NH 9030

[Rancher3!]

wondering if anyone has experience, good or bad, with these units. Thinking of getting one to feed with and then mount a haybine for cutting. How many hours are to many on a used unit like this? Any imput is appreciated!

[RSL]

several neighbours have used these and their predecessors for a long time. They burn a bit more fuel than a non hydrostatic, but they are tough as hell.

[LazyWP]

We have the model right before that. Its a 276 series 2. I have never been able to make it burn more then 1.8 gallons of fuel an hour. Ours had a PTO and 3 point at both ends. Before I started work here, someone had run the engine end drop box out of grease, and the box totally split apart. Ours now has the whole PTO out, but that is mainly from abuse. I think if it hadn't have had 10 different guys running it, it would still be in good shape.
If you are going to buy one, make sure the hinge pins aren't worn out. That is the weak point on the whole tractor. There are alot of guys around here that "push" a swather head, and pull a hydroswing. You can cut a lot of hay in a hurry.

[Bullhauler]

I have one and I would never buy another one. I always say it is a high school FFA project gone bad. I had a haybine on the front for several years but have gone back to using a different ttractor and a pull type cutter. With the haybine the tractor tried to overheat all of the time. It would suck in chaff from the windrow and plug up the grill and get in the radiatior. Also one time while cutting oats everything hydraulic quit woring all at once. It turned out that a clutch plate had gone out and the only way to fix it was to take the engine out. So had to get a truck into the oat field to load up the tractor. I was without the machine for over a week right when my hay oats needed cutting.

Also there is a mess of hydraulic, fuel and coolant lines running from the engine up to the cab. They tend to blow and are dang hard to replace. Had a hydraulic one blow the other day and had to take the loader off to replace it. Ever tried taking off a loader when the hydraulic line is spewing out oil faster then the BP oil spill? Luckily I didn't have to jack up the cab to get at that hydraulic line not so lucky with other ones on the tractor.

[Denny]