Hobbie Hay Making Questions

I gather from reading the posts here that the most desirable balers are JD and NH. No arguments here. Problem is that in my neck of the woods, these brand balers, rakes and sickle bars carry a premium price - as they should. I have seen low prices ($500 and under)on several Ford & Massey Ferguson balers, rakes and sickle bar mowers.

My question is this: In as much as Ford and Massey Ferguson are out of the hay business, are parts available for their old hay equipment?

I have seen a Ford 530 baler, a Massey Ferguson #9 baler (which I can find no info on), Ford 501 sickle bar mower and a MF hay rake and 7' sickle bar mower which I do not know the models as of yet.

I think I would enjoy restoring one of these less popular brands and may could do that for considerable less $$$ than some of the JD or NH equipment.

Any comments would be welcome.

Thanks in advance,
Bill

I use a Zetor drum mower which is great, but leaves the hay in somewhat of a small windrow. I ended up buying a little hay tender which works fine. It does mean another pass over the field to spread things out, but it speeds up drying. I was temped to buy a conditioner, but they're big and complex, too. Just a matter of choice, I guess. If I did more acres, I'd probably go with the conditioner and save tractor time.

I have had two MF #10 balers. Both baled ok, and most parts were available easily *except* for the one I kept breaking--the knotter hooks. You can get these used, but the prices for them are prohibitive, anywhere from $80 to $150 bucks. I wound up spending more on them than I did for either baler. The other problem I encountered was a lack of skilled mechanics for them in my area. Here, the *only* baler is NH and that's all you can get help with if you need it. Given the manuals, I got pretty good at timing and rebuilding the MF, but it was slow going at first. Balers are complex machines and need love and attention.

On the other hand, the other haymaking stuff isn't. Given a manual and a little experience you can keep anything else running. I've got a Ford 515 sicklebar mower; the few times I've needed parts (knock wood) I was able to get them and the manual is still available. It is reliable and easy to work on. I've had Ford and Ferguson hay rakes and they were all easy to maintain and use, although I really liked the Ford best. I just bought a crimper for $10, it is missing parts and has been out in the weather for a decade and once I greased it and freed up the chains it is running well.

So, IMHO, don't scrimp on the baler as it is the most troublesome and expensive to maintain. But the rake, mower and anything else you can get any of the "major" old brands and do just fine.

good luck,
Tom

Amazing that billhooks are still available new, 'cuz I spent a lot of time with my local MF dealer trying to get them and they kept getting cancelled. Oh well, too late 'cuz I sold both my 10s (at a loss, no less)!

As for the email, if you copy and paste and manually delete the word "NOSPAM" it'll work. Writing it in there is a way to trick the automatic systems that harvest email addresses off these sites for spam...found I've gotten lots less spam since I started doing that.

Tom

I'd say most any of the mowers or siderakes should be restorable for years of good use, and you can find or make parts to keep them running. Just check the main gear box/ shaft on either, those are spendy to replace.

--->Paul