Tighter Round Bales

It is the nature of the beast. You neeed hydraulic pressure to make those good tight bales, as well as wide closly spaced belts.

I nelieve there is a second spring kit available for your baler which will help some. But, will cost you more than your baler is worth, & won't do all that much for you.

As well, the more revolutions the bale makes the tighter it packs it so a small windrow or driving slower will pack a bit tighter - but this adds wear to your machine as well as costing you time, & it does not really do enough to really make your machine a tight heavy bale packer.

So, not much you can do but trade for a newer machine or live with the looser bales....

--->Paul

Keep plugging, and thanks for the input.

My two cents.

John

Where would this extra "stress" show up other than the tires, axles and perhaps on some of the respective drive chains?

The tension mechanisms are gonna be stretched to the same amount, no matter the volume of material in the chamber, wouldn't you think?

Looks to me as tho the only other "load" would be in the 'spinning' of that heavier bale, is all.

Dunno,

Allan

You made me stop and think.(Yes,I know that can be dangerous) If he wants tighter bales, and the baler is already operating at max tension, then he would have to add something to provide more resistance to increase that tension. More springs or more hydraulic pressure. The baler actually compresses the hay being added to the bale by the belts (or chains on an older NH) More tension on the belts means more pressure on rollers and their bearings. This in turn requires more power to turn, which puts more stress on the drive line. If more load is added to those components they may fail prematurely.

When I was a teenage, we traded our Vermeer 605D for a Hesston round baler. We bought it from a local farmer who had gone broke and was working for a dealership as a salesman. This was when round baling ws just getting started in our area, and this fellow sold a lot of balers to people who were still using farmhand loaders to build loose hay stacks.

It seemed to us that when you made thae bale as big as it could it realy worked the tractor hard, so we made bales a little bit less than full size. Everyone else made them as big and as tight as they could. Almost right away these people started having problems breaking belts and other componments. We eventually started having the same problems, but not until much later, since we were not stressing the baler as much. Hesston tried their best to correct the problems, but took the baler back after the second year with no resolution to the problems.

Strangely enough watching the engineers try to correct the problems made me decide to become an engineer. Went to school, got my degree, and worked as an engineer for 14 years before coming back to the farm.

John

Yes, I agree with what you are saying about the tension can be "adjusted" up or it can be adjusted down.

But there is also a dynamic tension thing going on. That's why the faster you go and the more you stuff into the baler, the less dense it will be packed because the bale will not be in the chamber nearly as long and has not been spun as many times under those compression forces.

By slowing down and taking smaller windrows, the volume of the bale (for any given size) actually increases because that bale has spent more time under that "adjusted" tension, although the "size" of the bale will always end up being the same.

Speed of travel and amount of bite really do make a big difference in final bale weight.

Then, there is the issue of grass vs alfalfa..... aw heck, let's don't even go there. :>)

Allan

I'd like a new baler but the CFO said I have to be able to at least show a profit before that happens. Sounds like work!

Thanks for the input. I'll let you know how I come out.

AKA Wannfish

Show a profit? Are we talking about the same operations here?

Didn't know there was an option of making a profit. :>)

Allan

The newer balers must not have these kinds of problems.

I see guys out here pulling in two 16' windrows together before baling and they seem to get along okay.

The only time I ever used a rake was after the stuff had taken a huge rain and just wouldn't dry down fer me. Otherwise, it is right behind the swather and she is all up and put away on the third day out.

'Course, I'm used to working in irrigated alfalfa too. Mess around with that stuff too long and ya have trouble finding the silly bales after just a few days. :>)

Allan

This is too funny! Me giving advise on baling, I mean. :>)

Anywho, forget the rake and/or drop a gear. The longer the stuff is in the chamber, the tigher the bale.

Allan

This is too funny! Me giving advise on baling, I mean. :>)

Anywho, forget the rake and/or drop a gear. The longer the stuff is in the chamber, the tigher the bale.

Allan

You farm for fun and if you make a profit that is fine and of you dont make a profit that is better yet.

I would roll two 14ft.windrows together and balermons would go about 6+ mph with his 1655 Olie and an older Veemer baler.

steveormary

You farm for fun and if you make a profit that is fine and of you dont make a profit that is better yet.

I would roll two 14ft.windrows together and balermons would go about 6+ mph with his 1655 Olie and an older Veemer baler.

steveormary

Whee.