Tips Operating a NH 851 Baler

ND_Farmer

New User
I am new to baling and have been using an NH 851 baler for the past two years. I am looking for some tips on how to get a tighter bale and to keep if from falling apart. I am a very small operation making less than 100 bales currently a year, hence the older cheaper baler. The baler is equipped with a single arm hydraulic twine wrapper. Per the operating manual to eject a bale, it says to stop the PTO, raise the tail gate, then start PTO again to allow floor chains to convey the bale out. Does anyone have any experience with keeping the PTO running when ejecting a bale? Seems to me starting and stopping the PTO is hard on the baler and also when the floor chains start up again it rips the bale some giving it a mohawk look and bale will fall apart easier.

Second question, how do you make a tighter bale with these balers. My bales are so loose and twine seems to kind of slip off and not keep bale tight. Maybe I'm not putting enough twine on the bales? Need to adjust apron chain tension or maybe need to adjust tension springs? Only adjustment I have made was tighten the twine tension plates. I am worried if I tighten the apron chain or tension springs to much I could break the apron chain and have a huge problem. Any tips on settings and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
No experience with one of those,but what are you using for twine? Plastic twine is slippery,so if you're using that,it would explain why it's sliding off. When I built my hay barn and started stacking bales on end,I had to quit using it. I'd get them stacked up and it would start to slip and the bales would get flat and a lot bigger around.
 
I used sisal twine the first year but my bales are stored outside and the sisal twine deteriorates quickly in the weather. The second year I used orangeline polypropylene baler twine from tractor supply to eliminate that problem. Bales stay together a little better but still not the best...
 
I run a NH850 and if I want a heavy tight bale I run slower. At one time I was making bale that would lift one of the rear tires off the ground on my 841S Ford so I had to speed up to make a lighter bale. The key is speed and finding the right speed to make it tight and also weave side to side to make a good full bale
 
Thanks old, with running the NH850, do you have to shut the PTO off when you are done tying, then raise the tail gate, then turn the PTO back on to eject the bale? Also I was told when starting the bale you want to keep up your speed to avoid clogging the baler is that true? I will try your tip on keeping my speed slower though. Thank you.
 
same baler i use, i use plastic twine. i have found that traveling slower seams to make the bales more firm. also move from right to left when baling so the hay compresses evenly . dont just weave back and forth as i see some people do. travel a ways on one side then move to the other side. i stop and wrap them with twine but try not to get to close to the edge with the twine. stay away about 6-7 inches. and give it about 3 wraps on the edge. i have the flow control on hyd.turned right down down so the twine arm moves slowly. i just idle the tractor while tying also. then open rear door and engage pto just enough to kick out the bale. my baler dont have a shear pin in the pto as someone welded it solid so i have to really watch when bale marker gets to the full mark. i bale with my 660 ih and it handles it good. have used my cockshutt 1550 gas but it quite a load for it. i would not keep pto running when opening door. i have never used a round baler till i bought this one so just learned on my own. my bales are decent but i dont like the way the twine comes loose and drags on some bales once moving bales. i think its just what it is with these old balers. new ones make a lot better bale being hard core.
 

851 hew holland bale
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I have several NH 851 balers I use,you can set it for solid or open centers to start with,also to make the bales tighter you need to tighten the main springs more.Get an owners manual to make sure you're doing it right because if you don't you may cause it to break the big chain.Then rake as big of a windrow as you can get over easily with the tractor,run a good amount of RPM with a slow ground speed while baling.Then after you tie the bale cut off the PTO and completely raise the door,if the bale doesn't roll out GENTLY bump the PTO to make the bottom chains kick out the bale.Shut the PTO off then lower the door.And then Gently engage the PTO to start the baler again and then make another bale.To make a good bale I alternate running hay into the outsides of of the bale chamber the center will take care of itself that makes the bales have a good straight outside shoulder and the string will stay on the bale better.Also you need to have the
string as tight as you can coming out of the twine box and still get it to start a bale easily.
 
Traditional Farmer thanks for the quick reply, are you referring to you can set the baler for hardcore or softcore when you are talking about solid or open centers? How do you set it for either or? I have an operators manual and I'll have to do more reading on making adjustments but I have not seen anything so far as far as setting for solid or open center. Thank you for all the other advice it will help out tremendously.
 
Rustred thanks for the quick reply, I've been learning a lot from everyone and seems like I've been doing it wrong. I have been baling at a higher speed and lower rpm and looks like I should be doing the exact opposite haha. Last two years I have been using a IH 806 and this year I will be using a JD 4020 so I'm excited to see how everything will go. Might be rolling out a couple bales before hay season to do some testing though. Thank you for all the tips and I agree the newer balers are a lot better. Would be super nice to have a nice baler that could do net wrap.
 
You tie the bale shut the PTO lift the gate then if needed bump the PTO to kick the bale out. When I first got this NH850 I ran 1st gear on my Oliver S88 and the bales where super tight and way to heavy. Could not get a bale spike into them some of the time due top being so tight. I now run 3rd gear on the S88 and still have heavy bales as in 1200-1500lbs.
 
My first round baler was an 851, did make decent bales, never good ones. Larger windrows, going slower, tighter springs, and weaving in light windrows all help. I now have an 855, with airbags, thing is a beast. Makes a much better bale. I prefer the chain balers, small operation here too, 200 or so rounds a year. it takes time to figure it all out. good luck.
 
Oh, i forgot one thing, never let the hay get too dry, tried baling hay that was too dry once, made the bale, wrapped twine on it, let it out of the baler, and it exploded. what a mess. had to wait for next morning, before the dew got off it all to finish baling.
 
1130Leo thanks for the advice. I will definitely try all those things, right now I think my biggest problem is going to fast and not keeping my rpm up higher and also baling when its a little too dry. I believe I was baling in 4th gear last summer which I'm sure didn't help haha. Thanks again.
 
Also if you were raising the back gate to dump the bale and left the PTO running it'll tear up the bale and twine and it'll tear up the baler.Also when you raise the door all the way does the big chain quit turning? I bought an 851 a couple years ago that had been rigged up and the top chain didn't stop when the gate was open made a a heck of a mess so I redid it with the right parts.I also have 4 851 balers for parts if you need something.
 
Are your upper chains worn out. Mine were, I got new set from Shoup. Made a whole lot of difference.
 

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