Would you purchase a NH 310 again?

My questions are: Some people love these things and some hate them. Will this hold up to about 2000 bales a year for a long time?

I see that they should be run under speed about 20%, would you agree.

Will this work with a 36 HP diesel CUT, 4wd weighing about 4500 lbs?

If you've used one, would you buy another one? Dealer asking $2700. I see prices on the 310 around $3600 from other dealers in my area. Would you jump on this or keep looking?

Thanks. Dw.

Best price I could negotiate was $2650. Most 310's in the paper or other dealers are still being listed around $3500.

I'll try it with my little tractor for hopefully a minor cutting this fall to get my feet wet. Hopefully I can inch along until next year and get my financial situation squared away and maybe upgrade to a larger tractor. The 4020 is actually what I've been looking at!

I'll take it easy on the baler/tractor and just take my time. Looks like I maybe able to finish this year and hopefully next year then plan for some upgrades if all goes well.

Dw

Dave

Rod

Link

Looks like the average tractor usage should be 7 to 25 pto HP with a 54 HP tractor optimal. This appears to be an average consumption baler and not a high capacity. Looks like I may be a little under powered if I had some large hills, but I think the slight rolling hills that I have may work. My CUT weighs over 5000 lbs with liquid filled rear tires, FEL and AG tires all around. This Cub Cadet was built by Mitshubitshi back in 1999 when all parts were cast iron. It is also 4 wheel drive. I pulled a 10' KBA disk with the wheels all the way up this afternoon. Most of the time it pulled it fine in high range 1st or 2nd gear. On the steeper hills I put it in low range 4th and it pulled fine.

Anyone else have this baler and can chime in? I've not made my mind up yet, just want to hear from those that have baled with this machine and possibly their tractor size and weights.

Thanks. - Dw

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POWER CONSUMPTION
Power Take-off Requirements: FIGURE 4 shows typical instantaneous power take.off requirements for the New Holland 310. Power requirements fluctuated from 0 to 28 kW (0 to 38 hp) on each plunger stroke. Due to these wide power fluctuations, average power requirements were less than instantaneous requirements, varying from 5 to 19 kW (7 to 25 hp) over a full range of feedrates. FIGURE 5 shows the average power take-off requirements at various feedrates in alfalfa and
wheat straw.

Tractor size: The manufacturer recommended that 2 to 3 plow (about 25 kW) (35 hp) tractor be used. Average power take-off requirements were usually less than 19 kW (25 hp) and power required to pull the baler on level ground was usually less. than 4 kW (5 hp). A 40 kW (54 hp) tractor was, however,
needed to fully utilize baler capacity in soft or hilly fields and to overcome the power fluctuations illustrated in FIGURE 4.

Specific Capacity: Specific capacity is a measure of how efficiently a machine performs a task. A high specific capacity indicates efficient energy use while Iow specific capacity indicates inefficient operation. The specific capacity of the New Holland 310 varied from 0.9 to 1.2 t/kW.h (0.7 to 1.0 ton/hp.h) in alfalfa and from 0.6 to 0.8 t/kW.h (0.5 to 0.7 ton/hp.h) in wheat straw. This compares to an average specific capacity of 0.5 t/kW.h (0.4 ton/hp.h) for large round balers in alfalfa. These values represent average conditions and not peak outputs.

Rod

Rod

I wouldn't be afraid of trying to run 2000 bales/year through almost any baler. Just isn't all that much and unless it's really rough, I'd say any baler can do that in a heart beat.

Donovan from Wisconsin