638 newholland round baler any good?

anyone know much about these balers one for sale locally .and is it a 4x4 baler thanks
RICK

All NH equipment is good and relatively easy to work on if need be.

4X4 is an awfully tiny bale and you'll grow impatient with your baling progress in a hurry.

'Less of course, you have a demand/market for that small-sized type bale.

Allan

if you have the need for or a market for 4x4 bales, you won't find a better baler. I've had mine since new with no repairs other than minor belt work. operator friendly unit with low power requirements.

We run the older 630, nice simple baler, you can see just about everything when you check it over. I run it with 42 PTO HP easy, but could use more power at times when baling uphill.

Same basic machine still sold as the BR7040 if I'm not mistaken, saw one at NH dealer a few weeks ago.

4x4 bale is fine if you have small tractors, but doesn't taken long to fill the chamber in heavy hay.

Useless for straw and can be a headache in slippery hay, but other than that a good unit. Make sure the belts track well. A bale in it can/will make them track completely different, so see if you can try it out first. Like mentioned, it is a small bale, so be aware of that. A 4x5 bale has 56% more hay in it, a 4x6 has 125% more hay. There may be a basic monitor that gives you an idea of bale shape, but I don't know if it was available on the 638. Without a monitor, all you can do is weave and look between the belts at the bale shoulders, and hope you get a decent looking bale. Not a whole lot to go wrong on them with the exception of belt tracking. Has an excellent view of the pickup. If it has any problems, price out what it will cost to fix. CNH/Fiat thinks highly of their parts, so something that seems simple could cost you alot of money. This applies to basically every manufacturer, but CNH seems to be getting worse.

Forgot to mention. 42 PTO HP may run it, but you'll be completely out of power on hills towards the end of the bale. It can work an Allis 185 pretty good in small to medium hills, so I'd want atleast 55-60 PTO HP on it. 75-85 is better.

Friend of mine used to have one, he said it was a great baler except that you needed to slow down to get the bale started. Once it was started you could speed up.

I have a 648, which is a 4x5 baler, turned down to make 4x4 bales. The one you are looking at has a few options...

Bale Command was optional. That is the monitor system for your cab. Otherwise, you get a full bale alarm that just has a beep when the auto-tie starts. Then, before the twine cuts, it will beep again, to let you know the tying cycle is almost over.


Without Bale Command, you can still get an idea of bale shape, because the baler has 2 big yellow needles on the front that will line up with each other when the bale is even. They are not 100% fool proof, but, they do work.


Net wrap was also an option. It is nice to have, but the twine tie on those balers works great if you keep everything lubed up and adjusted right.

Extra wide sweep is another option. It does great on big windrows and if you have wind blown windrows. It is probably one of my favorite options for these balers. I have had one of the side augers plug up once in really heavy windrows. I doubled the windrows on a field that was making nearly 3 1/2 tons per acre. Wasn't a good idea... The pickup tines move fast, and I have baled pretty quickly. The most important thing is to get the core started correctly. The best way is to swerve back and forth across the windrow violently until you get a core started, and keep the hay from making a big slug at any one point on the stripper roll. That is when bad things happen, especially in slippery over dry hay, or straw. When I worked for New Holland, I went to a customers place where he was ready to take a match to the baler when doing straw. I showed him how to start a bale (it's even outlined in the owners manual) and he never had another problem.

The only other things I can tell you about what to look at when looking to buy are to check the sledge frame for deep grooves worn in one side more than the other. That will indicate that the tracking is out. Also, There are a series of open gears that run the starter roll, pivot roll, middle roll, and stripper roll. Those gears tend to wear out if not given a dose of open gear lube before each day. Some of the roll gears are over $450 each and the idler gears between them are over $150 each. They are a nightmare to change, also. Best thing to do is climb up and take a good look at those gears for worn teeth.

putting the pickup down too low and making very sharp turns will bend the pickup wheels, also.


Can't think of anything else offhand, but, aside from that, I give the baler 2 thumbs up.