[AT] Big round baler?

[Dan Folske]

I've put many thousands of bales through a 241. It is an ok baler for a 
small operation. Fairly low maintenance but the big bottom belt is expensive 
if you have to replace it. It is a "closed throat" baler so you will plug up 
the front compression rollers if you are not careful.  It makes the initial 
core of the bale soft. That means you can bale slightly wetter hay than the 
real tight core balers but the bales will settle out of round. One nice 
feature of the 241 is that you don't have to backup everytime to avoid 
leaving part of the windrow. That bottom belt rolls the bale clear of the 
back gate. I've been using a 5800 Hesston the past 10 years and I think it 
is a better baler. I just bought a Case IH 8465A which is a lot newer, makes 
a much tighter bale, is "open throat", and is atuomatic double twine tie 
with a kicker. Should be a lot bigger capacity but I haven't gottent to try 
it yet.

The wide belts on the outside greatly reduce the chance of slipping a belt 
off of the end of the bale if you don't weave fast enough from side to side 
when starting a bale.

The twisted belts just mean they don't mind wearing them out faster after 
they've accidently gottem them twisted from an out-of-round bale. Twisting 
them back is not always very easy. Many people have been tempted to twist 
them back with the baler running so they can "autofeed". Don't try it!!! 
They "autofeed" hands and arms very easy too!!

Unless you can get a field ready 241 with good belts for under $500 I'd keep 
looking.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Indiana Robinson" <robinson at svs.net>
To: <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>; <100AcreFarming at yahoogroups.com>; 
<FrugalRuralLiving at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2005 10:12 PM
Subject: [AT] Big round baler?


> Son Scott and I are looking at big round balers and like with many other 
> things the more
> we look the less we are sure of.   :-)   Does anyone have particular 
> preferences in big
> balers? Some we have been warned away from then the next person we talk to 
> will say that
> they had one of those and loved it... We looked at about 10 of them Sunday 
> and one that
> was reasonable and in good shape was an IHC 241. Is anyone familiar with 
> those?
> I might mention that we will likely be baling less than 50 acres a year 
> with one (the
> rest will be small square bales). Also repairs don't scare us much. By the 
> same token we
> don't want to start out with a basket case or a real trouble maker.
> We have noticed that some have wide belts at the sides. What is the 
> purpose of that? We
> also looked at some that had a twist in two of the belts???
> Thoughts appreciated.   :-)
>
> -- 
> "farmer", Esquire
> At Hewick Midwest
>      Wealth beyond belief, just no money...
>
> Paternal Robinson's here by way of Norway (Clan Gunn), Scottish Highlands,
> Cleasby Yorkshire England, Virginia, Kentucky then Indiana. In America 100
> years
> before the revolution.
>
>
> Francis Robinson
> Central Indiana USA
> robinson at svs.net
>
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>
>