12 replies to this topic

[Roxydogg28]

Hello,

New to haying.
I Have an older Ford 250 Square Baler that for the most part works very well.

The one issue I am having is that about 3/4 of the bales I make are crescent shaped. I've baled approx. 450 bales so far on three different small fields.

I have the manual, and I have read it fairly well, and the main adjustment that is called out for this issue is a "flex plate" which can be pushed toward the front of the baler, so the "sweep arm" moves more hay to the opposite side of the bale chamber.

That flex plate is already at it's max adjustment.

My spring adjustments on my bale chute are measured out to the same adjustment length.

The only other thing off the top of my head I can think of that needs to be addressed aside from normal maintenance is the sweep arm shear pin needs to be replaced as it sheared off...not sure if this would cause the issue.

I've tried to really pay attention to see if my windrows and the way they are raked play any part, but there is no consistency in that theory.

I have to say though that it seems the larger windrows usually produce my consistent not so crescent shaped bales.

Not sure how the plunger in the bale chute is setup, like it will flex to one side if the wood guides are worn down or something. Anything to do with operating RPM's, pickup placement of windrow....closer to chute or farther away, etc.

Any ideas/help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Matt

[Greyhorse]

I'm not sure how that baler works, never seen one; but it sounds to me like the feeder fork that feeds the hay into the bale chamber needs to be adjusted, it's putting too much hay on one side and not enough on the other..... I'm guessing too much on the left since it does better with a large windrow.

[Roxydogg28]

Thanks for the quick reply. I am def. going to replace that shear pin, and adjust the length, I really hope that helps out.

I'm not sure how that baler works, never seen one; but it sounds to me like the feeder fork that feeds the hay into the bale chamber needs to be adjusted, it's putting too much hay on one side and not enough on the other..... I'm guessing too much on the left since it does better with a large windrow.

[Dolphin]

Faster ground speed on the smaller windrows will square em up. If they're really small you can rake a few together to make one windrow.

[Roxydogg28]

Yeah, the fields that I've been doing are in their infancy and need some work, with that said the fields are pretty inconsistent, overseeding and fertilizing coming this year.

So, certain parts of a row will be good sized, consistent, and ready for baling, then other parts of the same row will be very small and patchy. RPM's on the tractor are set, tractor is in gear at a certain speed, I would need to stop, put the tractor in another gear and get moving again, Would that make the intake of hay more inconsistent?

I can def. see where putting more time into raking rows together to make consistencies might help, and it's a lot easier to deal with raking goofy rows than it is to deal with 300+ messed up bales.

Faster ground speed on the smaller windrows will square em up. If they're really small you can rake a few together to make one windrow.

[Roxydogg28]

Found a pic on another site of someone else's baler which looks almost identical as what I've got.

[Rodney R]

What you have to do is vary the rpm's of the tractor and the ground speed to the size of the roll you are baling. Just cause it's a 540rpm pto, doesn't mean it has to be run there if there is very little volume going in the baler. We've encountered stuff like this in the past, mostly when we have some sort of drought - you just can't get enough material into the baler to make an even flake. You have to do what ever it takes to get nice bales. It sorta sounds like if you'd rake several rows together, you'd maybe have too much hay at spots for the baler.

Rodney

[Roxydogg28]

I'll have to play around with the gearing to find a better setting which will allow for ground speed variability you mention while also being able to adjust the pto rpms....def. a learning experience and I thank everyone for their advice/input.

With regard to ground speeds, what are the ideal min and max for operating the baler...that is if I had perfect windrows.

Also, should the windrow fill the entire width of the feed chamber? 9 times out of 10 mine don't...at max they'll fill 3/4.

[Dolphin]

Vary your speed and RPM so the baler gets a good feed of hay and it will make nice bales. There is no ideal speed unless your field is ideal. If it takes a couple gears higher for a stretch go for it. We are equipment operators, sometimes we are pretty busy operating the equipment.

[country boy]

replace the shear pin in the sweep arm this is a important part of moving the hay into the chamber. on my 47 ih baler there are 3 different settings for this arm so it will feed more to left center or right depending on field conditions. also on the pickup my baler preferes to be fed from the outside ( away from the tractor) so the sweep arm can grab a good wad of grass to make the flake.when i bought my baling tractor the tack cable was broken but the manual said 70 to 75 strokes a min on the baler 15 sec on the watch x4 replaced the cable and only running about 1600 rpms on the tractor so look through your manual to see if if will give you a idea

[Roxydogg28]

Thank you everyone for your help. Baled a small field this weekend, varied speed which with that tractor was no walk in the park and combined up to 4 rows in some very light areas to make larger windrows. Result. Perfect square bales.....well almost perfect. The shape was square and all bales were consistent....I still need to sharpen the blades as the ends of two bales would be stuck together at times.

All in all, a very good goood day. Thank you all for your help!

[Norseman]

When I first got my IH 47 baler I also had problems with bales sticking together. I found that the plunger had too much lateral play. When I corrected that it forced the two knife edges to pass much closer together and the problem disappeared. Good luck and I'm jealous that you've actually gotten to cut & bale already. It's still raining 2-3 times a week in ND so we haven't been able to cut yet...

[Dolphin]

Great news!