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 - Third Brush Generators - by Chris Pratt. While I love straightening sheet metal, cleaning, and painting old tractors, I use every excuse to avoid working on the on the electrics. I find the whole process sheer mystery. I have picked up and attempted to read every auto and farm electrics book with no improvement in the situation. They all seem to start with a chapter entitled "Theory of Electricity". After a few paragraphs I usually close the book and go back to banging out dents. A good friend and I were recently discussing our tractor electrical systems when he stated "I figure it all comes back to applying Ohms Law". At this point
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