baler ques

[jimbo64]

is my l2500 large enough to pull a square baler-It's 4wd-25hp-thanks

 

[Barry Bowen]

The answer is NO! That just is not enough tractor to get the job done with out either killing the tractor, the baler or you. I do not even think you could get away with that on flat ground dropping bales on the ground. To drop on the ground move up to at least 50HP. If you want to pull a wagon behind a thrower baler start looking for 80HP and up. Baling is not a game where you just try to get by with something too small. YOU WILL GET HURT! If you cannot get big enough equipment, get someone else to do it for and stay safe. Find a friend with a baler and hook up to it and try running it at full PTO speed and see if you can even get it to sit still. Then try pulling it in low gear at full PTO and you will see how much the tail wags the dog.

 

[Toolguy]

It depends on the baler. In any case your tractor would not be ideal, but it may do the job if you have flat ground and just a few acres to bale. Balers don't take much power to run. What they do need is a tractor with enough weight to control the weight of the baler and possibly a wagon. A good modern baler should be balanced enough when running to be fairly smooth. Back in the '60s we used a 45hp Ford 850 to pull a New Holland baler with thrower and the wagon behind it to bale about 100 acres a year. The tractor weighed about 5000lbs with loaded tires and wheel weights. The only problem we had was pulling a wagon up some of our hills if it was more than half full of bales. On most of our ground it was not a problem at all to pull a full load of 100+ bales. By 1968 Dad bought a JD3020 and we used that to bale with from then on. It would pull the wagons up the hills without a problem and it was a lot safer going down them. The bigger, heavier tractor was better, but the smaller Ford did the same job for many years before.

To be safe, you want to make sure that the tractor is not pushed around by the baler if you have hills to go up and down. Problems can occur when turning on hills, as well. Bottom line is safety. Good luck.

 

[Barry Bowen]

Using a tractor that is too small on a hill is playing with fire. Your tractor has to weigh significantly more then the baler, wagon, and hay combined which can easily go 10000 pounds. Tractor should weigh at least 12000, but 14000 and above is much safer.

 

[aczlan]

If you are dropping the bales on the ground it will be marginal. You will probably have enough power, but not enough weight.
We run a Kubota L3830 with a NH baler and a haywagon on our hayfields (one is flat, one is sloped, but it isn't overly steep). It seems to do pretty well with the load. The baler rocks the tractor back and forth some if you are sitting still, but when you are moving it does pretty well.

Weights are as follows:
Wagon
Avg Bale Weight 45 lbs
Number of Bales 150
Empty Wagon ~1500
Loaded Wagon 8250
Baler ~1000
Total load wt: 9250

Tractor:
Loaded tires 940
Base weight 3340
Total 4280

Wagon/Tractor weight ratio: 2.16

Would it be better to have more tractor? Perhaps, but we have not had any issues with our setup and it always feels stable.

Aaron Z

 

[bill in ny]

i always start the hilly sections with a empty wagon. my tractor might be considered a little under weight also, but the 4wd makes up for some of that.

 

[TexasAirCooler]

You need at least 40, 50 is better hp output from the pto. Anything less and your doing your tractor wrong.

 

[Mike120]

I echo what most others have said.....No. However, if you really want to get into baling with that little bitty tractor, then you need to look at little bitty balers : AGRIQUIP.com :: Star

There is a full line of equipment and you won't get hurt or ruin your tractor trying to pull it.

 

[jimbo64]

guys, as usual thanks for the education, there is no such thing as a foolish question and thats how i learn=======again thanks