The old 68 keeps on ticking !!!

Years ago I traded for a beat up old New Holland 68 baler. After screwing around with the Wisconsin engine for a few years I took a risk and switched it over to PTO drive, even though everyone assured me there was NO WAY I could run it without a tractor with live PTO. Well, you can and it's easy. You just have to have your head in gear is all, same for a haybine. Anyway, I made new slides for the plunger, put new pickup teeth on it and a few knotter parts. It did good with the 800 Ford. Had to feed it like it was going to choke up, but it worked okay. The other day I stuck the DB990 on it and decided to try for the 50-60 strokes a minute I was told to run it at by an old timer. That old girl did 400 bales and never missed a beat. I could have done more but the help was wearing out in the heat and humidity and the boy still has a lot to learn about raking so it took a lot longer than it should have. The live PTO on the DB makes things easier, but it's the gearing that makes the difference.

I'm a happy camper with some real nice hay in the barn. I may even paint the old girl up I'm so happy with her!

My Grandfather (and later my Dad) had a NH68 when I was a kid. It had that old 2 cyl Wisconsin on it with no electric start. I remember how hard it was to get started, but how sweet it sounded when it did get running. As a matter of fact, I am in the middle of rebuilding one of those engines, just so I can hear that sound again after 45 years of remembering.
My Dad eventually put a PTO shaft on the baler and he ran it for several years behind his "NEW" 135 Massey Ferguson. I learned how to load a wagon behind that old baler. Thanks for the memories!
Good Luck and God Bless.

Neighbor had an old 68. I'd help them out with their haying on occasion. That old 68 was a far cry from our 276 Hayliner or Deere 336, but it was dependable. The old Wisconsin was started with a 50' waterski rope and a notch cut in the hand wheel. Wrap the rope and run like H**L! Don't stop running until the rope was off the wheel! Once in awhile chaff would get built up in the fins and the engine would get hot and launch one or both spark plugs like rockets. The neighbors always kept a couple spare heads and helicoils on hand.

I cas still remember one time Dad was cranking the wisconson engine on the baler by hand, when it finally started somehow the crank stayed in engine and started spinning. I thought the engine was going to jump off the baler, before Dad got it shudtown. Stan

Yep, the old Hayliner 68, as far as I am concerned the finest baler ever. New Holland wrote the book on grassland farming.

A guy I work with said his dad just baled some hay with a Ford 600. He said the ground speed of the tractor was too fast. I still have the New Holland Super 66 that I used to bale with as a kid. It has a 2-cylinder Wisconsin and I pulled it with a Case VAC. Dad replaced the wooden plunger slides and added a pto later. It could use a little work on the knotter, but is still usable.

Hey, take some pictures and post 'em!

My NH 275 works best at 65 strokes per minute.I just finished some brome grass hay bales yesterday, was spitting them out at 16 second intervals, 42 inches long 55 lbs weight. About 12 feet apart on the ground. Buyer came this morning, we loaded 130 on his trailer, got a check and off he went.
This was the grass I mowed every week with a Cadet last summer. Not only did I save a lot of gas, by letting it grow, but that 3.5 tons of hay brought 350 dollars and it was just the "lawn".

Gordo

My NH 275 works best at 65 strokes per minute.I just finished some brome grass hay bales yesterday, was spitting them out at 16 second intervals, 42 inches long 55 lbs weight. About 12 feet apart on the ground. Buyer came this morning, we loaded 130 on his trailer, got a check and off he went.
This was the grass I mowed every week with a Cadet last summer. Not only did I save a lot of gas, by letting it grow, but that 3.5 tons of hay brought 350 dollars and it was just the "lawn".

Gordo

We did most of our hay with a 64 4000 S-0-S, Ford 535 mower conditioner, M-F 3pt side delivery rake, and 532 Ford baler with a kicker and wagon in tow. The tractor handled the job with no trouble, thick 1st cut alfalfa, or typical grass hay that is common here like orchard grass. It had 1 set of remotes, power steering and independent pto, but for a small utility tractor, that transmission had the right gear for every job, I'd imagine an 800 would handle the job, though the baler/kicker, wagon and hills might not be too comfortable for some, we used to hang off the side of the wagon on some areas to keep it from tipping over, those were the days !

Not exactly the most desirable set up either, but for many years it worked, we never had to buy hay and it was cheap then, I can remember the problems with the baler, mower was pretty good and that rake never gave any trouble. I'm not so sure I'd try it with my 850 though, maybe on the flats only, I can stop with a rotary cutter and no overrun clutch, just lower it and bottom out on the ground,( obviously with care, does no harm unless you lower it onto a rock) but with that baler might take a little bit longer, have to wonder how that feels, on an 800/801 without live pto, our 4000 was not much more than an 800 by HP and or that S-O-S trans, though it was nice to be able to stop and let the baler catch up if you needed to, though we did a neat job with the rake, windrows were usually easy to bale as I recall.