Advice for tractor to pull baler

Need a low budget tractor to pull massey 12 baler. What tractors should I be looking at?

I cannot imagine any normal 2 plow tractor being unsuitable. The first choice of a LOW priced one would be a WD45 Allis Chalmers but a CA would also be good but a CA will cost you as much money and will need more power moving on the road. I have also baled with an H farmall and an M farmall. If you do not have Independent or live PTO you need a good man on the rake. I have baled more without llive PTO than with and then I learned how to rake. I have a massey 165 and an IFC 574 and 986 but usually bale square bales with an H as it is adequate.

I'd want something with a live PTO. I guess my choice would be something like an Oliver 77, Super 77 88 or Super 88. All of those would have live PTO and have enough HP and weight to handle it well. Plus you can find them at least in my area for under $2000 and if you don't mind doing a little work to one for under $1000
Hobby farm

I use a 485 Case Orchard model Its small turns on a dime and live PTO and is heavy enough so that you don't get pushed down a steep hill and then have to change your shorts. Runs in the $5000 to $8000 range.
Walt
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That was one row of the rake still had trouble clogging the baler.

In mixed hay where you are looking at3.5ton per acre or more I would want at least 50 hp. I can recall as a kid that our 88 Oliver would grunt on a NH 270 in HEAVY hay. The 270's were at the smallest size offered at that time. You want to more than crawl to get a field in especially if the weather closes in.
I would recommend an Oliver 88. Around here, they usually can be bought under 2000 dollars. A diesel would be nice for the fuel economy. They are a well laid out tractor, easy to service, and have independent PTO. You could look at a Super or 770/880 if you don't mind going 3000 dollars or more.
Allis Chalmers D17/D19 have sufficient power and a lot of times can be bought at 3000 dollars give or take. There are other good makes and models, but you are going to pay quite a bit more. I heard of a IH 560 this spring going for over 7000 dollars that was not a restoration. Demand for IH 300, 350, 400, and 450 in this area is quite high and shows in the price.
I am sure other responders will have their own preferences and sometimes that is what it comes down to.

I agree with the other posters, most any 2 row tractor would work Cabs, power steering,radios haven't been around forever
good luck Massey 135 or 165 are tough tractors as with other colors!

I'm partial to the Fords. For a Massey 12 I don't see why you'd need anything any bigger than 3 or 4000, shoot, if all this tractor is gonna do is bale hay with a 12 then I'd even consider a 2000. Parts are still common, easy to work on, 8x2 trans is bulletproof, and they are pretty popular here in Kentucky, so a lot of people know about them. Just make sure you get one with the Live pto and you're all set.

I'd imagine that 35 tp 40 pto hp would pretty much run a Massey 12 to capicity, if not, then move on up to the 4 or 5000 Ford and you can sling the snot out of that baler. Of course this all goes for the newer Fords as well, x600, xx10, and xx30 series tractor.

Older the cheaper, with 2000 and 3000's starting in that 3 to 4 thousand range. I've always been partial to my old 3000 when square baling, it just rocks me to sleep, well, almost.

Casey

Ford 860/61, MF 65/165/, AC D15/D17/WD45..All of these tractors are very adequately strong enough and are equipped with live power. Take any one of them and load rear tires, install rear wheel weights, hook up your baler, hook haywagon on behind and bale hay anywhere that such an endeavor would be remotely reasonable. I've personally done the same with the Ford 860, D17, WD45 and MF 65 all with absolute success.

Mr. Bob

Oliver 88. Can't beat that IPTO and smooth 6 cyl. power

Many tractors in the 40-50 hp range will run a baler if you are on flat ground. Add hills and a wagon load of hay and they are too small to be safe. Tail can start to wag the dog.

For sure, those Ollie 88s run slicker than goose poo on a pump handle.

Baled a lot of hay in my day with a JD B, no live power, and a JD 50 - with live power. Even pulled wagon behind with up to 100 bales on it. Yeah, you had to be a pretty good operator, but it worked. Now using a MF180, just plays with a baler & wagon.

cant beat a case 730 or an oliver 88 they can be bought cheap and are great baleing tractors id go diesel they are real efficiant on fuel and easy to maintain

You want enough power. 35 hp for a smaller older baler is good, 50 hp is needed for a newer bigger baler. In any case you want a _heavy_ tractor. A baler is heavier than it looks, you need enough mass to control the baler, hp isn't so important - weight of the tractor is.

You need live pto. Yes it is possible to bale without live pto, but it is miserable. Get live pto. (Independent pto is even better, but not needed.)

More forward gears are better. Can't have too many. A 4 speed is not so good. A 5 or 6 speed is better. Someting with a hi/low (8-16 speed) is even better.


Dad & now I have pulled a NH 270 baler for decades with a Farmall 300 tractor. t has 35 hp, independent pto, the TA works so it has 10 forward gears. We have hills and we pull a hayrack - now I pull a hay basket - and it is a perfect match.

If the baler were a little higher capacity, or if I had a thrower on it, I'd want more hp.

As it is, it works great.

I also have a 960 Ford, an Ollie Super 77, and ann IHC H. Used all of them at one time or another to bale. The His underpowered & no live pto, didn't like. The other 2 worked fine, but I like the features of the 300 better.

--->Paul

We've pulled ours with our MF 165 in the past. It worked pretty good, and we pulled fully loaded wagons behind it as well. We normally pull it behind our 285 but that's more than enough power for a #12 baler.

Donovan from Wisconsin

When I was a grade school kid my dad had a 336 J.D. which we pulled with a Deutz 4006. A bit small for the task, only forty horse, but it did the job and I was the driver! We had at that time a 50 J.D. which was used for raking, also something I did. Both of those tractors got the cr@p worked out of them. At one time pop also had a D-19 Allis because it was to cheap to let go by. It was a gas tractor,ran really good I used it to pull a one row chopper it had plenty of power. After the late 70's farm crunch pop had to get out the bankers came and took everything (bad memories) with no cash on hand he needed a cheap tractor as you do he bought a Super 77 Oliver with wide front for 750. That tractor was the start of my Oliver addiction, I borrowed a 273 N.H. baler to bale the best fields on the farm to sell for some extra money, gosh I fell in love with that old tractor, smoothest running gas tractor ever I thought! A long way from the 4320 and 3020 J.D. that got repo'd. That 77 was a good machine, it did everything I asked from it beings I was a J.D. fan at that time. Now that's what I run, thirty years later, I've got a 880 Oliver diesel which I restored, I have a N.H. 315 baler which makes the old dog talk. Usually it's pulled by a White 110, but just for fun I had to see what the 880 would do. The Oliver's with the six cylinder motors are hard to beat! Good luck in your decision!!