John Deere baler ??

My wife and I bought a farm stead that has a older model 10hd John Deere baler on it. I see that they are rare and hard to find. I would like to find a manual for it if someone has one. This baler has the Wisconsin motor to run it, and makes a 10 x 15 inch bale. Thanks for any help.

I have nothing for you, but I would like to see it make a bale!

10x15 “?

They were designed to compress more hay in a smaller bale size, in theory creating less handling. They never caught on and most that were made ended up in the scrap yard over the years, so as far as I know no one prints manuals for that baler any more. I have seen discussions about it on various tractor and hay forums, you might try posting on some of them and seeing if anyone has a manual to sell. Other than that, checking Ebay and such every once in a while might be the only way to get one.

Try forums on Antique Tractor.

Farm manuals fast. I think is the site. Sometimes you can get a copy of a manual. Original manuals often cost an arm and a leg.

Wow that's a classic

I bet the wire on those super compressed bales sings, when you cut it.

Keith

Do you have pictures?

My first thought was it was likely an ancient piece of junk to scrap or sell. Not one I'd ever heard of.

Clearly....not so.......you may have a find......and likely CAN find a manual for it. Either ebay or looks to be modern enough John Deere can get you one.

If I had that, no telling how much one could make selling those dinky bales at a farmers market going into the fall decorating season.

That thing looks to be modern enough you can still find parts, most of which will be interchangeable with other jd balers. Wire knotters the same on most of them, as would be all the wear parts like bearings, chains, belts, etc.

Still a few old witch doctors around that can do that voodoo on the knotters to get them in line.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvXu1-BRn2Y

Thanks all for the help. Would like to find a price for the baler. There is more JD stuff on the place that we are going through.

Those little bales will bring big bucks in pet stores .

OME20289 is the operators manual part number. Looks like you can buy it online from Deere for 29.46.
They first built the baler in 1963.

It's a model 10 high density. 10hd won't get you anywhere in the manual search.

It doesn’t make the little, lightweight craft bales. HD stands for high density, they packed a lot of hay in a small HEAVY bale.

It may have been the intent of the baler to crank it down and make some heavy bricks. You could add additional wedge plates and crank down the springs. Since it is wire tire, those might take the tension.....where even the best sisal twine of the day wouldn't.

I can make standard sized bales shorter....like 18 inches or so........and crank those down too to make em tight.......but they would still be standard size the other two dimensions.

I would think one could ease the tension somehow, but not sure. Definitely a market for little novelty items like that, only limited by one's imagination!

I remember Dad's New Holland seemed to take half a field to get dialed in on length and tightness before something broke and had to start all over. LOL We were always working on that thing and it sheered more sheer bolts than any other piece of equipment we had.

A friend of mine has one of the little novelty balers. It's hand cranked. You feed the hay in by hand. The bales are very small and very light. The hay has to be short, or you have to cut it; otherwise the bales look rough and not pretty. He and his wife were selling the tiny bales for $6.00 each retail and $2.00 each wholesale. The baler is not very quick.

Keith

My New Holland runs like a sewing machine, but it spent 3 days in a shop getting knotters and all the rest rebuilt by myself and a father son team that have a combined 100 years experience working on them. It came back missing the occasional knot and I fixed it making 1/4 turn on a tension screw. They are that precise....and that finicky. But get that right and it will tie 1,000 in a row and not miss a trick. But I still watch it like a hawk.

Well there's the problem. Dad's was bought used and rebuilt in the backyard by a father and son who didn't have 10 minutes experience. LOL

Have a jd 336 here bought new in 77 ( my birth year) by my grandad and I'm still using it. Yes they are problematic lol. Sometimes run like a sewing machine and give the most problems on 102 degree days when rain is inbound.

Neighbor has a jd 14 t that I think is older Era than yours, still gets it done, good luck with your project