# New Holland 660 Baler



## justbad7

After looking at different balers come up, I seen a 1994 New Holland Baler for auction on Purple wave. Today, during Spanish II class, I seen it was still at $1,000. I hurriedly went to the bathroom, called my dad, who is currently at the Farm and Ranch Expo in Great Bend, KS displaying the manure spreader Aeroswint currently offers, and got his account information so I could bid on the baler. 14 minutes later, during English class, I looked and I had won the baler with a bid of $1,050. It only took one bid, and I now own a baler located in Dalhart, TX. Now the only issue is getting it home, 270 miles. The 660 New Holland is a 5X6 baler, and auto wrap twine tie. I have a couple questions. Thoughts on the baler, good or bad, and can I just drag this baler home at 60 miles per hour or can i put it on a car trailer and haul it home. Also, there was a local 660 for sale but it had net wrap. Can I add on net wrap? Is this a cheap process that I can do myself? I am a farm worker and now how to fix/build things.


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## MT hayer

Hah, that was pretty quick! I am sure it will need some dinging, but you have room. I would say you should be able to pull it home. maybe not 75, but 60 anyway. I would take a six hole spare and an air compressor. It should have a double hitch. you could haul it with a goose neck, if they have something to back it on straight. Either way, take some straps to keep the doors shut. If you haul it, take a big block to set the hitch on, that prevents the wobble from the jack and a solid place to pull against with the chain. I don't know about switching the net wrap, someone else might know.


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## 8350HiTech

Don't bother with a block under the hitch. Just take the jack off and let the hitch directly on the deck if you decide to haul it.

If you wanted net, you should have bought the local baler.


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## RockmartGA

justbad7 said:


> Thoughts on the baler, good or bad, and can I just drag this baler home at 60 miles per hour or can i put it on a car trailer and haul it home. Also, there was a local 660 for sale but it had net wrap. Can I add on net wrap? Is this a cheap process that I can do myself?


Thoughts on the baler:


Condition is everything with these old balers. New Holland makes excellent equipment. Belt condition would probably be the most expensive repair if you had to replace all the belts.

Can you drag it home at 60mph:


Can you drag it home? Yes. 
60mph? Not me. That baler weighs around 5500 - 6000 pounds or so. That's a lot of weight to be pulling with no brakes. In certain conditions, it could push you and cause a wreck.
More considerations: Unless the previous owner was meticulous in his maintenance, I doubt if the wheel bearing have seen new grease in several years. Before I pulled it 270 miles, I would spend the hour or so to repack the bearings.
Tires: I would guess the tires have some age on them. Cracks and dry rot would be your worst enemy on a long haul at highway speeds.

Can I pull it on a car trailer?


Quick answer - nope. That baler is probably 8+ feet total width.
It would be tight on a deck-over gooseneck or tag-a-long.

Can you add net wrap:


There's been several discussions on this site about that topic. General consensus is that it would be cost prohibitive to add net wrap on an old baler.


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## rajela

If you have a good trailer I would trailer.


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## swmnhay

If you can even get one a netwrap system would prly run around $4K.If you wanted netwrap you should of bought a baler with it.

There is NH 688 with netwrap on Big Iron now for around $2700.The sale has 4 days to go but looks to be a better deal if you realy wanted netwrap.

http://www.bigiron.com/cgi-bin/mnlist.cgi?bigiron21/category/BALERS-ROUND


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## jtpfarm

First off, spend the money and hire someone to haul it home. You WILL NOT pull it 60 mph. Hiring someone is much better than having a blown tire, smoked wheel bearing or countless other problems far from home.

I have a 660 that has 65000 bales and counting. Excellent baler! Make sure you take the time to figure out how everything works. First thing I would do with an auctiontime baler is take all the belts off and remove all the rollers and replace the bearings (you got it cheap enough lol). There is nothing better than knowing you have good bearings!! After that periodically check with a heat gun and crack the window on the cab a listen now and then. Look at the left side of the dimpled rollers. There are open drive gears on them. Chances are they need to be replaced or will need to be sooner than later($1300) Next look at the belt drive release clutch on the far top left side of the baler. The corners of the dogs should be fairly square. Take all the bands off the pickup and check the cam follower bearings. Nothing is worse than one of those going and jamming the pickup. A&I sells them at a much more reasonable price than New Holland. Next look at the pipes that the teeth are bolted to. There is only a bearing on one end and the rest are bushings. They are known to wear fast and will break. I cut them I n half and milled a piece of shaft down with a shoulder to fit inside so its wearing a shaft and not a pipe. Pretty much just go through and check every single part that moves, not just the big stuff, everything!! If the belts are New Holland ones with the crappy claw splice and the cable take them off and replace them with a rivet style splice. We have John Deere belts on ours which is a BIG improvement! Last look at the rollers. There is an assembly of 4 of them. The top one which is dimpled and the bottom one which is smooth have 1/4 inch bars welded on them. They need to be fairly square yet not all rounded off. (look in the middle not the sides) If you top one doesn't have any, put about 6 on it. You can just get square stock and weld new ones beside the old ones. If they get too smooth they will not start a bale worth a shit in grass especially with NH belts.


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## gerkendave

I too just purchased a baler on an auction, Heston 560. I only own a half ton Chevy and everyone thought I was crazy to drag it home (400 miles). Where I was towing was very dead roads and all were in decent condition. I put regular trailer tires on it so I could easily pull it with less hop, also strapped all the doors shut and put a set of lights on it. I tried to stay around 50 but even with the little 5.3 in my pickup every time I looked down we were rolling 55-60. If you pull it make sure you at least check the wheel bearings. Oh and plan for lots of time so you aren't rushed. Good luck!


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## MT hayer

Glad to hear you made it Dave. A baler usually travels pretty nice. 60 is not unreasonable. You can just air the regular tires up a little more too, they just can't be on the verge of exchanging air, hehe! I moved a 566 with the Dodge, just tied everything down and started grabbing gears! Is good shape?

Jtp sure gave you the low down on that machine. That baler should last you a long time. Up here the sides just flat wear out about 30 to 40k bales. Nothing a welder can't fix though! Good luck on the road!


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## Bgriffin856

At that price you can do alot if rebuilding. Hope the bale command is good....not cheap to replace.
Take two spares and stuff to pack wheel bearings and all will be good. Well if you farm like us you always keep a good supply of spares.
I would even go and have all the cylinders rebuilt and check and make sure the self contained cylinder that controls tension on the bale is charged up


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## Bgriffin856

gerkendave said:


> I too just purchased a baler on an auction, Heston 560. I only own a half ton Chevy and everyone thought I was crazy to drag it home (400 miles). Where I was towing was very dead roads and all were in decent condition. I put regular trailer tires on it so I could easily pull it with less hop, also strapped all the doors shut and put a set of lights on it. I tried to stay around 50 but even with the little 5.3 in my pickup every time I looked down we were rolling 55-60. If you pull it make sure you at least check the wheel bearings. Oh and plan for lots of time so you aren't rushed. Good luck!


You'd be surprised what you can pull/tow with a ford ranger. Most handiest toughest pick up made imo and way better than a atv


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## Gearclash

> A&I sells them at a much more reasonable price than New Holland.


How have the A&I parts held up compared to NH? It's $300 (thru NH) a set to replace all pickup cam followers in my BR, always looking for a way to cut the operating costs.



> If the belts are New Holland ones with the crappy claw splice and the cable take them off and replace them with a rivet style splice.


What happens if you flip a belt with the rivet type splices? Clipper types can tolerate getting flipped with no serious damage.


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## jtpfarm

we have almost 1000 bales on the A&I cam followers. After searching the internet I don't think there is more than 1 or 2 companies that make that bearing. They are about half the price as the NH ones.

As far as the splices, in 6 years of custom baling I have only flipped a total of 1 belt between 2 balers. I use the alligator splices which are very reasonable in price and the tool is also reasonable in price. They can be installed in the field with nothing more than a knife and hammer with the tool. Shoup has one that is identical to the JD splices only much cheaper for their toll than from JD lol.


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