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We had a Claas Rollant with the crop cutter and net wrap about 10 years ago. It wasn't too bad a machine. The drawbar on the baler failed the first year we ran it. One arm tore completely, and the other just hung on long enough to limp the machine home. We were making baleage, apparently something they hadn't thought of when they designed it with a crop cutter and net wrapping. Claas replaced the entire drawbar assembly with an updated unit, made from heavier channel and with internal reinforcement. We also had some small problems with the cutter for the net wrapping not doing its job. Other than that, it was a nice, heavy machine. It was also upgraded with floatation tires, which were optional at the time but for some reason left off when it was shipped. Once the bugs (they were big bugs, granted) were worked out, it made a lot of bales for us. We quit doing round bales all together, but have tried other Claas implements. My beef with them is that all their products seem to be somewhat 'half-assed'. Major parts, like the main frames, gearboxes, drivelines, and chains are all built really tough. Once they have that made, the rest of the machine seems to be crap. Any shields, guards, hitches, accessories, hoses and secondary parts are garbage that are waiting to break the first season. With our first Claas tedder, we had to patch, reinforce and repair the hitch 3 times. They admitted it was junk and had redesigned it the following model year. Several other parts failed as well. We have a Volto 1050 tedder. Its a nice machine. Over last winter (after one season of use) the hydraulic hose fittings crystallized. We had to wait 3 months for Claas to send us the parts. In the manual, the hoses are said to have a life of 2 years. Each little hose (with fittings) cost $175, and there were 4 bad ones. The support for the lead wheel has broken twice, another part that has since been redesigned. Despite that, its a super tedder. However, we also started this year with a Liner 1550 Twin rake. Its garbage front to back. It doesn't rake any better or faster than a pair of 9' side-delivery rakes on a tandem hitch. Its enormous to transport (height and length) and has had several glitches that just left me ticked off all summer. Dad went to complain to them at a trade show but, you guessed it, most of that stuff has been redesigned. I'm starting to think they don't actually test their stuff before it goes to market. Anyway, aside from my ranting, the baler would probably be a good one for you, if its been through its break-in period (literally).
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