Baling hay with a Grand L5740?

   / Baling hay with a Grand L5740? #1  

AKfish

Super Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2004
Messages
5,417
Location
Alaska
Tractor
JD 5115M; JD 110 TLB; JD 4720; Ford 9N; JD X300R
Is that a crazy idea? Kinda like driving a Mercedes to the landfill with the garbage cans in the trunk with the lid up? ;) Just wondering if the HST+ transmission would hold up to a small square baler @ 4-500 bales a year.

Local dealer had a L5240 a few years back on the showroom floor. I crawled around it a few times and thought it was a pretty impressive machine! They had it all waxed and detailed out... and it never set foot outside - so, a test drive was not in the cards.

I was more interested in the 5740 and the extra Hp, though. The costs were (L5240-5740) nearly dollar for dollar with the cab models JD 4520 and JD 4720.

The wife says if I get another, smaller cab tractor (than the JD5075M) it HAS to be a HST model - she won't sit in the seat of a gear machine. Every now and again I start thinking how a smaller, cab tractor might fit into our hobby, hay-farm operation.

Thanks.

AKfish
 
   / Baling hay with a Grand L5740? #2  
I don't have any thing with a HST so can not say much about that ... I can say that my little tractor the Montana 4340C is my go to tractor for around the farm ... small, compact, powerfull enough and just gets into the right places. It is nice to have it.
 
   / Baling hay with a Grand L5740? #3  
The HST+ wouldn't be a concern to me, but I'd want to get a basic level of comfort about using a compact-type tractor - any make - for my specific baling chores. For example, and you probably already know this, but there have been comments here about compact tractors generally having a lighter duty PTO setup that could give trouble with the old-school PTO driven square balers since they were prone to putting heavy shock loads on the PTO as they cycled. That's not specific to Kubota or the Grand L's and their PTO. Also, if you've got hilly terrain, will any compact-size machine safely pull the baler and wagon?

Beyond that, you might want to check with some of the current Grand L cab owners to see about the proper dress code. :)
 
   / Baling hay with a Grand L5740? #4  
I agree with Grandad that I think the trans would be the least of your worries. Way back before live pto people baled with the old JD 2 cyl with pto's that weren't the stoutest. I think you could bale with your tractor if you didn't croud it too hard. I've baled with my '45 model JD BO and it only has 14 pto hp.
 
   / Baling hay with a Grand L5740? #5  
that size HST will pull the square baler no prob.an you an your wife will love baling with the hst.i would strongly consider an inline baler as itll save your neck from looking back alot.
 
   / Baling hay with a Grand L5740? #6  
A horse farm near by has used a Case DX33 HST to bale with for years. The baler is a old New Holland model.
 
   / Baling hay with a Grand L5740? #7  
I have a grand 3240 and I will tell you if you buy the 5740 your other tractor will get jealous because you won't use it any more
 
   / Baling hay with a Grand L5740? #8  
Is that a crazy idea?

When you have something as nice as that beautiful 5075M........

Yes. It's a crazy idea. :)


Would you trade the 110 in? Or would you add a 3rd tractor?
 
   / Baling hay with a Grand L5740? #9  
The Grand L5740 is around 59 engine hp and 50 PTO hp at 2700 rpm/540 PTO rpm. We use an M5700, which is very close to the same specs, to bale 1,500 bales with an old New Holland square baler. It does fine. The GL5740 should do fine for your baling. The HST should allow you vary your ground speed but maintain PTO speed easier than a gear model (riding the clutch or shifting gears). That will be important if you have windrows of varying thickness. The key to good baling is consistent windrows and ground speed to match.
 
   / Baling hay with a Grand L5740? #10  
We bale ~1500 small squares each year with our L3830GST and a NH baler (269 with a belt kicker IIRC). Works great for us.

Aaron Z
 
 
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