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JD 338 baler

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Dave H (MI)

Well-known Member
Had an interesting discussion today. A fella had me pulling his JD 338 baler behind my Farmall SMTA. Baler has a 540 PTO shaft and I figured to run it at 540 PTO. No he says...too fast. So I had him listen to the rpm's and tell me when it was OK...about half throttle. Made a round of the field and he stopped me again. Wants it at 1/3 throttle and use a lower gear. I had him unhook me and told him (nicely) to find another tractor/operator. He was concerned that any higher rpm would damage his baler. Does any of that make sense? It's his baler so he can run it where he wants but the tractor was struggling on the hills and it was taking a lot of time. I always assumed if it had a 540 pto it was meant to run there. New one on me!
 
There's only two times I don't run the square baler at pto speed - baling straw and baling alfalfa. Those two are hard to feed so your speed has to match the pickup. You would have to have much more horsepower to run that slow if you got in a tough spot. I just finished baling up 1500 squares today with all of them at speed in heavy brome. My 886 would have lugged if it would have been down out of the power band. The only thing I can think of that says NEVER run at 540 is the post hole digger.
 
Well I never run my NH 276 at PTO speed. It runs much smother at around 400-450 RPM. It is not hard to tell I just listen and the baler gets much quieter when your at the right speed. In real heavy hay your Super M would not be enough horse power. I run it with an Oliver 1655 and it makes it bark in big windrows. We have baled over 300 bales an hour with it in real heavy hay too.
 

I think with an adequate windrow in hay making 50 or more bales per acre that sq baler engineers intended for sq baler to operate at or near 540 rpm's.
 

The flywheel weight is the key to it, but when you operate a baler at lower than design speed it puts higher than design stress on many components. Some friends were starting off baling with a 24T. they had been at it for an hour or so when I stopped by. I could see the broken bales from the road. They had refurbed it and set everything by the book, and were running it slow in order to baby it. I helped them with an adjustment, then advised them to increase the speed significantly. The son told me later that they found that it worked much better at higher RPM. If you cut down on the force by cutting the inertia stored in the flywheel, all of the parts have to work harder. You can compare it to twisting a big bolt in two by putting a cheater bar on a wrench as opposed to breaking the friction loose with an impact wrench. I still usually run mine just a little slower than 540, even though the specs say that it is OK to go to 620. It is human nature to want to take it easy on equipment. Dave, you did good to decline to abuse his baler.
 

This is a quote from one of JD's sq baler operators manual.

37436.jpg
 
See, that is how I was taught. Tractors need to be throttled up to handle loads. Implements are designed for certain specified pto speeds...either 540 or 1000. I understand you have to use some discretion at times but...
 
I thank you for that and agree with everything you said. I had an issue with getting my hay off yesterday. Interesting tale. I will put it up on Tractor Talk this weekend. This guy with the baler is about 20 years old and trying to make a business as a hay broker. First thing he needs to learn is how to size up his clientele and learn how to speak to them appropriately.
 
Well he was looking at more like 180 rpm and that baler was sleeping at that speed. The SMTA runs at about 50 hp when put on the dyno. I think someone did some work on it at some point in a former life. I do not rake wind rows together. I use JD 224T balers and they are great machines BUT they are old and not high capacity to begin with. Life is easier if you take an extra hour, run lighter rows, etc...
 
!#&@!!....now I have to dig out the post hole digger manual!

There was no talking to this guy. We only had two hours of daylight left and I have to work today. It was a losing proposition all around. Appreciate the reply!
 
Yeah...I get using a little discretion in heavy or harder to handle materials, but the tractor has certain needs in order to work and generally I find the equipment is designed around that. Thanks!
 
The only time I can think of to slow a baler's rpms is in light windrows (maybe even with a higher ground speed) to keep the pickup full at whatever ground speed you're geared in.

I agree 100% with showcrop's post. Without full rpms, the energy stored in the flywheel is not available and working to the baler's advantage.

I run my 58 year old New Holland model 68 baler at full 540 rpms. Better bale, more flakes to the bale. At 63-65 strokes per minute, not much reason to slow it down as the pickup is easily filled.

On my JD348 baler, I think of it as a 3 in 1 baler. Full 540 pto rpms and I'm at 93 strokes per minute. Slow the rpms to 80 strokes per minute and I've got a 338 or a 328 or the legendary 336 baler. Slow the rpms to 63ish strokes per minute and I've got my New Holland 68 in green paint or a JD24t baler.

YMMV

Bill
 
I worked for a gentleman who had a 338, he pulled it with a 4020 and ran about 15 to 1800 rpm's depending on the load. We ran an old 303 AC pulled it with a D-15 and ran about the same rpm's no reason to slow one down, actually could create more problems than running at the correct speeds.
 
the 273 we used on the family farm ran best at speeds a little lower than 540rpm. At the rated speed of 540 it seemed like it wanted to fly apart. That said it was not the best baler around but it lasted a long time. Bought new in 1971 it was used up to the year 2000 or so. never really broke too badly but the knotters were changed out at one time. The only other bad wear and tear was from the wagon being pulled around on hilly ground....the hitch needed to be rewelded once or twice.
 
Yup...I agree. The kid is down on the field right now. He showed up with a small to medium size Kubota and is going around the field. Funny thing, he seems to be doing about the same speed I was. He took a little heat from me for showing up to bale hay without a tractor expecting me to let him use one of mine. I'm starting to think he was just jerking me around because I ticked him off. Well, one thing I know is that sometimes you pay to make a point in this world and he just trucked a tractor 50 miles.
 
(quoted from post at 06:13:07 07/02/16)
(quoted from post at 13:16:53 07/01/16) Would this guy be one of the grandkids.....
Not so slow baling...
Click to expand...

Why did he put that little cage up on the feeder fork arms??? Looks like it's just filling up with chaff. Safety to the point of stupidity, I'd guess.
Click to expand...

I expect that it came that way. Safety laws in Eurozone countries. In UK tractors have been required to have cabs for maybe 50 years.
 
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