rmerz3

Member
Well, my big tractor is still down for overhaul/clutch work so we did with what we had.

We used our 48 8N to run a New Holland 268 baler. We recently bought the 268 for $650 which I thought was decent. My wife's uncle used to be a NH field tech, so he helped us get the knotter all cleaned up.
The baler only missed about 1 in 60 or so bales... which was doable for now.

The 8N gets rocked around a bit by the baler, but we kept the windrows a decent size and used a kicked or wagon. The 8N did just fine at about half throttle. The whole field is an incline, so we gave it a
bit extra on the incline up.

Nice to have the 8N as a backup for hay making.
a280600.jpg

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I had the same problem when I posted photos taken from my Iphone. Turns out that you have to take the picture with the phone horizontal with the lens to your left, trip button to the right. I'll bet your old 8N was happy to get out and do some work.
 
(quoted from post at 08:33:37 09/21/18) Hmm, not sure why the pictures are sideways... they don't appear as such on the PC.

If I left click on the picture and choose "view picture", it turns the picture right side up.
 
I recently cleaned it up quite a bit. I took off the loader, put back on a grill, front bumper, etc. After I got it all cleaned up, I felt bad using it for actual work.

It does get used regularly though for manure spreading, chisel plowing, mold boarding the pumpkin patch in fall, back balding, brush hogging, etc. Great little machines.
 

Tens of thousands of bales put up on Granddad's farm using that baler and a 1953 NAA. A 1951 8N handled the mower and bale wagon chores. He liked it way better than haying with horses ;-)

TOH
 

When my older brother graduated from HS he decided to earn some extra money doing custom baling. Our big tractor at the time was a MH 50 and that went on the baler. However, during wheat harvest the big tractor was needed for the combine and the 8N went on the baler. My brother would man the bale wagon and I would operate the tractor. We did aproximately 30,000 bales per season. Most with the larger tractor however, the 8N would do fine as long as the customer did not get crazy with the windrow size..
 
(quoted from post at 08:53:15 09/22/18)
Tens of thousands of bales put up on Granddad's farm using that baler and a 1953 NAA. A 1951 8N handled the mower and bale wagon chores. He liked it way better than haying with horses ;-)

TOH

Whoops - that would have been an older NH 68 not a 268....

TOH
 
This subject can up recently on a FB page. Can an 8n could pull a square baler? I said it could but takes time. Must have been 40 replies telling me I was crazy. I was told an 8n could even handle a pull type rake let alone a baler!

I told those guys. Grandpa farmed many years 380 acres with a 2n and later a 52 8n. He did all farm operations with his Ford from planting,plowing, and pulling a corn picker. They wouldn't believe me that an N Ford could do anything but pull a wagon.

Back in the 70's around here there were several little hobby farms or horse guys that mowed, raked, and baled with an 8n. I thought it was fun to watch the little red belly tractors go around and around the field.
 
I love seeing these old machines in action. It's a testament to their utility.

This subject can up recently on a FB page. Can an 8n could pull a square baler? I said it could but takes time. Must have been 40 replies telling me I was crazy. I was told an 8n could even handle a pull type rake let alone a baler!
FB? Phhtttt. Nothing but a bunch of "Internet experts" with no practical knowledge. Personification of the phrase, "Opinions are like a$$...." One thing I really appreciate about this forum is the wealth of knowledge. No bull, just facts.
 
Absolutely.

People say things like "you cannot bale with that, you need a 70hp tractor or bigger". Think how many baled with Hs. Heck, the Super M must've been the most powerful tractor prior to the 60s.

The only thing not great is the lack of live PTO.
 

It doesn't take much power to run a baler. Amish farmers use 18-20hp engines to run their balers and six horses to pull the baler and wagon around the field. If they are making hay on hilly ground they only stack the bales three or four high. A 8N can handle a baler and wagon very well, hills or no hills.
 
When I first started doing my own hay, all I had was the 8N that ran the sickle bar, PTO rake and NH 68 baler. Oh, and pulled a hay rack (smallish one, we'd usually stack about 110 on it at a time).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjyJKx4U4vE

That short video has garnered over 125K views since I put it up in 2008.

I eventually bought a Hesston 6400 windrower for cutting, but have had to drag the sickle bar back out on occasion when the Hesston is being recalcitrant.

The PTO (Ferguson) rake broke beyond repair, so it got replaced with a wheel rake.

I eventually bought an AC 190 that ran the baler until it, too, broke down (and I sold). The 8N ran the baler again until I bought my Boomer 8N and a 273 baler.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C81ETN3oqCU

8N-68baling.jpg


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