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pros and cons, belts vs chains

B

Bret4207

Well-known Member
I'd be interested in hearing the opinions on the pros and cons of belt type round balers vs chain type round balers. My only experience is with an ancient Hesston 5500 and I know ALL ABOUT broken belts. I see a lot of 800 series NH chain style balers for not a lot of money, relatively speaking. Other than hearing about worn metal and rust, I've heard little about what a chain style is good or bad at. For instance, my next round baler will definitely have to be capable of doing green hay for wrapped bales. Can chain balers do that? I'm all ears...
 
IMO Chain balers are old technology and not worth a fart.I will never own one.
If you go trough a lot of belts you're doing something not right.
I have an old Vermeer 605 D,I bought it well used(half wore out).i made over 20000 bales with it and replaced the belts only once. i went from the 4" belts to all 10" wide.

If you want to be able to make silage then buy a JD 567 or 568 both models have a silage special.
 
About the only thing I know about a round baler is that they make round bales! LOL!But, I've heard that a chain baler is harder on hay,tends to shatter more leaves.
 
If you think an old worn out belt baler is a nightmare wait until you get yourself an old chainer... then you'll learn to curse. They're like a meccano set of endlessly moving parts that ALL wear out. With the exception of Krone and it's M&W cousin, nobody is building a chain baler today.
Most of the modern belt balers can be made to bale silage... that is not to say that they are all factory equipped to do so... but with the addition of some kits they can be made to sort of work. Personally... I think if you are going to bale a lot of silage, just get with the program and get a Claas Rollant steel roll baler. They were designed from the ground up to bale silage. It's what they do... and they hold something like 90% of the baler market in Europe where round bale silage is the norm...

Rod
 
If your goina go with a chian just get a good
small square blaer a day putting up small bales
beats H#ll outa two days un tangling a round baler
apron chain especially the bigger tube ones
 




I have a Krone 130 that I use for balage. Chain
type, fixed chamber. Relatively trouble free but
noisy. Had a Gehl 1310 before and that was a lot
more trouble. It had drums to form the bale like
the Claas, but the Claas is built much heavier.
 
Thanks for the opinions guys. About what I figured.

BTW- my belt breakage is due to old belts. Kind doesn't make sense to put $1500.00 or more of new belts on a $1400.00 baler.
 
(quoted from post at 05:23:35 07/20/14) Thanks for the opinions guys. About what I figured.

BTW- my belt breakage is due to old belts. Kind doesn't make sense to put $1500.00 or more of new belts on a $1400.00 baler.
Click to expand...
If the baler is good otherwise then a set of belts is cheaper than buying another baler that may need a lot more money thrown at it to get it working right once you start using it.
My experience with the term "field ready" means one can put it in the field,..just don't use it.

my 1c,...the other cent went to the taxman.
 
I"ll second what bison says bout field ready or it
was working fine equipment . They was ready to
park it in the field cause it quit working fine
 
I know what you mean guys, but this is a near 40 year old Hesston 5500. I need to be able to do silage bales for wrapping and the Hesston won't touch even damp hay. She was good in her day, but I'm a little under-tractored for her even now with only 55hp.

Actually I just found a CL add for a lot of 5500 belts for cheap, might take a look at them. Only biug issue is that the baler is supposed to take 452" belts, which my 1st 5500 did indeed take. This one is older (lost the gear box in the first one) and 452" is about 3" too long. WHY? That is something I've been trying to figure out for over a year now.
 
I've got a 851 NH it will bale almost anything. None of the dam press rollers to wrap up, it has an auto tie system. Its been 1 of the most trouble free pieces of equiptment I have ever owned. I am going to replace the upper chains next spring, just because I don't want to have trouble. They are the original chains It looks easy, just remove the back tin and everything is open. The bales are not as heavy as the newer balers and they do not look as nice, but with 55 hp they may be what you need. It has baled thousands of trouble free bales over the years.
 
I am with HD6GTOM on this one. I have run several New Holland Chain balers and I like them. I wasn't a fan of the earlier ones with the floor chains, but the later ones like the 849, 853, and 855 were terrific balers!!! Our neighbor silage bales with an 849 pulling it with a 45HP 2020 JD and absolutely loves it! My brother that bleeds green talked me into buying a John Deere 535 a couple years ago and letting go of our 849 NH... We both now agree that was a mistake. The 535 Is a lot fussier about starting a bale in tough conditions, and it doesn't like big wads of hay... After replacing all the belts, several bearings and tie parts on it, I have had enough. Went and bought a 853 New Holland the other day and I am going back. Best of luck to ya!
 
you can have belts shorteneour dealer does it cost 125 a year GO 5 BELTS.you can buy the tool also chain baler is hard on alafa leaves
 
If you think broken belts are bad just buy a chain
and tube pos and wait till the chain comes apart
and then you'll have something to be sorry about
 
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