Pro Cons of a New Hollande 688 Round Baler

Jerry/MT

Well-known Member


I"ve finally decided to bite the bullet and do my own hay. We have had several folks custom bale our hay and the bale, whether net wrapped or twine wrapped, falls apart on opening. I spend half the winter forking hay off the lanes and have a difficult time controlling the amount of feed I throw off the spinner.

The alternative is a haybuster bale processor or making our own hay. I"ve decided to get the hay making equipment I ordered up a 6 ft Galfre 190 drum mower, I"ll get a Sitrex 8 wheel V rake and I"m looking at a 2002 New Holland 688 round baler with both twine and net wrap capability supposedly rolled 12,500 bales @$8500 asking price. I"m only going to do a rolling 40 acres of grass hay at the most. I have a TD95D rated at 95 engine HP and 82pto HP to run the baler. We have nearby JD and NH dealerships close by. I"m neutral about the color but I just don"t see the value in green equipment at their normal pricing so I tend to lean toward NH. But I haven"t bought anything so I"m open to suggestions. I"m looking for a baler under $10K.

I"d like some comments from those who have experience with the NH 688 and whatever the JD "equivalent" 5 ft baler is (5XX Series) preferably with twine & net wrap capability. RickB, I always value your opinions so please sound off. Also, what should I look for in a used round baler regarding mechanical condition?

thanks in advance
 
I don't know nothin' about nothin' - so take my comment with a grain of salt....

Just looking - the 688 appears to be a 5x6 baler. Do you want a bale that large/heavy/hp intensive or would you prefer a 4x6 or 4x5 round bale? I'm thinking perhaps the larger 5x6 makes the hay get-up faster and feed more when it's time? The other thing I think about is two 4 foot bales side by side on a trailer isn't over-width on the highway at 96ish inches?

Just some thoughts.

Good luck,
Bill
 
Thanks for your reply.
Out here you don"t see many 4ft bales and hence it"s hard to find a used 4 footer. Our custom guy makes 5x5 bales and most of the folks around here use them also. Most of our bales are right at 1250 +/- 25 pounds and they"re not hard for us to handle. I feed about 600/day to our little herd and that"s about half a able a day. It works well for us.
 
688 is a good baler. With having your 80 and 90 horse tractors you have plenty of tractor for a 5x6 bale. The bigger the bale the less trips, with in reason.
 
I owned a 688 brand new. It was a great baler. Look at the wear points. Any local person with a new holland can point you in the right direction. In my opinion you'll get a lot more baler for the buck with a new holland. Good luck!
 
check the sledge roll frame for wear. open tailgate and take tension off belts, lock it up and check frame sides. it is a set of three pivoting rollers two big one small the two big ones have a gear set. where the small roller is the belts will wear through the frame, it may have a groove that needs to be welded and built up and ground smooth before it breaks. frame is over 300 bucks and a pile of labor to replace. not hard but time consuming. I just put one in each of my br780's this year. also a belt guide on tailgate that requires yearly build up. and possibly a optional one on top by drive roll that requires the same. 688 is the last good baler new Holland built. the newer ones don't seem as well built and the wide pickups were poorly engineered. as for the deere equivelant a 567 is a good baler but I don't have the experience to tell you what wears on them. belts on my 780 are 250 or275 each through dealer, I think 688 uses same.
 
Most of the important points have been covered. I will add that the vast majority of balers in our neck of the woods are 4x5 balers. In almost 20 years at our dealership we have sold exactly 2 5x6 balers, both to the same guy. Dozens and dozens of 4x5 balers. Surely the opposite of your locale, and probably all of west of the Mississippi. The comment about belts wearing the sledge frame is directly related to operators failing to make 'square shouldered' bales. Filling the edges prperly allows the belts to track normally and wear on the sledge frame and outer belt guides is eliminated. When baling, take care to fill the edges of the bale, the center will take care of itself.
Check the de-clutch mechanism on the belt drive. Open the gate, lock it up and observe the density gauge to see if it holds presssure or if a cylinder leaks down internally.
 
I'm sure you have looked on sites like tractor house, but anyway, there are 41 688's listed on there for $10,000 or less. I think they ranged from about $5,000 to $17,000.
 
Rick,
Thanks for your response. I looked on tractorhouse before I wrote this post and I noticed that most of the 4x5 balers were west of the Mississippi and I"ve never seen one in our area. if I get this baler, I will probably use it as a 5x5 because that suits my feeding usage.
 
Yeah that"s how I found the one I was looking for. These balers appear to be popular in Montana.
 
I usually go with a 5x5 because they come in around 1250 and that fits my feeding rate pretty well. Being able to go to a little bigger bale might be better for the really cold weather when I have t feed extra.
 
our windrows are about 6ft wide after we rake and that is full width of the pickup attachment on a extra sweep. not sure how to get more hay in the corners. 32ft of windrow should fill them in.
 

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