You aren't going to get much of a 400 for $1000, unless the seller is a complete fool. You'll be buying this guy's problems. By the time you're done you'll have to put another $3000-$4000 in parts and labor into the tractor to make it work, and it'll still look "rough."
You are on the right track as far as features go, though. The 300/400 series tractors are the oldest you should be considering for this work. Live PTO, live hydraulics, and Torque Amplifier make baling easy.
Trying to use an older tractor with none of these features to bale requires an EXPERIENCED operator. It's truly an art form, because every time you push the clutch on an older tractor, everything STOPS. The PTO stops. The hydraulics stop. If you stop wrong, you plug the baler.
What is your land like? Flat ground, you only need about 30-35HP, a 300 or 350 will do the job. Hilly ground, and you really should consider a heavier tractor like a 400.
Are you dumping the bales on the ground with the baler, or towing a wagon? Upsize to a 400 on flat ground if you're towing a wagon. On hills, you probably should consider something more modern with hydraulic brakes.
If your husband thinks a 400 is too much of a "raw machine" he's going to be disappointed because that's the same basic design for all IH tractors in that size range up through 1981.
You need to be very safety minded when operating the tractor. You can't just jump on and go baling. There are a lot of things going on while baling and if you're not intimately familiar with the tractor, you will break something or get hurt. Do you automatically know what to do if you need to stop NOW? Probably not.
Us farm kids didn't start out running the baler. We started out towing the stone trailer, then graduated to discing, then to raking hay and hauling wagons before baling was even a consideration. It took a few years to build up the skills necessary for a precision operation like baling.
Of course you don't have the luxury of a few years, but do take a few hours to drive the tractor around and get used to it before you go into the field.
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Today's Featured Article - The Fordson F Ignition System - by Anthony West. A fellow restorer contacted me earlier this year asking for some help and advice on a model F that he was restoring. He had over a period of months spent a fair amount of his hard earned cash on replacement parts for the old "trembler" ignition. Sadly though all his efforts seemed to be a waste of time and money as he still couldn''t get the temperamental old thing to run correctly!! If i said that this was a little frustrating for him that would be "conservative" in fact the problem had reduce
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