You aren't going to get much of a 400 for $1000, unless the seller is a complete fool. You'll be buying this guy's problems. By the time you're done you'll have to put another $3000-$4000 in parts and labor into the tractor to make it work, and it'll still look "rough."
You are on the right track as far as features go, though. The 300/400 series tractors are the oldest you should be considering for this work. Live PTO, live hydraulics, and Torque Amplifier make baling easy.
Trying to use an older tractor with none of these features to bale requires an EXPERIENCED operator. It's truly an art form, because every time you push the clutch on an older tractor, everything STOPS. The PTO stops. The hydraulics stop. If you stop wrong, you plug the baler.
What is your land like? Flat ground, you only need about 30-35HP, a 300 or 350 will do the job. Hilly ground, and you really should consider a heavier tractor like a 400.
Are you dumping the bales on the ground with the baler, or towing a wagon? Upsize to a 400 on flat ground if you're towing a wagon. On hills, you probably should consider something more modern with hydraulic brakes.
If your husband thinks a 400 is too much of a "raw machine" he's going to be disappointed because that's the same basic design for all IH tractors in that size range up through 1981.
You need to be very safety minded when operating the tractor. You can't just jump on and go baling. There are a lot of things going on while baling and if you're not intimately familiar with the tractor, you will break something or get hurt. Do you automatically know what to do if you need to stop NOW? Probably not.
Us farm kids didn't start out running the baler. We started out towing the stone trailer, then graduated to discing, then to raking hay and hauling wagons before baling was even a consideration. It took a few years to build up the skills necessary for a precision operation like baling.
Of course you don't have the luxury of a few years, but do take a few hours to drive the tractor around and get used to it before you go into the field.
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Today's Featured Article - The 8N and the Fox - by Zane Sherman. Dec. 13 1998, Renfroe, Alabama. Last niht I dreamed about the day that I plowed the field of about 10 acres over on what Jimmy and Dandy called the Ledbetter field. I was driving the 1948 8N Ford tractor that Jimmy bought in 48 new This was prebably in about 1951 and maybe even befor the house was built. This would have made me to be about16 years old and I drove the tractor for nothing and would have paid to drive it if I had had any money which I didn't, but neit
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