Haying information needed

[svendawg]

I just received my new Mahindra 5155 the other day and started using it to round bale on Friday. I noticed when hooking up the round baler to the drawbar that there is only 10" of clearance under the drawbar bracket. This lack of clearance became an issue while baling because the windrow was bunching up under the rear of the tractor causing feeding problems. I am a little disappointed in the fact that there is so little ground clearance. The specs on the tractor shows the clearance of 16" but other than the drawbar there a many other projections under the tractor that are less than 16" also. The tractor literature is a little misleading.
My question for all you seasoned hay farmers, what do you do when round baling to avoid the bunching up of hay due to low ground clearance. Do I need some sort of belly pan to press the hay down so it clears the drawbar.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

One thing that might help you is when you rake your hay, don't use the full width of your rake and make smaller windrows, you will have to make more trips up and down the field but the windrows will be smaller/shorter.

 

[repete]

I know it will not help much for the problem you are describing but I usually put the retainer clips for the pins on top of the connection so nothing can pull them out when going through stuff.

 

[oldnslo]

I have seen belly pans used for this application. A piece of corrugated sheet steel works reasonably well and is slippery.

 

[Sportsman762]

Looking at the operators manual the 430mm +-10mm must be for the R1 ag tires. They do not clearly state that though. Most tractors are measured with the R1 ag tires equipped which does not make sense when most compacts are sold with R4.

https://www.mahindrausa.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/5100-Series-Operator-Manual.pdf

R1 Ag rear tires are 14.9x28 and have a rolling circumference of 164" and the R4 tires 16.9x24 have a rolling circumference of 153" according to Titan Tire.

https://www.vop-tyres.com.ua/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Titan.pdf

That would explain why your measuring 10" but expected 17 (and it looks like you might end up with 15 if going with R1). I do not have any answers on how to solve this but it will sure suck having to bale with 10" of ground clearance. Perhaps the dealer will let you swap tires for R1?

(see post 11 for corrections)

 

[Hay Dude]

That is really low.
For now, when you rake rows together, don’t “bunch” them together. Instead, make “twin twinkie” rows, so there’s a depression in between the rows, and keep your hitch running in the depression.
Long term, I’m not sure what the solution would be, but less than 16” is difficult to work with.
Are you running their tallest tire?

 

[svendawg]

I have seen belly pans used for this application. A piece of corrugated sheet steel works reasonably well and is slippery.

That a great idea, I'll have to fabricate something like that

 

[zzvyb6]

Consider removing it and using a lateral drawbar attached between the lower links. This will/may require a longer PTO shaft as well. Only other options are to single windrow, make a wider windrow when cutting and don't rake it. Maybe us a loader bucket to flatten the windrow as it comes in.

 

[LHF2019]

Bolt rubber to drawbar. Cut an inner tube or such. You might have other issues as well. With my tractor and large windrows the rear wheel can actually catch the windrow and start balling it up. Doesn't happen much but it does.

 

[Bavarian]

Looking at the operators manual the 430mm +-10mm must be for the R1 ag tires. They do not clearly state that though. Most tractors are measured with the R1 ag tires equipped which does not make sense when most compacts are sold with R4.

https://www.mahindrausa.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/5100-Series-Operator-Manual.pdf

R1 Ag rear tires are 14.9x28 and have a rolling circumference of 164" and the R4 tires 16.9x24 have a rolling circumference of 153" according to Titan Tire.

https://www.vop-tyres.com.ua/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Titan.pdf

That would explain why your measuring 10" but expected 17 (and it looks like you might end up with 15 if going with R1). I do not have any answers on how to solve this but it will sure suck having to bale with 10" of ground clearance. Perhaps the dealer will let you swap tires for R1?

Apply some math.
A difference of 11" in circumference result in 3.5" in diameter.
That would raise the tractor's ground clearance by 1.75".

 

[Sportsman762]

Apply some math.
A difference of 11" in circumference result in 3.5" in diameter.
That would raise the tractor's ground clearance by 1.75".

Oops, guess I should read the charts better or not do forum posts when tired.
R1 Ag rear tires are 14.9x28 and have a diameter of 54.1" and the R4 tires 16.9x24 have a diameter of 50.6" according to Titan Tire for a difference of 1.75".

 

[5030]

I always have that issue when bailing fluffy windriws that my Kuhn Masterdrive rotary rake makes which it inherently produces.

What I do is, I took a rubber 1/2 length truck muflap (not a white plastic one), but black rubber, and cut a rectangular hole near the top so it slips over the drawbar.

That way the mudflap 'flattens down the windrow' enough so the round bailer gets a nice even feed of hay. Been doing that for years now. The mudflap will slide back to where the hitch is hooked to the bailer and no more. When I'm not using the bailer, I stow the mudflap under the front cover where the net roll resides. Never had that issue with the old side delivery roper rake but I do with the rotary because of the always fluffy windrow it makes.

I prefer a fluffy windrow because it cuts dry down time appreciably.

Tire size don't enter the equation for me at all. Because the mudflap 'grooms' the windrow before it gets in the bailer pickup. Never had that issue with the square bailer but always did with the round bailer. A 5 buck rubber mudflap cured that issue for me 100%. Tried the white plastic ones but the black rubber does a far superior job. Goner are the days of the hitch pin catching and wwadding up the hay. Feeds smooth with no fuss whatsoever. Never got the pickup wadded up either.

 

[5030]

Bolt rubber to drawbar. Cut an inner tube or such. You might have other issues as well. With my tractor and large windrows the rear wheel can actually catch the windrow and start balling it up. Doesn't happen much but it does.

Never had that issue, ever, but I keep my wheel spacing wide enough so I don't run over windrows.

 

[5030]

Small squares were not an issue because the bailer pickup is offset so I ran the tractor in the already bailed up windrow and I had a 1/4 turn bale turner on the back end of the 575 which dropped the bales out of the aready bailed windrow.

 

[5030]

I will say from personal experience (5 years now) that a rotary rake beats a side delivery, hands down

Basically maintenance free as well, just keep the hypoid gearbox filled with gear oil and do tate I have not broken a time, even though I have spares.

The thing I like best however is, on my odd shaped fields, at the end of a windrow I can pick it up (mounts to the 3PH and swing around and start raking again with no 'curved' tail to chase with the bailer. For me, that is a huge plus as I don't like chasing windrow tails with the round bailer.

Best 6 grand I ever spent. I see JD also sells the Kuhn rake rebranded as a 'Pioneer', painted JD green, of course.... for you that bleed green of course.

 

[5030]

They come in twin rotor as well as single but I bought the single and I'm quite happy with it. 5 years and no maintenance other that checking the gearbox oil and greasing the trailing wheels. No issues about parking it either because all the tine arms come off and tou can park it in a 4 foot wide space.

Almost bought a trailing wheel rake but I didn't. Buddy has one and I wasn't impressed with how much dry hay it left behind. The Kuhn leaves nothing behind and it's gentle on alfalfa as well.

I've even raked combined wheat straw with it and I can rake at any speed I can stay in the seat with. Never tried it on corn stalks but then I don't like bailing corn stalks anyway as they are dirty and hard on a round bailer. You bale corn stalks at at the end of the day, you, your tractor and everything else is a filthy mess.

 

[5030]

When I bale wheat straw, I alwys bale in the evening when there is a tad bit of dew on it. Hepls keep the bales together prior to netting. Not an issue square bailing wheat straw and I had the knotter blowers on my 575 to keep the knotter stacks from getting fouled. Hard to bale wheat straw behind a rotary combine anyway because they tend to produce a much finer straw.

Anyway, I recommend the black rubber mudflap on the drawbar. That will eliminate any issues you have with hay wadding up under the tractor or catching on the hitch pin.

 

[svendawg]

When I bale wheat straw, I alwys bale in the evening when there is a tad bit of dew on it. Hepls keep the bales together prior to netting. Not an issue square bailing wheat straw and I had the knotter blowers on my 575 to keep the knotter stacks from getting fouled. Hard to bale wheat straw behind a rotary combine anyway because they tend to produce a much finer straw.

Anyway, I recommend the black rubber mudflap on the drawbar. That will eliminate any issues you have with hay wadding up under the tractor or catching on the hitch pin.

I'll give the mud flap a try, sounds a lot easier than trying to fabricate a belly pan. I just finished baling 100 round bales and the hitch pin is catching the hay and balling it up. Your idea should solve that issue.

 

[5030]

I'll give the mud flap a try, sounds a lot easier than trying to fabricate a belly pan. I just finished baling 100 round bales and the hitch pin is catching the hay and balling it up. Your idea should solve that issue.

It does and it's a 5 buck fix. You can actually have your hitch pin quite proud of the drawbar, in fact I recommend it as the prodruding hitch pin causes the mudflap to stay down farther and 'groom' the windrow better. Once I did the mudflap deal, I quit looking back to see the forage balling up as it don't anymore.

 

[sandman2234]

It does and it's a 5 buck fix. You can actually have your hitch pin quite proud of the drawbar, in fact I recommend it as the prodruding hitch pin causes the mudflap to stay down farther and 'groom' the windrow better. Once I did the mudflap deal, I quit looking back to see the forage balling up as it don't anymore.

Mudflaps aren't $5 anymore, closer to 5 times that at any chain truckstop! However, if you have a source for them at that price, you better buy all you will ever need!
David from jax