If you are planning on a couple of thousand bales a year or less AND can find a reliable custom operator, I'd stay away from one altogether.
But to answer your question. It would cost 5 times as much to rebuild a junker compared to buying a good one. You can spend $1500 on the knotters alone if you hire it fixed.
Things to look for: 1) Do you know the seller/can you trust him to be honest with you about how the baler works?
2)Look for sloppiness in the plunger/crankshaft area. Its a matter of degrees, but things should be fairly tight.
3) Knotters--can you see it tie or trust the seller that it will tie? Check the bill hooks for wear--don't get cut--there is a twine knife on each knotter assembly.
4) If stored outside, walk away.
5) Turn it over by hand using the flywheel, and look at the tightness/sloppiness of all moving parts.
6) If a private sale, the tidiness/cleanliness of the seller's place will tell you a lot.
7) Alfalfa/clover ties easily. Grass hay ties ok. It takes a darned good baler to tie oat or wheat straw. Cornstalks bale hard. The Deeres bale stalks better than the NH's.
8) Spend a little more now and avoid spending a lot more later.
9) HIRE IT DONE
I have had a New Holland 270 and 273--both were good until they just became wore out. I have also had 2 JD 336's and they are REALLY good.
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Today's Featured Article - Tractor Traction - by Chris Pratt. Our first bout with traction problems came when cultivatin with our Massey-Harris Pony. Up till then, this tractor had been running a corn grinder and pulling a trailer. It had new unfilled rear tires and no wheel weights. The garden was already sprouting when we hooked up the mid-mount shovel cultivators to the Pony. The seed bed was soft enough that the rear end would spin and slowly work its way to the downhill side of the gardens slight incline. From this, we learned our lesson sinc
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