Should I keep it?

I have an old IH#55wire baler,PTO drive.I bought it for $35 30 years ago,just to save it from a scrapperNever planned to even use it at the time.But,circumstances dictated it to be used.And I just kept using it till I bought a more modern baler.I have baled thousands of bales with it,but have not used it now for 15/20 years.It would make 15x19x36 inch bricks and never miss a tie.Likely I will never use it again. Was going to get rid of it.But I thought,keep it.Put it behind the F20,or M.Just for giggles,or maybe a show.Or just park in front behind the '20' in summer during haying season as yard art.

WE call it the 'dinosaur baler'.Because it is as old and big as a dinosaur.It'bales are sometimes called dinosaur poop! LOL!

Try to sell it. You never know who might have the itch for one of them.

Vito

I think you got your moneys worth !

Take a look down the back road from your house/shed and see if it would add to or detract from its holding down gravity where it is. It could be turned into $400 bucks! Jim

Pa used to say Anybody can throw stuff away. Junkshow has an old 55 twine we drag out every so often to keep limber. It might have value to a collector, but once its gone its gone.

Wouldnt mind having it

Or another thing, you could give it to a Museum, just think the kick, that generation will get kick out of looking at it 50 years from now!

That is a 55W (wire) Growing up we had a 55T (twine) I was with dad when he bought it used for $100 We used to bale over 10,000 bales a year with it for years. It always made a real nice bale.

take it to a show!! i keep encouraging people to bring equipment to shows. So many tractor shows have rows and rows of tractors but nothing to operate. Give the spectators an idea of what the tractors were used for. Show the spectators that the pto has been around a while.

i have seen several 55W balers still in use, why not? my dad ran one for years and years with a super A power unit, i cant say i have ever seen a 55W pto before.

Wire tied balers are getting hard to find in my neighborhood. Especially one that works good. I heard that nobody makes new ones anymore. Not sure if that is true. But wouldn't surprise me if it is.

If you will be happy to have someone else use it, consider selling it. I would advertise it for 2 to 4 times scrap price just to keep it from being scrapped and try to sell it to someone who wants to use it. If there are no takers, keep it.

We had one when I was very young, in the mid 50's, it was probably a JD, if they made them. Dad blamed it for little pieces of wire in the hay causing hardware disease in the cattle. We got a new twine baler after that, and then in the 60's got one with a kicker, I baled lots of small squares with that. Can you still by wire for balers, and is it really expensive?

Yes. You can still buy wire. And I've heard that it is rather pricey. But, what isn't these days.

Got one with an engine. It will be going to the scrapper this spring.

If it's just going to sit outside and not be used for yard art, I would get rid of it.

John Deere did make 2 models of the sidewinder wire baler in late 40's, think 46 to 56. The bigger and most popular was the 116W that was the larger and they made a early and a late version. The smaller was the 114W that was not made for as many years as the 116W. John Deere was a Jonny come lately with the wagon loading shute after they saw a shute made in a blacksmith shop in West Liberty, Ohio and the small company that made them never pattened them so Deere could copy it and sell it as the baler was just designed to drop bales on the ground. They drew the wire from both top and mottom rolls, 4 total in use at a time and had a knot at both ends of the bale and they did leave a short piece of wire at both ends of the bale. That is what killed John Deeres sale of balers her in Ohio. And they did not have a backup for any of the wire rolls when you ran out of wire so you did not know untill you saw open bales on the ground. The 14T came out one year before the end of the 116W production. The one good thing for the 116W baler was that it could be narrowed to 8' for storage but in workinh position it too 16' wide to get threw a gate. Before I left the farm I had both an early and late version of the 116W balers with the West Liberty wagon hitch and male chute. Both I think went for scrap. I did know the owner and shop forman that designed the bale loading chute. Both gone now as well as the second of the owners. When I took the baler thru the parade in town it made the owner and shop forman's day. John Deere Did make a baler before the ii6W but if I remember correctly it was a hand tie. I do have the owners manuals for them yet. The early Deere balers were a pickup pressith a platform added. Dad met Mom when he worked for Mom's Dad (my grandpa) punching wires on that first model pickup baler in 1940.

Id sell to someone that wants it to put it to good use , anyway you cant find them .

We had a John Deere 116W for years and never lost a cow to hardware. I did lose a couple over the years from hardware when chopping hay; probably from the feeding equipment. I think farmers complained about JD 116W balers because they needed an excuse to blame a cow's death on. As long as anything used to feed cows contains steel, hardware can be eaten by cows. If I ever restore my JD 116W I would not be afraid to feed cattle the hay baled by it. That is my opinion, not trying to pick a fight. I would sell your baler if possible, It has survived this long, don't scrap it or allow it to rust away.

Before you leave it sit or scrap it try selling it or donate it to a antique club and get a tax break.My dad owned a 50T and traded it on a new MF 10 baler.I asked dad why got rid of the 50T and his commented that no kids including my older siblings could handle the heavy bales all day long

Sell it or donate it. As long as you place a reasonable value on it you can deduct that donation from your income taxes. There is a young fellow on Red Power Forum restoring an IH corn picker so you never know who might have an interest in your baler. There is plenty of old equipment going to scrap so it would be a shame to see another piece meet the crusher.