New Holland 278 Opinions?

I have the option to buy a 278. Guy that is selling it says:

"Works, but not well. Breaks bales, good for parts."

Seems like he doesn't know what is wrong, and maybe I can get something that I can easily fix up. He is asking $500 for it as is. And it isn't that far away from me either, not more than 30 min. I have the old NH 68, (actually I have 2 of them!) but it has seen better days, and if I get into much more hay, then I am really going to be wishing I had a newer machine. I know it is THAT much newer, but I think it is still a little bigger and better than what I have.

Farmall M would run it too easy enough....

What do you guys think? I contacted him and asked for pictures.

Probably simple adjustments,or replace a few minor knotter parts. $500 is cheap,buy it!3 times the baler than the 68 and about 20 years newer.Buy both a parts and owners manuals.Then adjust it 'by the book',you will have no problems. The SM will have no problem with it,either. I have pulled a 283 and 425 with my SM.

Unless that NH 278 is pure rust it is easily worth 3-4 times what you can buy it for. They are good baler and much more capacity that your 68. I would jump on it.

Not a lot of rust around here.... I tried calling the guy, phone number takes me to a rock store..... :/

Sent him an e-mail, will wait and see what he says. Pretty sure I am sold on it though!

I think the 278 makes 16x18 bales, where your 68 makes 14x18, if that matters to your operation.

Okay, so, talked to the guy on the phone. REALLY nice guy, said that he has owned it 3 years, and it had been stored in a barn for 8 years before that. The story is, when he got it, it would break a shear pin EVERY bale, he said that some old guy told him DO NOT mess with it, just keep putting pins in it until every thing gets the rusty worn off, and lubricated again, he said it then started working really well again, and he ran quite a few bales through it that year.

Next year, breaks shear pins every 10-20 bales, and he said that the hay was all on one side of the bale, and you couldn't even pick them up off the ground without them falling apart? He said he then tried to mess with the feeder forks, and broke one of them with the plunger, and that was the end of the story. Said he was in a pinch, and just bought a round baler to finish the season. It sat there the rest of last year, and so far this winter. He said he doesn't have the time or knowledge to mess with it.

What do you guys think? I am going to go look at it tomorrow morning. He said he would have it dug out of the snow, and I am taking cash, he said it will pull right down the road no problem.

278 is a 14x18 machine. the *8* series is 16x18.

assuming you can afford and find a dealer or mechanic to fix the baler, I say , buy it, Bryce ,,., that is give away price

Even with those problems,the price is cheap enough.You still have a lot of room.they do tow well. Run about 25-30mph. Make sure the tires are up to full pressure.A low tire is way more likely to blow/fail than a fully inflated one. Take a spare. Should be a 6 bolt on the heavy side,a 4 bolt on the light side.Now go get it! Steve.

Dont need a "dealer".All that is needed is a set of books.And besides,Bryce is an awesome mechanic.He can fix it!!

Woha!!! Be careful throwing around accusations like that Steve!!!

I am not awesome, but I AM pretty damn good when I want to be!

I don't know what all is wrong with it, but I am pretty sure I can figure it out. If not, I know a retired NH Mechanic that can!!!!!!

Going to look at it in the morning. Fairly sure I am going to pull it home....

What do I think? Buy it. Then the first thing you do is replace the knotter chain BEFORE you do any more troubleshooting.

He told me on the phone it has car/automotive tires on it, and he pulled it home at 60. I don't intend on that fast. 40 MAYBE, not all that far anyways. Plus. Casey's house is along the way. . . May just have to stop and take a break huh???

I agree! A worn/stretched knotter chain can cause a lot of problems. And probably one the most overlooked things there is.

Of coarse,you MUST take a break at Kasey's house! Show off your new baler,too.

Bryce ,you fix stuff faster than me , so you are pretty good ,,. you have to be a fast thinker when watching the knotters do their trix ,,. hats off to anyone that can diagnose and fix the actually simple problems and adjust the problem out correctly,,. beyond sharpening the knife , I just don't understsnd the knotters real easily ,.. Bryce , if you don't already know this ,. upon 1st startup ,, make sure the plunger lok worx very easily ,, and go very slow empty making your 1st trial bales ...

Bryce,

Here is an interesting thread about the 278. From it I gather it is a higher stroke baler, higher capacity baler.

http://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cgi-bin/viewit.cgi?bd=implment&th=83530

If it truely is a higher capacity machine, with the hp you have, you may not realize the baler's potential. I've got the same deal with the JD348 I bought - we'll see how it goes.

One thing for sure - if you're running an old baler, IMHO, there needs to be a backup plan and mine is a second baler.

If the baler is breaking flywheel shear pins right and left, it sounds like the needles are on the ragged edge of being out of time with the plunger or the needle carriage is bouncing up the needles into the bale chamber. Either will cause the plunger stop to do its thing and when it stops the plunger, the flywheel shear bolt shears. Both are easy fixes.

I also had some trouble early on with shearing the flywheel shear bolt and I attributed some of that to not running the baler at full 540 rpms and with it realizing the mass/energy stored in the flywheel. Since running it at 540 rpms, we have not broke a shear pin again.

A few thoughts about capacity.....

The 68 is a 63-65 strokes per minute machine. If on a continuous run, eating hay and 12 strokes per bale, that's 5 bales per minute. Multiply that by 60 minutes and you're making 300 bales per hour. Realistically, after turning, etc., 200 bales per hour is a reasonable number on the high end for a 68. The capacity limit for us is how fast my stackers can stack the wagon off the back of the baler. My boys are much better now than when we started, but it wasn't hard to bury them if I kicked the tractor up a gear. If you're baling on the ground, different story.

Quality of the bale. My experience with the 68 is that more flakes, the better the bale "looks", i.e. cut side, brick shape, consistent length. When we started, we were making 8-9-8 flakes per bale. They were ragged and varied in length as the thicker the flake, depending on where the star wheel and trip arm when that last flake comes through, a 36 inch bale could be 41 inches. We downshifted and try to get 15 flakes per bale with the 68 now. With the 93 strokes per bale of the JD348, our capacity will increase with the same 15 strokes per bale without compromising the "looks"of the bale. Remember we sell all of our hay, so "looks" is very important. If the 278 you're looking at has higher strokes - you would see the same results.

First thing I looked at when considering a second baler was strokes per bale for capacity. I've got a 68, a neighbor has a New Holland 273 that is probably 25 years newer. He doesn't bale any faster than the 68 as the 273 is a 65 stroke per minute baler too. Balers I considered were ones like the JD336 or New Holland 565, 315 and 316 which are at 79/80 strokes per minute. The JD348, New Holland 570/575 are 93 strokes per minute. I'd have bought any of those balers if the deal was right. The 348 happened to be the first one I came across and bought it.

You read all kinds of posts about how balers, be it John Deere or New Holland do this or that badly, like irregular bale length or banana bales, but IMHO, if the baler is properly repaired/adjusted, fed right and operated at correct rpms/ground speed, all of them can pound out bricks.

Good luck!

Bill

That would not be a bargain price around here. I do not see any mention of a bale thrower in the post and if it is one where the bales fall on the ground no one wants one anymore because of the labor needs. Even ones with throwers have lost their value in the past few years. I would bet that the old 278 is pretty well worn out and even if you do go through and free it and replace parts it could turn out to be a lemon. Thre are few thing that can cause a farmers hair to turn gray faster than to have a baler that doesn't work right when you have a field of dry hay ready to bale and thunder clouds heading your way.
In my experience shear pins do not fail unless something caused a sudden bind in the baler such as the plunger brake when the needles are in the chamber which suggest that the baler is out of time or the drive chains are badly worn. I should say plunger stop. The pto clutch should slip before the pin shears.