NH baler capacity

[fowllife]

I'm looking to upgrade my baler before next year. I currently run an old New Holland 68. It makes some real nice looking bales and rarely misses, but I need more capacity. First cutting this year has nice and thick and it was a complete pain. I was baling at 1.5 mph (1st gear), feathering the clutch, and still throwing flywheel shear bolts like crazy. I have 2 other balers that I am looking at, a 268 & a 310. I'm thinking that either one would be a nice step forward from where I am right now, but want to make sure which one would be better. If I remember correctly the 310 is the lowest capacity of the 3xx series. Is the 310 similar to the 268, or more inline with the 27x series? The 268 & 310 are the same price, so if they are the same capacity the the 310 is a no brainer.

 

[slowzuki]

There are some tables for nh balers on the net, make sure you have at least 80 strokes per min or preferably a 93 stroke per min baler. The differences between models of the same series is often pickup width and teeth spacing.

 

[SLHawkins]

Fowllife,
I will have to look in the books for the published capacity of my baler. I run a New Holland 315 square baler. However, I can you tell this. The machine will eat up some hay. I cruise along about 4-6 mph. In June, I put up about 1250 bales. The only issue I had then was getting the right amount of tension with the Air Tensioner. Last Friday, I did about 750. The knotter jammed up once. It is not a small baler, so you will need a pretty good sized tractor to pull it. My tractor is a JD5403 (74hp) and handles it without any problems. It bought it used and am very pleased with it. It is my first square baler, so I can't offer much in the way of comparison. But, now that I have 2 balings under my belt, it has cleared all the concerns I had with using a square baler. It take me longer to rake than it does to bale.
Hawk

 

[fowllife]

There are some tables for nh balers on the net, make sure you have at least 80 strokes per min or preferably a 93 stroke per min baler. The differences between models of the same series is often pickup width and teeth spacing.

Any chance you could point me in the direction of that table? I have been looking for something likethat for years and haven't been able to come up with one.

I believe the 310 is at 73 spm, it was the low production/economy baler of it's time. I believe the 315 was produced at the same time but was higher production (93 spm) The 310 would compair to the current BC5050, while the 315 would be like the BC5070, they are on different levels. Extra speed would be nice, but I mainly need something that can handle 2-3 tn/ac have and not throw shear bolts every 5 minutes.

I can find spec's on most of the newer balers, but have trouble with the older ones. I'm pretty sure the 27x series will eat a lot more hay then the 310, but I don't know how the 268 compairs to the 68, and 310. I would like to get a 315, but have not found any in my price range. The 310 & 268 are both local and in my price range. Extra speed would be nice, but the main thing is I need something that can handle heavy (2-3tn/ac) first cutting without throwing shear bolts every 5 minutes.