Tonyinca Posted May 1, 2019 Share Posted May 1, 2019 Guys back in the 60's IH came out with this heavy weight for what they called the Calif. commercial operator my Dad bought one new in 63 and we baled with it till 1974when I bought my first 290 NH. Not many of these were sold , majority in the Madera , Dos polos, Los Banos areas North of me . Since I traded mine in, in 74I have never seen another until a RPF member Paul Atkins ,notified me of this last year. He saw us talking about it on RPF I was to pick it up last fall , but I had surgery , then the Northern fires kept us out. And till now snow & wet kept us out . it was in a pasture way back through goat trails and had to be craned on trailer . it was in Summerset Ca. Near Placerville towards Lake Tahoe or Reno Nv. its home now! I am very happy as I bought it sight unseen but for few pictures. its very straight , engine will need going through but I think I can have this thing running pretty easy. Wheels had to come off on trailer . The heavy side is an Airplane tire with 12 hole lugs . That was factory. Book says this thing weighs near 6000lbs With this unit , It gives me replicas of the two balers that I cut my eye teeth on 55w , I was in grade school and #71 three wire. I was a junior in high school . My Dad let me do some commercial baling for nieghbor's for my savings account being I was getting married in 1965 year after Gratuating HS. Lol. 63 bought baler , 64 graduate HS , 65 got married , 66 had first born Son , 1967 my Dad died unexpectedly , baler did its job till 1973 tony 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jingles1928 Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 Pretty neat. What kind of power unit? Dennis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonyinca Posted May 2, 2019 Author Share Posted May 2, 2019 Wisconsin VG4D Tony 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmall1066 Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 Very cool Tony! Can’t wait to watch your progress with this, and see the finished product!! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug in NY Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 that baler is a monster, what kind a weight were in the bales it made? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jingles1928 Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 Why Wisconsin? Didn't IH have a power unit that would handle it? I hope it is better than the Wisconsin on the balers I worked behind. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diesel Doctor Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 That was what I asked? IH had all kinds of power units. Why Wisconsin? The Wisconsin's would start and run well if tuned-up once in awhile. They were mostly neglected and were lucky to run. A few three wire balers were used around here, commercially, for flax straw. A nice find, Toni! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonyinca Posted May 2, 2019 Author Share Posted May 2, 2019 I always wondered why Wisc . Only thing I can figure was that supposedly it was manufactured in Ca. And most of the other brands out here at time were running Wisc. Also they built this thing so heavy that maybe trying to save on room & weight tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonyinca Posted May 2, 2019 Author Share Posted May 2, 2019 1 hour ago, Doug in NY said: that baler is a monster, what kind a weight were in the bales it made? This thing could pack the hay in . I had to be on my toes to try making tight bales but under 120 lbs . Once baling oats with full grain I started little early trying to finish a field and the bale wagon roadsided 110 bale load and a bale squeeze picked it up and put it on a Bob tail waiting , ran over scale and bales averaged 160lbs trucker, buyer , and my Dad were all ready to kill me if you look at one of pics there is a marker pointer in front run by a cable from bale shoot , my Dad calibrated that pointer and painted a line between 95 & 120 lbs and I was to keep an eye on that marker or they were going to give me hay hooks and make me load them by hand . Lol tony 2 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sledgehammer Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 Looks like a heavy unit and a good save. Good for you Tony! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Binderoid Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 To muddy the waters still further, a VP4D was available as an option on the 93 combine. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete23 Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 I worked on a lot of IH twine balers but I have never even seen a wire tie baler except pictures. Not that I want to work on one. As a kid I do remember dad buying some alfalfa that was wire tied, two wire of course. I still call mechanics wire, baling wire though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonyinca Posted May 2, 2019 Author Share Posted May 2, 2019 Questions on way Wisc engine ? i did some reaserch in my manuals the later 55W & twine all the way to 56w & T with engines out here had the 123 IH engine governed at 1581 rpm's @ 27 HP the VG4D was governed at 2200 rpm and developed 36 HP. There was a 70 three wire with Wisc engine , I assume same as 71 but it was Red. Never saw any of those out here . We basically went from 56 W&T to the #71 three wire and I think the yellow might of been a marketing thing to promote bigness tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Bud guy Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 Neat. Any idea how many were made? JD had a similar 3 wire baler called the 323 back in the late 50s early 60s and it went over like a led balloon. Probably only a handful left today. I suspect the same could be said for your baler. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonyinca Posted May 2, 2019 Author Share Posted May 2, 2019 1 hour ago, Big Bud guy said: Neat. Any idea how many were made? JD had a similar 3 wire baler called the 323 back in the late 50s early 60s and it went over like a led balloon. Probably only a handful left today. I suspect the same could be said for your baler. I have tried and will continue trying to get information on these . Its very scarce. My serial # is 63-29 . I assume built in 1963 number 29 built. I have a local paper add for this model dated 1962 April as introduction. I believe they were built 1962 to 1965. Out here three wire or twine balers dominated , However, the I.H. 71 and JD had just enough difference in bale size that roadsiders did not like them as much. The New Holland , and Freeman three wires dominated the hay scene and with the introduction of the bale wagons then the bale size of NH & freeman became the standard. Oliver also had a hay eating machine in a three wire and they were pretty popular for a time , Don't know their bale size , but knew of commercial guy in neighborhood who ran two and he was very much in demand and it was hard to bale along side him ,the Oliver had the capacity. Out here today the Big bales have taken over the hay industry, However. there is still good demand for small squares and small squares out here are three twine bales and basically its New Holland and Freeman . Freeman is an old company manufacturing in Washington State, I believe , They manufactor small squares ,Big bale balers ,and Also their version of bale wagons for smalls and bigs. My neighbor and good friend has run Freeman from day one and He believes Freeman is the only baler made . He can also work on them in his sleep . lol Sometimes he has too because he bales mostly at night for dew. Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArkLa 1086 Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 Tony you should look into selling people admission tickets just to walk thru your shop looking around at your collection. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ny bill o Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 8 hours ago, Tonyinca said: There was a 70 three wire with Wisc engine , I assume same as 71 but it was Red. Never saw any of those out here . We basically went from 56 W&T to the #71 three wire and I think the yellow might of been a marketing thing to promote bigness tony hi Tony, that takes care of my question- original color? I have never seen a yellow IH baler before. pretty neat find. Dad bought some hay from the Finger Lakes area, one time, in 2-wire bales. we saved that wire in old milk replacer bags and used it for years to patch stuff. I can't imagine the man trying to handle 160# bales. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2+2 Guy Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 Nice addition to the collection, Tony. Very unique and interesting machine. Looking forward to seeing you work your magic on it. I’m just thankful we didn’t have those in this part of the country when I was a kid. Can’t imagine bucking those big bales. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TP from Central PA Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 Looks like someone has some spare parts, welder and torch, and a NH Super 77 and a bunch of free time and when they were bored they built that................. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TroyDairy Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 1 hour ago, 2+2 Guy said: Nice addition to the collection, Tony. Very unique and interesting machine. Looking forward to seeing you work your magic on it. I’m just thankful we didn’t have those in this part of the country when I was a kid. Can’t imagine bucking those big bales. Out west you almost never buck bales. Only time I could think of is when we would stack in hay mow. Other wise all harrobeds and squeezes for decades, b/c of 120# bales! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisNY Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 That is a biga$$ baler! Neat story too, look forward to seeing progress 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Bud guy Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 4 hours ago, TroyDairy said: Out west you almost never buck bales. Only time I could think of is when we would stack in hay mow. Other wise all harrobeds and squeezes for decades, b/c of 120# bales! Agreed. Watching guys stack bales on a wagon pulled behind a baler or the bale thrower method are foreign concepts to me. 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nepoweshiekfarmalls Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 Tony, Was your original baler yellow too? I have never seen a yellow IH baler! I knew they had red and white balers, but this is new. ? What did you pull that monster with back in your youth? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iowaboy1965 Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 Looks like it was a hay eating machine in its day Tony. Would be fun to watch it work tho i would wanna have a grapple on a tractor to handle those heavy bales..... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exSW Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 More California cool. I like that! You may have to establish a little alfalfa to exercise that thing! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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