[AT] Hay baling fun...

[Mark Johnson]

Cecil:

With rain coming in you will be baling what we used to call 'very clean 
hay' soon.

Stories like this make me realize that NOT going back to the farm when I 
was 40 was the right move for me. Sorry to hear you're having so much 
equipment trouble.

Mark J

On 7/18/2021 7:44 AM, Cecil Bearden wrote:
> Long story.  My 648 New Holland round baler baled 47 bales and about 
> Noon, the knife would not cut wrap.  Baled another 3 bales after 
> installing new roll of wrap.  Climbed up on top of baler each time to 
> try to get knife to cut.  Called my buddy at Chickasha who is a baler 
> expert.  He had not worked on that one. Called Local New Holland 
> dealer and baler guy said he had not worked on that model and it was 
> to old.  Only a 2000 model.    I opened up the side covers and looked 
> at main drive chains and they were coming apart and cutting a slot in 
> main frame!  and had cut grooves in the teeth of the Drive sprocket. 
> It was fine when I started..
>
> Wife asked how much is a new one??  Just take it out of your 401k 
> before the gov't gets it all.  I made a few calls and the local NH 
> dealer did not have anything in a 4ft wide baler.   I have 12 rolls of 
> Net for 4 ft wide.  So the Vermeer dealer delivered a new Vermeer 504R 
> Premium at 3:30pm.  I finished at 11:30 that night. I still like my 
> old one better.  This one has a touch screen that drives me nuts in 
> the cab at night.  It is so bright on the lowest setting it is like a 
> house of mirrors in the cab.  No night setting.  It seems to run 
> slower on the belts than the old NH, so it takes longer to wrap but 
> bales may be a bit denser.  This one has  a hyd pickup that is a pain 
> in the butt since I have to disconnect my loader to connect the 
> pickup.  And with a loader on I have to drive with the loader at 7ft 
> above the ground to see the windrow.  No fault of the baler.  I got 
> 128 bales baled..   The monitor tells me how many bales per hour, how 
> many minutes per bale, and the moisture.  15 % on one field and wet on 
> the other. Really tells me a lot!!   I really want my old one running 
> again..    I bought my old one in 2005 for $10K  I baled for 12 years 
> and spent about $3500 for bearings gears and belts.  It needs about 
> $1500 in chains and sprockets now, and the knife problem is something 
> on an adjustment.  The knife drops by gravity, and I have looked at it 
> so many times trying to figure out what raises it when the chamber 
> opens I finally gave up.  I have not found a dealer who can tell me 
> yet.   The new one is not better by the $26500 difference in price.  I 
> had 30 acres of hay down that resulted in 121 bales at $50/bale, so I 
> had to do something.  Forecast was for rain that evening and it only 
> sprinkled for 5 minutes.  I had another baler in a shed that I bought 
> but it needed some parts and I did not  know anything about it.
>
> I started laying hay down again yesterday and after 3 acres the 
> swather pitman oscillator bearing went out and during removing the 
> collar the shaft broke on the oscillator.  I have another on a salvage 
> swather but the bearings seem to be frozen on the spindle.  Then we 
> had a cold front come through and an inch of rain.  Heat and humidity 
> and more rain today......
> Cecil
>
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> AT at lists.antique-tractor.com
> http://lists.antique-tractor.com/listinfo.cgi/at-antique-tractor.com