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Changing of the Guard

30K views 149 replies 21 participants last post by  Gearclash 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Last week I decided that I was having too many problems with my 10 year old New Holland round balers, considering how much we have yet to bale this season. Called two local dealers for prices and bought 2 new New Holland Roll-Belt 560 Specialty Crop balers from one of them. They were delivered yesterday and we put them in service today. These are the old balers. Tire Sky Wheel Cloud Vehicle
Tire Wheel Sky Plant Vehicle


I will try to get a picture of the new balers soon. I will miss the BR series balers for the most part. They make the nicest bales of any baler out there. Unfortunately, I am making more bales in a fall than what a BR series baler can endure, unless it is in perfect shape going into the season. I plan to sell the two balers pictured, but keep my oldest baler around as it is worthless on paper, but still very functional yet if I ever get it put back together, so that will be my old times fix I suppose.
 

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#3 ·
You will like the new balers. A couple of tips.

When attaching the baler harness to the tractor harness be sure the three locating lugs on the baler connector match the slots in the tractor harness. It is possible to force the connectors together when the lugs are not in the correct position. Most of the time you will only get a CAN message on the screen, but you can also push pins out of the connector.

Copy the page with the fault codes and carry it with you so if a fault code is displayed in the uppoer left of the screen you will know what has happened and what to do. If a code does not clear and you do not know what to do. Turn the operators panel off and back on. A new code will be displayed in the upper left corner. This code will indicate what you need to do. Example, if for some reason the duckbill or knife does not return to the home position you will get a code first which indicates a problem with the net system. Turning the panel off and back on will give a different code which when looked up will tell you the duckbill or knife is not in the home position. I had a guy recently who bought the baler somewhere else call and said he had been trying for hours to get the code to go away so he couold bale. Had him going in under a minute because the code which appeared after restarting the panel clearly indicated what needed to be done. In his case the knife was not home. He ran out of net and I think he pushed the wrong button that moved the knife instead of the duckbill.
 
#5 ·
Thanks for the tips mike10! For now I have both books in the tractors, so I should bookmark the error section then. One thing I learned about the CAN system by accident is that the monitor and baler are matched. Can't switch balers and monitors anymore, at least without a some sort of relearning procedure I suppose.

Jim, the two retiring balers have 11,000 (approx) and 12,400 bales on them. That is nowhere near the bales I like to put on a baler before I quit on them, but both of these had a shady past. I think that how a baler is used and cared for early on will greatly influence how it holds up long term. Problems this fall: tailgate roller bearing went out and ruined the roller. That one could have been prevented, my fault. Main stuffer bearing went out. Stuffer shaft came loose in the clamp, had to weld it solid. Broke the end out of a sledge roll. Caught the lock collars cracking on a back wrap roller and had to fix that problem, that maybe could have been seen and fixed preseason, don't know. Also had a reoccurrence of the shoulder breaking that retains the stuffer slip clutch. Throw that in the learning curve category as it was a shop made part that failed, following the OEM failure last fall. The shop made part should have been made of 4140 pre hard, not mild steel. We changed the design of the bushing a little so that mild steel would hold up. One baler started breaking tine bars, both ends. I had put a heavier steel tine on both balers to cope with corn stalks and found out that the tine bolts couldn't handle the increased load and would break. Oh, had a main shaft bearing go too. I had far fewer problems running up to 20,000 bales on my oldest baler than what I had with these two.
 
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#8 ·
Vol, I figure that 90% of what I do is corn stalks. What these two balers did before I got them is unknown, but they came from OK. Good chance they did all hay, but may have been sandy soils.

Jim, my oldest baler (not in the pictures) has 23,000 bales on it, used in the same conditions as the other two. Ironic, isn't it?
 
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#10 ·
The operators panel and baler controller are not matched. I have used the same operators panel, on my test stand, during pre-delivery since 2014 on all the roll belt balers we have sold. I do update the software when new versions are available, but the brains for the most part are in the controller. If you had CAN displayed on the screen after attaching the baler, then you probably did not have the connector oriented right. That plastic housing can allow the connectors to go together without the mating lugs inserting into the grooves of the other connector end.
 
#11 ·
I'm sure I had the connectors right. Checked and double checked them. Neither baler would power up properly until I switched monitors.
 
#12 ·
The only other thing would be the connector at the bottom of the panels. That connector is hard to lock in place. You need to push the gray or black cover away from the plug so the plug can be completely inserted and locked in the operators panel connector. A bit of a pain. Otherwise, there is no difference in the panels or harnesses or controllers
 
#13 ·
Vol, I figure that 90% of what I do is corn stalks. What these two balers did before I got them is unknown, but they came from OK. Good chance they did all hay, but may have been sandy soils.
Jim, my oldest baler (not in the pictures) has 23,000 bales on it, used in the same conditions as the other two. Ironic, isn't it?
what model was your oldest Bailer that has 23000 on it
 
#14 · (Edited by Moderator)
what model was your oldest Bailer that has 23000 on it
*Its a 2005 New Holland BR780A. I bought it in February of 2008 with 1500 bales on it. The serial number ends in 10500. rjmoses owns SN ending in 10501 if I recall correctly.
 
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#15 ·
The new balers. Tire Cloud Sky Vehicle Wheel
 

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#17 ·
I would really like to hear how you like your new balers, we have a 2013 BR7060 and the neighbor has a 2018 RB560 bale slice and we can run circles around his baler in corn stalks, I baled 500 for him this year and it was horrible.
interesting to hear I've never run one of the new balers. What do you thinks holding that are rb560 back, that your BR outperforms it
 
#20 ·
So far my 560s are way out performing the BRs. I’m told the stuffer needs to be retimed from the factory.
 
#22 ·
I conversed by email with a farmer that lives close to Dubuque,Ia that averages rd baling 7-10K of cornstalks per yr except this yr was less due to weather related problems. He stated his JD 568 has 75,000 bales on it with approximately 80% being cornstalks.
Why do you have to turn every thread into a color war?
 
#23 ·
I think I have not turned every thread that I've replied to into a color war!!

Sorry that you disliked what I posted but I find it difficult to understand how a late model piece of highly recommended name brand equipment can become virtually unusable in such a a short period of time/bale count.

In the future I will refrain from making replies that have reference to a different color/brand of equipment other than brand in thread.

After all I thought these type forums were called ""discussion forums"" for a reason but I'll abide by your view point.

Jim
 
#25 ·
mike10, apparently on the 560s the auger to stuffer finger timing can make a significant difference in performance. I don’t know any details about it, I will gladly refer you to the dealer I am working with if you want. Both area dealers I talked to are doing this to the Specialty Crop 560s.
 
#26 ·
I have a BR7060 with a 1.5 Meter pickup. I absolutely hate baling corn stalks. It will make a beautiful bale, but the pickup is constantly plugging. On a good day, I can make maybe 15 bales an hour. I notice that the stuffer drive arm has two holes in it. Has anyone ever tried the other hole?
 
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