Baling with a compact - minimum size?

[rankrank1]

I did my first baling with a compact trator (1977 Kubota L285 with FEL 26.5 PTO horsepower) 2 weeks ago. As I already owned my tractor I sought out a New Holland model 65 compact baler and lucked into finding one for $200.
The New Holland 65 has a 12x16 bale chamber (as compared to 14x18 or 16x18 that most other balers have). The model 65 was made from 1960 to 1965 and targeted towards the small tractor user (such as N series Fords and jubilees).
Anyway, my tractor did fine as I just dropped the bales on the ground, but I think I could handle towing a small wagon if I had one. I only used 5.25 gallons of diesel to bush hog cut(hope to use my sickle bar in future but it needs some TLC), twice rake (once to tedd and once to windrow), and bale 4.25 acres of thick tall pasture grass.
Stick to the smaller capacity balers and you can get by with 22-25 PTO hp on non-hilly ground as long as the tractor has a sturdy driveline (avoid tractors that are glorified lawn tractors as their driveline will not handle the plunger jerks even if they say they are 25 PTO hp).
My tractor does not even have live (or independent PTO) which is an inconvenience, but I was easliy able to work around this by zigging out of the windrow when needed to keep from overfeeding.
Lastly, FMJ is always a good source of info. Also, ZZVYB6 has many posts about baling with a compact tractor (he uses a JD14T baler) and his posts are the posts that inspired me to give baling a try with a compact tractor( I need to thank him for his many helpful posts).

 

[SPYDERLK]

I did my first baling with a compact trator (1977 Kubota L285 with FEL 26.5 PTO horsepower) 2 weeks ago. As I already owned my tractor I sought out a New Holland model 65 compact baler and lucked into finding one for $200.
The New Holland 65 has a 12x16 bale chamber (as compared to 14x18 or 16x18 that most other balers have). The model 65 was made from 1960 to 1965 and targeted towards the small tractor user (such as N series Fords and jubilees).
Anyway, my tractor did fine as I just dropped the bales on the ground, but I think I could handle towing a small wagon if I had one. I only used 5.25 gallons of diesel to bush hog cut(hope to use my sickle bar in future but it needs some TLC), twice rake (once to tedd and once to windrow), and bale 4.25 acres of thick tall pasture grass.
Stick to the smaller capacity balers and you can get by with 22-25 PTO hp on non-hilly ground as long as the tractor has a sturdy driveline (avoid tractors that are glorified lawn tractors as their driveline will not handle the plunger jerks even if they say they are 25 PTO hp).
My tractor does not even have live (or independent PTO) which is an inconvenience, but I was easliy able to work around this by zigging out of the windrow when needed to keep from overfeeding.
Lastly, FMJ is always a good source of info. Also, ZZVYB6 has many posts about baling with a compact tractor (he uses a JD14T baler) and his posts are the posts that inspired me to give baling a try with a compact tractor( I need to thank him for his many helpful posts).

Sounds like this one is harder to drive than the IH37 which does the standard 14X18" bale. I imagine the 37 must have a heavier flywheel because it does not exhibit plunger jerks even when packing rock hard wet bales.
larry

 

[zzvyb6]

If your baler is jerking the combination of tractor and baler, chances are the cutoff knives are too dull or the rpm is incorrect or your need some suitcase weights or all of these possibilities. Since the plunger is actually slowing down as it passes the feeder throat heading towards Top Dead Center because of the advancing crank angle, the jerking comes on where the plunger has its highest speed (at cutoff). Naturally, a loose hitch, sloppy driveline trunions, loose drive chains and soft tires also contribute, but keeping the parts in shape is a prerequisite. Otherwise its an exquisite pre-wreck.

Keeping the machinery functioning at its rated rpm is the biggest mistake newbees make. That's where all the balancing forces are designed to be minimally needed.

 

[SPYDERLK]

How would cutoff knives affect the plunger motion enuf to feel an effect?
larry

 

[LAWALLSTRACTOR]

I know of a Mahindra customer, (I didn't sell the tractor) who operates a 1960's Massey Fergusen kicker baler, pulls the baler and wagon, with a Mahindra 4110 (33 pto HP) with loaded tires. Seems to work well

 

[rankrank1]

Sounds like this one is harder to drive than the IH37 which does the standard 14X18" bale. I imagine the 37 must have a heavier flywheel because it does not exhibit plunger jerks even when packing rock hard wet bales.
larry

"Plunger jerks" was a poor choice of wording on my part - I was attempting to keep my terminology simple and apparently I over simplified. In short, I did not want the original poster to go out and buy a itty bitty little tractor that was a glorified lawntractor and expect to bale with it. (There are compacts that have some beef in the driveline while some others do not even though the hp numbers may appear identical). Most balers produce a Gyro effect with the plunger oscillations due to the laws of physics. Even if the tractor is not actually shaking the driveline is still stressed to a certain degree. A tractor driveline with some material in the driveline can take this stress where a flimsy driveline may not hold up. In general a smaller plunger size will produce less of a gyro effect as it is less mass changing directions each time (Yes, there are other influencing factors too such as the flywheel counterbalancing, etc.)

Lastly my tractor did not "jerk" and my little tractor did fine with the baler and ran rather smoothly. I am sure that having the FEL attached helped though. Everything was working so smoothly that I end up having my wife drive the baler (she had never baled) while I picked up the dropped bales with the pickup truck/trailer. (Note: When I bought this baler nothing worked on it as it had been sitting outside abandoned in a fence row for a decade. I spent about 3 weekends going through it and teaching myself how everything should work along with reading the manuals. Apparently, I learned well as I did not have a single missed knot).

 

[HarryVanderpool]

We have run our baler for years with our Ford 9N which has done a very fine job.
Here is a picture:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/Shallotman/DSC00334.jpg

The Ford 9N is 23 HP.

We still use the Ford to mow and rake, but have since purchased a Massey Furguson 1540 that we now bale with. 40 HP.
You just have to understand equipment likle rankrank1 and watch what is going on.
I'm sure that each baler has it's own requirements as well.
Our McCormick 45 is as perfect of a machine as was ever invented.
We baled the entire farm again this year and the only problems were 3 double knotts and 2 failed knotts.
The bales were just shy of 50 lbs.
No! The baler is NOT for sale.

 

[slowzuki]

I can tell you a BX would get destroyed by a normal sized square baler, it may not be right away but you are wearing out an expensive unit for the sake of a little baling!

The rocking of a normal square baler is strong, the old IH we used weighed near 10,000 lb and would be shook by the baler under some conditions. With a loaded wagon on back its obviously much smoother.

My JD336 doesn't rock nearly as hard as the MF224 did before but it can still give a good shaking at the right rpm with no hay being fed into the baler.

 

[WTA]

My tractor gets rocked pretty good and it's more than big enough for the baler. Or for any other haying implement there is. It's nearly 100 hp and is pretty heavy. Even more so with the tires loaded like they are.
I thought that bouncing back and forth was just a fact of life when baling no matter what you are driving.

 

[Soundguy]

With all this talk of bailing.. I may actually try my hand at it this year. I've helped out before.. but never personally owned any of the specific hay equipment.. Guy down the road is selling an old but good looking IH square bailer.

Now I just need to find a good sickle or disc mower and rake!

soundguy