Pickup swap or thrower swap between a NH269 and NH276 ba

lastcowboy32

Well-known Member
According to Messicks, the 269 was made from 1964 to 1969.

The 276 was made from 1971 to 1975 (also according to Messicks).

Here is my situation, I need to rebuild the pickup on our 269 baler. But... I have a 276 baler that I haven't used in a year and a half. The 276 was making bales when I parked it.

(For those who must know... the 276 is setup to bale on the ground, the 269 has a 54A thrower. We stopped baling on the ground, but I kept the 276... because... well... cheap baler insurance)

Looking at the weather, I need to be baling again in a week. I have a weekend and a few weeknights (I work during the week) to order parts and be back up. Rebuilding a pickup may not be in the cards, especially since Messicks doesn't have the tine bar bearings.

Both the 269 and the 276 have a supersweep pickup.

If you wanted to make a working baler with a thrower, given my time constraints...

Well, what is the better swap... swap the 276's working pickup onto the 269? swap the 269's working thrower onto the 276?
or
Swap my brain for one that works, because either is a crazy idea?
 

Implied in my question above is:
Is a supersweep pickup a supersweep pickup, regardless of the baler it's on?

I know that the 276 drives the pickup with a chain on the heavyside of the baler and a slip-clutch sprocket... and the 269 drives the pickup with a belt on the heavyside... but...once you get to the light side of the baler... to the pickup... it's just drive mechanism with 2040 chain that looks darn near identical to the naked eye between both balers.
 
I would lean towards swapping the thrower since I think most of that is out in the open. pickup is all
in a confined space and involves crawling around on the ground a lot...

My suggestion would be to beg, steal, borrow or buy a working baler to finish third cutting.

As far as parts go, are you having trouble with the main pickup bearings or the tine bearings with a
cotter pin hole or the roller cam? main bearings you can probably get at napa, motion, mcmaster, etc.
The roller cams can be found at shoup. the tine bearings with the pin to lock it in are more difficult
and specific to NH. These my local farm supply guy was able to find aftermarket...

Try calling these amish guys. I ran into them on Tuesday at the Farm Science Review and they have pretty
much everything for new holland hay equipment. farmers equipment & repair 330-897-1106 Baltic, OH
 
(quoted from post at 09:29:27 09/24/21) I would lean towards swapping the thrower since I think most of that is out in the open. pickup is all
in a confined space and involves crawling around on the ground a lot...

My suggestion would be to beg, steal, borrow or buy a working baler to finish third cutting.

As far as parts go, are you having trouble with the main pickup bearings or the tine bearings with a
cotter pin hole or the roller cam? main bearings you can probably get at napa, motion, mcmaster, etc.
The roller cams can be found at shoup. the tine bearings with the pin to lock it in are more difficult
and specific to NH. These my local farm supply guy was able to find aftermarket...

Try calling these amish guys. I ran into them on Tuesday at the Farm Science Review and they have pretty
much everything for new holland hay equipment. farmers equipment & repair 330-897-1106 Baltic, OH

Thanks for the info.

As far as the beg/borrow/steal... I realize that running old equipment... for me... means a few things.
A. Learn how to fix stuff.
B. Pick your battles, for instance, my wife agreed to buy a brand new tractor, and the payments that go with it, a couple of years ago. The reasoning? If the tractor is reliable; then you have time to save money on the implements by working on old stuff.
C. Stick to one form of harvest. A round baler doesn't substitute for a square baler... a chopper doesn't substitute for either. The parts definitely don't go back and forth. And they all require specialized knowledge, if you want to run them right.

If you follow A, B and C... then have two working models of time critical equipment. Bonus points if they have common parts. We just got there with haybines a couple months ago, when I got our second one rebuilt into working condition. I can't describe the peace of mind. I still have to work on the haybines. But, even when I'm changing a section or other repairs... our daughter is still running the other one... the probability of an absolute dead stop to harvesting has gone way, way down.

With that in mind, I HAVE found a 276 with a thrower. Agreed to the purchase, just need to get it hauled...

But... that 276 is still old... and I should have the 269 ready to go as well... just in case.

I would rather swap now and rebuild later, if possible... and do the rebuild right. Seems like it would be a waste to pull a pickup out and spot check bearings... only to have another one fail next year.
 
... also... implied in that last diatribe about "pick one harvesting method"...

I should have specified. We have two harvesting methods. Baling dry hay in small squares... and grazing, but only one of which is mechanized... unless one considers electric fencing a harvesting "machine"... I mean... it kind of is... but anyway

We graze third cutting and as much of the tender stuff as possible.

Due to the Biblical rain amounts we've had this summer, we're still baling first cutting. Although, it's actually pretty good hay. The old timers say, if you can't get your first cut by July 1st, wait until September 1st. And... they are correct this year.
 
Is the 269 pretty much out of commission due to the pickup issues? If it was me I would run a little hay thru the 276 to make sure
it will work (rebale some hay). If it works good I would swap over the thrower. I am guessing you already checked that the 54a
thrower will swap over to the 276. Now you are saying you are able to buy another 276 with a thrower, maybe that would be a better
bet if it is in usable condition, or at least a donor for thrower and good parts baler.
 
The 269 is definitely out, until the pickup is redone. The pickup is turning so hard, that every time we use the baler, we're finding a new weak link in the drive train to break. Over the last 1200 bales, we've broken the PTO driveline in two places and the pickup drive chain.

I just pulled the 276 out of its parking spot (OK... the weeds) tonight. I lubricated all of the moving parts and turned it over by hand. Still turns over just as easily as when we parked it. Looking at the two balers side by side. I'm going to go with the thrower swap and run the 276. The 276 is just a better baler. Higher capacity. The belly pan for the knotter needles runs about three inches higher off of the ground. Our 276 is setup for a "fat tire" on both the heavy side and the pickup side of the baler. All of this means a better baler for muddy ground.

I looked over the bale chambers... the 269's bale chamber has been welded and reinforced from breakages (before I bought it). The 276's bale chamber is still in good condition. Overall, the frame of the 276, from the tongue that connects to the tractor, to the tongue that connects to the wagon... is all in better condition.

Also, looking at the pickups, doing the swap requires one of the hardest things about working on the pickup... you have to get the pickup drive shaft out... Once you do that, you may as well rebuild the pickup.

Looking at the two machines side by side... the 276 should be our baler for the future. We may as well commit to it. I have a friend that I've done some baling for that has a 269. I can offer to scavenge good parts off of my 269 to save for him.. I can pull the knotter assembly, plunger, needles, I can even scavenge the pickup for good parts... stuff like that... and squirrel it away in the barn until my friend needs it... and scrap the frame of the baler. We bought the 269 for 300 bucks. Got two good years of baling out of it... and a thrower. Doesn't owe us anything.

And yeah. We're still getting the other 276. Like I said. If you run cheap and old... better run two...
 
I didnt think those 2 models had any part of the pickups remotely close to the same?

So clearly Im not qualified to voice an opinion here. Ha.

Paul
 

The feeder mechanisms behind the pickups are completely different. The 269 is the old school sliding carriage linked to the plunger, similar to a 273.

The 276 uses the "tine bar" style with a sprocket that rotates and drives a bar running on a cam track...which propagated into the 310 series balers.

Having baled with both balers, I find that the old sliding carriage is easier to adjust for small windrows. The tine bar mechanism likes to be fed massive amounts of hay... to make a good, square bale. I've gone through the manual and tweaked it... but it's still finicky in small windrows, with respect to bale shape.

(Nowadays, in the 500 series balers, New Holland uses rotating forks)

But anyway. The feeder mechanisms in a 269 and 276 are different... but the pickups in front of them look very much alike, if they are both equipped with the "super sweep"

It's a moot point at this point though...
 

I went through Messicks and did a parts comparison.

Both balers (269 and 276) have a "super sweep" option with six tine bars... but there are parts differences. For instance, the main cams are different for the two.

Given that, it may be dicey at best to try to retrofit from one to the other.

Just another reason to try the thrower swap instead.
 
I believe the pickups for the 270/271 are the same as a 276 and the feeder mechanism shares many many parts. That is why I bought a 270
as a backup for my 276...familiarity.
 
Lastcowboy, are you getting anywhere with the installing the 54A thrower on the 276? Reason I ask is that I beleive the 276 uses a model 70 thrower, I do not
believe the 54A will fit a 276.
 
(quoted from post at 05:04:23 09/27/21) Lastcowboy, are you getting anywhere with the installing the 54A thrower on the 276? Reason I ask is that I beleive the 276 uses a model 70 thrower, I do not
believe the 54A will fit a 276.

I'm finding out. I took some measurements and started to prep the 276 last night. I had to do a little grinding and torching to remove some welds that I made to put a homemade bale chute onto it.

I know that a model 58 thrower fits on a 276.

Bolt holes on the flywheel/plunger housings match between the balers.

Bolt holes on the bale chambers match between the balers.

So far, the only modification that I know I'll have to make is to the drive shaft that runs down the side of the baler.

It seems as though the 276 is 6" to 1' shorter from the flywheel to the end of the bale chamber. A

I'll keep you posted, if you're curious.
 

Also... please describe your meaning of the word "fit"

Are grinders, torches and welders allowed in your definition?

:)
 

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