# Poly twine in 273 New Holland



## Growing pains (Nov 7, 2015)

Has anyone had success with poly twine in a 273 New Holland square baler? I personally have never run anything other than sisal in it but my dad bought the baler new and claims that it absolutely will not tie poly twine. Sisal was perfectly fine until the price jumped to double what you can buy poly for. Is there just some adjusting that needs done or am I better off to suck it up and pay the extra until I can justify a newer machine?


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## RockmartGA (Jun 29, 2011)

I've run poly in a NH 276 with no problems. No adjustments or modifications were needed.


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## VA Haymaker (Jul 1, 2014)

You should be able to run poly twine in the 273. Some of those balers - you could get a bill hook that was designed for poly, but other folks run older NH balers without any mods. I would buy a bale of poly and give it a try before changing the bale hooks.

IMHO - the 273 was one of the best balers NH ever made.

Good luck,
Bill


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## broadriverhay (Jun 13, 2014)

There are definitely different billhooks for the 273. I have ordered both from Messicks. The poly billhooks close about a 1/32 of an inch tighter. You could grind a little off the tongue to tighten the sisal billhooks a little more to hold the poly. I rebuilt my 273 last Winter and it baled 5000 bales with poly without a miss.


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## glasswrongsize (Sep 15, 2015)

A 273 will run poly. My uncle has one and had run poly in it for years. It started missing a LOT of knots and he called me to look at it. It started making a knot with a loop in it, the look would get stuck on the bill hook, then the knot or string would succumb to the strain&#8230;the knives were dull/out of adjustment.
He did not have a book on adjusting the knives and I wasn't gonna wing it. I had some sisal and switched to finish the field/test my theory. VIOLA!! Never missed again that season.
Once I got a book for my NH, I offered to fix his so that poly would once again work. He is not interested. He has just decided that sisal works SOOOO good in it that he is no longer interested in poly.
My NH will switch between sisal and poly without any adjustments, but the twine holder tension is bordering on too-tight with sisal. If adjusted proper for sisal, might be too loose for poly and would need to tighten accordingly.
Bottom line, the 273 will run poly but the knives are more forgiving with sisal.
73, Mark


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## Growing pains (Nov 7, 2015)

Thanks for the advice. I'd say it has bill hooks for sisal since its a 1975 model and had the knotters rebuilt in the late 80's or early 90's and I'm sure there weren't any upgrades done then. This year was its 40th year and it bales like a champ so I wouldn't mind putting a few dollars in it. Does New Holland sell the bill hooks for poly or are they aftermarket?


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## Trillium Farm (Dec 18, 2014)

Growing pains said:


> Thanks for the advice. I'd say it has bill hooks for sisal since its a 1975 model and had the knotters rebuilt in the late 80's or early 90's and I'm sure there weren't any upgrades done then. This year was its 40th year and it bales like a champ so I wouldn't mind putting a few dollars in it. Does New Holland sell the bill hooks for poly or are they aftermarket?


I'd buy the bill-hooks that can handle both. I'm sure NH has them


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## broadriverhay (Jun 13, 2014)

Listen there are part numbers for sisal and for poly . The poly billhooks close tighter, period. The poly billhook will probably work for the sisal but will most likely put unnecessary stress on other parts of the knotter since it will closing tighter on the twine.


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## TORCH (Jan 7, 2012)

I used poly in my 276 NH worked with out any adjustments. I did not like it with the thrower because it would burn the string in turns and also if I was not feeding it when bail was just to grab another bale. Sisal never gave me any burning through problems ever. Now I have a HN BC5070 never tried the poly in it. All I know it blows my old 276 out the water. With the wagon 9x18 it took me about an hour to fill it at 180 to 200. That is with me climbing in wagon and stacking so I can fill it to the max. I can fill 2 wagons if I stop when they keep falling off around 155. In an hour with changing wagons. She works best if I double rake to 10 foot windrow together. I can pop a bale out every 6 sec when in a good windrow.


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## Hay for Sale Ads (Nov 9, 2015)

Switched to poly from sissal on old jd214t, tied and cut better. Give it a shot!


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## mike denison (Aug 3, 2009)

I also run 9000 poly in my 273 with no adjustments. Also in my 68 before that..


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## thendrix (May 14, 2015)

9000 poly in a 273 here also


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## Growing pains (Nov 7, 2015)

I found a picture of the sisal bill hook beside the poly bill hook and there is a pretty significant difference in how tight they close. The bill hooks in my baler are definitely the looser ones for sisal so a new pair is on the way


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## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

Neighbor used a couple balls of plastic in his NH 68, and had no issues that I was aware of.


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## jwise87 (Sep 16, 2015)

After reading this post I stopped by to talk to the new Holland mechanic in town and he told me that he puts plastic bill hooks in all the machines that he rebuilds because they work better with plastic plus you can still run sisal. He went to his service truck and pulled out two new bill hooks still in the package and to show me the difference but when we looked they were the same. We went up front and the parts guy pulled all 7 that they had in stock and they were all the same. Turns out NH had screwed something up and mispackaged them.

The mechanic did say that on older Massey balers he used a dremel tool to make tighter bill hooks, so I think I may give that a try.


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

A couple locals went to plastic from sisal and made no adjustments what so ever. I would try the plastic before doing anything. you may be surprised . Bought a new Case SB541 this summer and fought all of first cutting to get sisal to work in it. Tried every size of sisal owners manual recommended. Went to plastic 9000 and never missed a bale.


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## Growing pains (Nov 7, 2015)

I think some of you missed the part where I said my Dad who has owned the baler since new said it absolutely will not tie poly. Seeing as he has 30 years more experience than I do I don't doubt him. Thank you though to the guys who told me about the difference in bill hooks.


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## thendrix (May 14, 2015)

I would say load the poly and give it a try. You may have to make some adjustments or change bill hooks but with as many of us that have run it in 273's without problems its got to be doable. Why your dad had problems I don't know and I'm sure he's a knowledgeable man when it comes to the baler, but it is doable


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## glasswrongsize (Sep 15, 2015)

Then you must have the NH273GP model. All others will handle poly with the correct adjustments/bill hooks.
73, Mark


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## Growing pains (Nov 7, 2015)

It is most likely the cheapest least optioned configuration you could buy so I'm almost positive it came with the looser bill hooks and when the knotters were rebuilt in the 80's it got the same thing put back in. I went to the shed the other day after you guys told me there were different bill hooks and its pretty obvious when you have an idea what to look for. When the bill hooks are closed there is a noticeable gap and the little tooth is tight to the bottom of the groove so there is no way it will close tighter. I'm not trying to be an ass I'm just saying that load poly and try it is not going to make it work.


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## jwise87 (Sep 16, 2015)

Get out your dremel then and let me know if it works, because if it does it would save me about $300 over replacing both of my bill hooks.


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## Growing pains (Nov 7, 2015)

Will do but I won't be able to tell you if it worked until late May


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## thendrix (May 14, 2015)

I understand load poly and try isn't going to make it work but you won't know exactly what you have or what you need until you see it for yourself. Do you have a few bales you can break and rebale? If so that would get you ahead of the game come spring


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## Growing pains (Nov 7, 2015)

I have some junk straw but I'm a little gun shy on rebaling because it has never caused me anything but headaches. It never seems to work near as nice as hay in a windrow. 1586 why were you trying to run sisal in a new baler? If that's anything like the 540 that came before it that's a sweet machine and sisal seems like a step back in time.


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

Tradition. Small square get sisal 9000. Easier on the hands when not wearing gloves.


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## Coondle (Aug 28, 2013)

I changed to plastic about 20 years ago, no when I stop and thin about it I converted in about 1990 more like 25 years ago. The baler was a NH317. No adjustments and it was the sisal billhooks fitted to it.

Plastic in those days came in various thicknesses and although I had no issues with the knotters on any of the various grades, the thicker and stronger breaking strain twine was far better for handling.

The first few years I had to wear gloves to prevent plastic burns to the hands when moving the bales however now I seldom wear gloves as have learnt how to handle the bales without allowing slippage through the fingers.

Ah but getting back to plastic in the knotters....

Plastic with knot strength (breaking strain at a knot) in excess of 165 lbs should work in a knotter equipped with a standard bill hook. However, should knot failure be encountered, diagnosis of the cause of failure should then follow.

Given that the plastic can be a little thinner and perhaps a little slipperier, the twine tension (at the twine box), twine holder tension, and/or bill hook tension may need adjustment.

IMHO changing the billhook would be the last resort.

Loading a ball of plastic and trying is the only way of determining if your 273 will handle plastic .

Trying it out on rebelling broken bales of hay, or junk straw as both are a little more challenging than baling good windrows, so should be an ideal test for machine and plastic.

Just my 1.44 cents worth at an exchange rate of .72cents per dollar


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