302 square baler?
Printed From: Unofficial Allis
Category: Allis Chalmers
Forum Name: Farm Equipment
Forum Description: everything about Allis-Chalmers farm equipment
URL: https://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=195059
Printed Date: 13 Aug 2025 at 8:11pm
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Topic: 302 square baler?
Posted By: ToddnwIl
Subject: 302 square baler?
Date Posted: 09 May 2023 at 8:54pm
| Give me the good bad and ugly on these balers. Found one for 300 bucks. Hadn't bin used in 3 years. I'm wondering about parts availability. I have good experience with new holland square bales but never bin around an allis one. Only looking to bale a couple hundred bales a year. |
Replies:
Posted By: DanielW
Date Posted: 09 May 2023 at 9:17pm
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I believe the 302 was one of the US made ones. There were a few models of Allis square balers. I could be misremembering, but I think the 442 and 200 were the British ones while the rest were US. All were built along similar principals, used some similar parts, and for the most part all had great reputations. Although never officially confirmed, you can see a pile of similarities between the Allis balers and the British-made Long balers, which also had excellent reputations. I suspect there was some back-and-forth between the two companies. They used Rasspe knotters, as did New Holland and Deere, so they were good knotters and parts are readily available. Just look up what New Holland models were built in the same year range and knotter parts are most likely the same. The needles, however, are unique to the Allis balers, so you want to make sure they're good, and that you're in-time with the plunger stop working well to prevent shearing a needle. I have a 442 and have done a lot of work to a neighbour's 303 - both have served us very well. Only irksome part was the plunger bearings for my 442. The Allis used 3" and 2" diameter rollers, while the common ones that other manufacturers used were all 2.5". There was enough adjustment for me to use the 2.5" in place of the 3", but for the 2" ones I had to use a cam follower/track roller from my local bearing supply. See link below. Note that this was for the 442, and the 302 has quite a few differences, but principals are the same. Hard to go wrong for $300. Just maybe make sure you've gone over it and have tried it out before relying on it. It would be bad to get 300' into the first windrow of dry hay with a storm coming on and have it blow apart. https://youtu.be/4uKCgKVHRJI" rel="nofollow - https://youtu.be/4uKCgKVHRJI |
Posted By: Ky.Allis
Date Posted: 09 May 2023 at 10:18pm
| For not much more, you can find a decent NH 273 baler and the first time it breaks down, you can get about anything you need to fix it. As said in above post, if you break a needle on an AC baler, you will more than likely wind parking it in a fencerow. |
Posted By: orangereborn
Date Posted: 09 May 2023 at 10:55pm
| Toddnwil....If you pass on it let me know...And if its gets on my trailer, I will buy you lunch...Thanks...Dale |
Posted By: dr p
Date Posted: 10 May 2023 at 5:29am
| For 300 dollars you can get a rotobaler. Then you can use all your free time to practice your swearing |
Posted By: ToddnwIl
Date Posted: 10 May 2023 at 7:15am
| Thanks for all the info. Prolly go and look at it and pull it home. The nice part is we have a really nice round baler so it won't have to be to reliable. My brother and I are decent mechanics and like a good challenge! |
Posted By: Tracy Martin TN
Date Posted: 10 May 2023 at 7:12pm
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They are great little balers. Not real fast but will get the job done. You can weld a needle if need be. The weakest point is the shaft that powers the gathering hands. They can break where it enters gear box, but a machine shop can fix that! JMHO, Tracy ------------- No greater gift than healthy grandkids! |
Posted By: Lars(wi)
Date Posted: 10 May 2023 at 11:07pm
------------- I tried to follow the science, but it was not there. I then followed the money, and that’s where I found the science. |
dr p wrote:Posted By: Jgranat
Date Posted: 11 May 2023 at 4:13am
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Been my experience that baling hay with any old baler can expand your vocabulary. Make sure you post pictures, sounds like a neat old piece to play with. |
Posted By: tadams(OH)
Date Posted: 11 May 2023 at 12:22pm
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Square balers are made to run at a RPM, not over run if you set your RPM to where it runs right you shouldn't have too much trouble but if you try and run them faster they will give you trouble |
Posted By: Jgranat
Date Posted: 11 May 2023 at 6:53pm
| I agree with that, but the most trouble free hours an old baler lives thru are usually under the first coat of paint, not 3 layers of rust. I still love them all, same as everyone else that is why we are here. |
Posted By: ToddnwIl
Date Posted: 11 May 2023 at 7:32pm
| Hopen to go look at the baler tommorow if it rains. We really don't need a square baler but my kids have a couple show calves tied up and it would be nice to have a couple hundred small squares a year. It would also be fun to show my kids and my brothers kids how we baled hay when my brother and I were young. We made alot of money stacken hay for our neighbors! My thought was we could expand our AC collection! |
Posted By: jvin248
Date Posted: 11 May 2023 at 11:29pm
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. I learned all the cus words behind balers. Folks had an AC round baler that I never saw run, just held up electric fence from time to time. MF baler used a lot and then a brand new JD splurge... Making payments and still leaving strings untied. Always baling with threat of rain. .
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