Bigfoot62 : Welding on starter roll on JD rd hay balers!

[Tx Jim]

Here's the photo's I promised you. I've done this on several different models and it helps baler to start bales in Coastal that's gotten too dry plus it helps tremendously limiting the hay from running up and lodging in belts. This practice isn't approved by JD but it WORKS. The baler in photo's is an '05 that I bought used from my neighbor(4000 bales) because it had netwrap in '07 that now has 18,000+ bales on it. I've also welded on the leading edges of the original curved rods but it's difficult to see in the photo's plus the weld has worn down from baling in sandy soil.

 

[Bigfoot62]

Jim,
Thanks for the pics.
Is that just 1/4 or 3/16 round stock?

This probably sounds dumb, but I wonder how that keeps the hay from running up the belts in front? The belts don't even touch that roller, right?

I also have very sandy soil, and the flat bars at both ends of the "drive" roller (the one in front of the starter roller that the belts do run on) are worn down. I was wondering about adding some additional bars to that, or building the existing bars up. What do you think?

 

[Tx Jim]

The only bars I've seen on the drive roller in frt of the starter roll is silage kit spirals which I did not like on the silage special baler I had. The reason hay stops going up frt belts is the hay is going on the bale instead sitting between bale & PU teeth. As I previously stated weld a good bead on the leading edge of rectangular bars. IT WORKS BTDT many times.