NI 5209 discbine.
 
no dought the new holland rakes are the best and the haybines are verry hard to beat but when your covering 400 acers or more a year there slow the new disc bines mow fast and the new newholland balers can teally eat hay so i went with a doubel rake but the old 256 does a better job . i wish times were simpler a 256 and a 472 with a 310 baler and a 5ohp tractor be a lot cheeper lol.
 

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