Massey 1839 Inline Baler Windrow Size

[casedx45]

Bought a new 1839 inline baler this year to do our fields and to do some custom work. The first set of fields we did, we had no issues baling at a fairly quick pace (less than 900 bales total), and then the middle of August we started 2 other fields (these totaled about 3300 bales). These fields were heavier and the windrows were bigger. We bought this model since it was supposed to be the top of the line 14x18 that they make and is supposed to be designed for large farms and custom operators. The windrows we did in June were 2-3 feet tall buy about 3 feet wide, the baler was happy and produced a good sized bale at 36 inches weighing in about 50 pounds, we had to set the hydraulic tension to 240psi to keep the bale tight (found out later after reading the manual again about the side doors for additional tension). The windrows in August were 2 feet tall and about 4 feet wide and they had to come to a crawl with the bale tension at 75-90 psi (1.1mph on average, 2.2 when it thinned out). If they tried to go any faster or make the bales tighter (bales were just above snug for tightness at this tension), they would break flywheel shear bolts.

The dealer's service department came out and checked the baler out and made a couple minor adjustments and said the baler was timed and nothing was wrong with it (besides a broken plunger shear bolt broken the night before). They said that this baler basically can only handle a 9-12 inch tall 4-5 foot wide windrow, anything bigger than that it will have problems and break sheer bolts. That size windrow is done with a tedder rake and at that size, the windrow is not that big or heavy, it actually looks thin). They said the higher pressure was needed back in June because we were not feeding it enough hay, but when we tried to feed it the right amount of hay in August the shear bolts would break. I contacted AGCO about what the baler was supposed to be able to do and their response was to contact the local dealer and we already know what they said.

Has anyone else used one of these inline balers and how big of a windrow has it been able to handle at what speeds? Just trying to figure out if this baler has other issues that the service guys didn't see or if this baler is actually only meant to be a light duty baler. In another forum, there is another guy that has a 1839 that can do heavier windrows than ours, so I am curious to see what everyone has been able to do with one of these inline balers.

 

[MFRED]

What size tractor do you have it on? What was the moisture of the hay? What are you using for a rake? The baler sounds like it was working well when you used it earlier in the year. How many bales have been through it total?

If I remember the book states to make windrow size so that you make a 3" flake at 3mph. I have found that moisture, windrow denisty & tractor HP make big differences in baler performance and its tough to really tell people how fast to bale without being there.

All assuming you're running at PTO speed.

 

[casedx45]

Using a Case-IH 105U (105 HP, 90 at the PTO). The moisture readings were in the 12% range (but the hay from last year also tests at 12%). At the start of the problem, we had 900 bales through it (from being brand new). We have a total of 4300 through it now. We are using a tedder to ted and dry the hay and then changing it to rake mode with the wings creating a 4 foot wide windrow. They were running at 540 on the tractor, they kept it between 530-540 on the PTO. I know its tough to say what to do from a distance, I wasn't there when this was going on so I had to try an troubleshoot through emails and phone calls. According to the service guys, they stated you need to have 20 flakes per 36 inch bale for this baler which comes out to be about 1.8 inches per flake roughly. The pictures from the bales that I was sent show flakes in the 1.5 to 2 inch range and they were baling in the thin stuff at 2 mph.

 

[MFRED]

12% should be dry enough to go pretty good. 3" flake is what book says, mine are usually in the 2" range as I think the bales look better. Sounds like you are using a rotary rake to have a 4' wide windrow, so it should be feeding pretty good. Horsepower sounds good. When I bale I try to have a bale every 8-10 seconds while feeding steady, not around corners and such. Usually speed is at about 2.5-3 mph. The baler can handle more, the guys behind the thrower can't. I've pumped out bales in heavy windrows with 3 flakes to the bale and if I remember it was about 1.5-2 seconds a bale. They looked like crap, but the baler did it.

It sounds like the machine was working good the first time you used it? Did you adjust the wedge in the chamber? That would make the tension need to be less.

When I get a new baler it seems like I need to run 6-8000 bales through to loosen things up and clean the paint off. Then they're running at their prime.

Also, don't tell my help, but when the windrows are big, I just may run the PTO up a bit. It's not uncommon the keep it at 560-570 if the windrow is big enough to keep the head full so it doesn't get pounding away. I put about 200k bales through our first inline and it never seemed to affect anything. Again, I am hard on the help to keep it at 540 as when the windrow gets light I don't want it pounding while empty.

 

[casedx45]

We didn't adjust the wedge this year, for next years hay we will. The hay we did in June we were dropping bales about 10-15 seconds depending on how thick the rows were. I wasn't there this month so I am not sure what they were dropping the bales at. I know they were saying that they were dropping a bale every 20 feet or so. Hopefully the minor adjustments the service guy did solved our issue, but right now it seems out of 3 inlines, mine is no where near where yours and the other one is at. In light to medium windrows, the baler acted like it wasn't getting enough hay (was doing 4-5 MPH) when dropping a bale every 10-15 seconds. We are planning on getting a side delivery rake next year to double the thinner windrows so we can keep the feed up. Then they did the fields this month and the baler couldn't take the heavier windrows, so we will have to play with the size of the rows to see what size keeps this baler happy.

Next year, we will see how it does and if there is still a problem, we at least have records showing that a problem was brought up about it. Just keeping my fingers crossed that we didn't draw the lemon baler that is going to be a pain the whole time using it.

 

[banjerpicker]

I am a hobby farmer with an 1835 baler. I was wondering what you guys do to clean and store your baler for the winter such as clean out hay, how do you clean knotters, power wash everything?????
I bought this used and the dealer in about 50 miles away.

Thanks
Larry

 

[MFRED]

I usually just blow mine off really good & grease it. Unless I need to get at a particular area of the baler for adjustments, then I'll power wash any grease & oil. After I blow it off real good again to try and not have any wet stuff anywhere. Blowing with compressed air has worked best for me.

If I'm out in the field I do have a big backpack blower I'll use every couple hundred bales to try & keep all the chaff to a minimum throughout the year.

 

[catskinner]

How is your baler doing now? Did you get it to work better?

 

[casedx45]

After the changes and adjustments the dealer made, it worked better, but we found out that we are limited to about 160 bales an hour at around 2.2 MPH. Any faster than that and we get odd shaped flakes and the bale length starts to vary. At 2.2 in medium windrows, we can get 1 1/2 in flakes and the bales stay consistent in size and weight. Going any faster and they start getting out of whack. Also, if the windrows are heavier, we have to slow down or start breaking shear bolts again. We put up around 4500 bales this year and we only broke 5 bolts (2 were from hitting broken bales to quick). Massey has a new baler coming out that replaces the 1839, so I think they also figured out there was a possible design issue with this baler. We have the baler dialed in as far as what we can do, so we are going to keep this one for few years before we think about changing out to the new one coming out.