wish to update my old Gehl 1400 round baler

mark vetter · May 20, 2017

Hi gang, I put up about 75 tons a year off my place. just 650 lb. dry rounds. The hay is usually fairly light short grass. I have been fighting and modifying my old Gehl 1400 round baler all my life it seems. I need a used baler which will work with my 50 hp tractor. I see no reason to have a computor monitor for such a small operation. In short who recommends a basic baler that fits these conditions?

Farmer495 · May 21, 2017

How new/old are you looking and what kind of $$$ do you want to spend?

You want a 4x4 baler. I run an older NH 630, ran it on 42 PTO HP for years, made hay. No computer just tying box and full bale alarm. Later models are 634,638, BR730 etc, plus the identical CaseIH RBX441 442 443 etc.

Texasmark · May 21, 2017

I have a '91 JD 375 that rolls a 5x4 bale that weighs in at around 650 up depending on moisture content. The baler is based on JDs 5x6 chamber but is smaller, stops at 4' diameter, and no electrical connections to the tractor.

I don't have any problems with my tractor even baling this (see inserts) and don't hear it grunting unless I get up over the full mark and start crowding things...like up at 4 and a half ft. diameter, with meter in the red. All monitoring is self contained on the front of the baler and you can see it from the rear view mirrow. No interconnecting cabling. My little 2000 can 3 pt the bales with no front end weights.

For FEL hauling, the narrow width makes it easier to see around than a 5.5 or 6' bale design, like a JD 465 type bailing a 4x 5.5-6'. Bought the baler at auction around 2009 for 5K. Had to replace nothing at time of purchase. Only parts required so far are roller bearings which were readily available and I replaced myself, working alone. I did add a 0-5000 psi. oil filled gauge inline with the gate cylinders to monitor bale pressure after discussing bale rolling pressure with TX. Jim.

mark vetter · May 22, 2017

Farmer495 said:
How new/old are you looking and what kind of $$$ do you want to spend?

You want a 4x4 baler. I run an older NH 630, ran it on 42 PTO HP for years, made hay. No computer just tying box and full bale alarm. Later models are 634,638, BR730 etc, plus the identical CaseIH RBX441 442 443 etc.

Probably something in the 90s or early 2000s. my budget is around $12k. unless something screams my name. Thanks for the data,Ive not had much input around here because everyone who round bales has lots of hp and takes a first crop of wrapped grass. I live on a gravely site that produces one crop in july

mark vetter · May 22, 2017

thanks for your perspective i had not thought of going to a 5x4.

Farmer495 · May 22, 2017

mark vetter said:
thanks for your perspective i had not thought of going to a 5x4.

Only issue with 5x4 is hauling them, makes you 10 feet wide on the road.

Farmer495 · May 22, 2017

mark vetter said:
Probably something in the 90s or early 2000s. my budget is around $12k. unless something screams my name. Thanks for the data,Ive not had much input around here because everyone who round bales has lots of hp and takes a first crop of wrapped grass. I live on a gravely site that produces one crop in july

Your budget will allow you to buy a very low usage baler in the models that I mentioned. Most do round bale silage here and these balers aren't built for it (did have a high moisture kit available) so

Texasmark · May 24, 2017

Farmer495 said:
Only issue with 5x4 is hauling them, makes you 10 feet wide on the road.

Yepper, if you are a long distance road hauler; most folks aren't. That is one of the main reasons the 5x6s with a foot chopped off (4x6), the other reason being that they are becoming the norm and can be sold for what the larger bale brought with 20% less product. Personally I like being able to see around the bale when hauling 2 (one FEL the other 3 pt) which was a problem even on my 100 horse JD 4230.

Edit: ".........The rest of the story" (Paul Harvey):

When I retired I downsized from the 4230 to the 6530. I sold my 5x6 roller which could put out a 1600# bale under pristine conditions, for one putting out about half that which I could better handle with smaller equipment, both in rolling and in hauling.

Not knowing better, I was looking for a 4x6 which I saw others using in my area. None to be found. What I did find was the 5x4. Do the math and the volume of the two are about the same; close enough.

The 4x6 benefits were:

-As previously stated, 2 side by side were within DOT width requirements for OTR hauling.
-course any of them can be adjusted down to 4x5 or 4x5.5 if you are selling by the bale.............which is what happens around here...no scales handy.
-With the mouth at 4', your pickup area was within the spacing of the tractor's tires for something big enough to pull the baler.
-With the narrower mouth, a good fluffy windrow would fill the mouth and you had good bale fill and a good square fill....no barrel bales like would happen with a 5' mouth and a narrow WW or no weaving back and forth. You don't have to weave with a 4 footer.
-commercial operators are more apt to use that over the 5x4 meaning that any found for sale were probably well used. I can compare that to my 4230 at 100 hp, no turbo. The turbo version 4430 put out 25 more hp. It was popular with farmers around here as it was a work horse. Finding one, 10k hours was the norm and the offering price didn't discount the high hours. I bought the 4230 sitting side by side with a similarly restored 4430 for $2k less ($17k vs $19k and a much tigher machine) and 3900 original hours vs 10k. I figure you can expect the same with the baler.

Hope that helps you in your pursuit.

Mark