[AT] "Live" and "Independent" PTO's

[Cecil Bearden]

I love baling with a small baler.  I don't like the inline balers.  I 
just  cannot get used to straddling the windrow and feeling the plunger 
stroke..   I like to run the tractor at a speed where the plunger makes 
the tractor feel like an easy rocking chair.  When it feels like I could 
go to sleep driving it is just right.  Usually that is somewhere around 
2/3 throttle.  My old 8345 Belarus loves baler duty.  I once baled all 
day 10 hrs on 16 gallons of fuel and baled 450 bales.  I advertised them 
on Craigslist picked up in the field at $5/bale  cash only and had it 
all sold and gone when I left the field that night..   I had people 
fighting over bales..

Cecil

On 5/31/2021 4:26 PM, Spencer Yost wrote:
> Brian‘s comments about plunger strokes made me want to comment on one of the reasons I love baling hay. You sort of feel like a conductor at a symphony because there’s so many variables you’re trying to balance and juggle to get perfect bales for your animals and customers. I no longer sell any hay but my wife is a very picky customer :-)
>
> I like to get around 14 to 16 strokes per bale; to generate bales that are 40-50 pounds and stay between 32-36” long.  To get that I generally run the throttle about 20% slower than is required to get 540 PTO RPM and i travel in second gear.  Drop to first for thick spots and up to third briefly in thin spots
>
> Mainly because my windows are never that terribly thick that if I ran the throttle to generate 540 PTO RPMs I would be running in third gear as a general rule and have to go to fourth in thin spots.   Neither me nor my tractor are excited at the prospect of getting beat to death running a baler in fourth gear.
>
> Also the pick up head on the Baler starts losing efficiency when you start moving too fast.
>
> In essence:
>
>    Windrow size  X
> Ground speed   X
> Throttle              X
> Bale Length
> Adjustment        X
> Moisture             X
> Temperature      X
> ———————-
> 34”, 45 lb bale
> with 15 flakes.    =
>
>
>
> So it’s an equation with 4 variables and two inputs you are constantly trying to solve for and I kinda like the challenge.
>
>
> Spencer
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On May 31, 2021, at 12:52 PM, Brian <lesh at kci.net> wrote:
>>
>> Baled some with Dad's Super M and New Holland baler with PTO. To set the throttle I used my pocket watch with sec. hand to count the plunger.  Maybe 55 or 60 plunges/min.
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