Jim Traficant's baler

RGMartin · Jun 9, 2016

He was a hero to some, villain to others... but there are so many good jokes here.

Sent my dad and son to an auction to look at it today. I have been watching for a good MF 224, this thing is 30 years old and has hardly done any work, all the paint is still on the pick up guards. Original Armstrong rubber still mounted tubeless, holding air, and very little checking. I need to get some hay raked so I can try it, I wonder if it only makes crooked bales?

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showcrop · Jun 9, 2016

(reply to post at 16:04:19 06/09/16)

I have one except it is badged MF 224. It has made a few bales, and they were getting crooked until last year I adjusted the cross feed forks. Now they are straight again. I am almost done some fairly major work on it, including resetting and sharpening the knives, and resetting the space and alignment of the plungerhead.

Bob Bancroft · Jun 9, 2016

I wonder how many remember him? His downfall was not being crooked, it was not playing along with the rest. I'm sure if he had played along they would have been happy to overlook his faults.

Traditional Farmer · Jun 9, 2016

Yep the real crooks in both parties hated him so he had to be doing something right.

RGMartin · Jun 9, 2016

(quoted from post at 21:33:48 06/09/16) I wonder how many remember him?

I think anyone who watched TV during his tenure would remember him. For the most part he was loved locally, he got a respectable % of the vote when he ran for office from prison.

My wife is absolutely non-political, when I told her Traficant's baler was in the shed, her jaw dropped open.

RGMartin · Jun 9, 2016

I have been using an ugly, very well worn 124, that just keeps going. It will pound out bales in a hurry, for not much money. An equivalent NH would be twice the money and I am not sure it is any better baler.

This seemed like a sensible buy, given what a new one goes for and has a good story to go with it.

Bill VA · Jun 9, 2016

I very much remember Jim Traficant. He'd say, "Beam me up Mr. Speaker.?

There was a Gehl 3210 on the Roanoke VA craigslist just like the one you bought a few days ago. I googled it and found, like you, it to be an
MF in Gehl colors. Someone got a nice baler as it's sold now.

Bill

Ted in NE-OH · Jun 9, 2016

Jim Traficant tried to put my community under 30 ft of water with a reservoir. No love lost here.

Gambles · Jun 9, 2016

I remember him well. Another thing I remember was his hair. Well, it turns out it really wasn't hair. When it was time to report to prison, everybody found out that he just had a bad toupee and he had to give it up.

Ken Macfarlane · Jun 10, 2016

No idea who that is but that is a clean baler! We ran a well used 224 for several years and it took a lot of abuse. Once it had been tuned up a bit would it ever eat hay.

Traditional Farmer · Jun 10, 2016

So anyone that wants to build a dam for water for recreation,power or drinking water deserves to go to jail?

db4600 · Jun 10, 2016

As a farm youth I baled with a #3 and a #12 ahead of a NH bale wagon. They were hungry machines and you could pound out some bales not dragging a wagon behind. The 3 speed on the Oliver was a nice feature for such a set up. They would make nicer bales if you kept them full. If memory serves me right I used to count 17-19 plunger strokes to a bale.

BarnyardEngineering · Jun 10, 2016

(quoted from post at 03:50:02 06/10/16) So anyone that wants to build a dam for water for recreation,power or drinking water deserves to go to jail?

If it's your house, your land that's going to end up under water because of it, probably yes...

Even if they paid handsomely for the land, money isn't everything to everyone.

showcrop · Jun 10, 2016

(quoted from post at 03:44:20 06/10/16) No idea who that is but that is a clean baler! We ran a well used 224 for several years and it took a lot of abuse. Once it had been tuned up a bit would it ever eat hay.

I like the way that my 224 eats the hay. In one field there was a place where the hay would grow impossibly thick and tall, and it seemed that every year when I came around to it, no matter if I went down to first and slipped the clutch, the JD 336 that I used to have would grab a huge slug, suck it in, and bang would go the shear bolt. Once I got the MF it would just take those huge slugs and push them on through. One time I was working around a tree in the middle of a field, where I had two double windrows side by side in order to get around that tree. I was working my way around that tree when the 224 got ahold of the second double windrow. I pushed in the clutch and prepared for the bang, but
the old MF just sucked it all in and pushed out a second bale right on top of the first, never missed a beat.

RGMartin · Jun 10, 2016

The only time I have broken a shear bolt was when the brake on the knotter shaft got loose, allowing the needles to drop from home slightly. That is one of the times when you want the shear bolt to brake.

The thing I like about them is they are easier to make a good shaped straw bale than the NH 310 I have as a back up.

Jim Traficant's baler

RGMartin

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Traditional Farmer

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RGMartin

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RGMartin

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