Bruce from Can.
Well-known Member
- Location
- Woodville, Ontario, Canada
Been baling hay since I was 13 , and I have never in the past 44 years had this happen. New Big round balers do a much better job of sweeping the field clean than balers of years gone by. And there is more clearness in the throat for the hay to pass pver the pickup as it enters the baler. It seems to have achieved this, the pickup is smaller, and the bars holding the pickup teeth turn faster and have very little clearance between the bars that hold the teeth and the stripper bands on the outside of the pickup. So if the baler drops into a hole , or hits some other object that is hidden from view by the windrow of hay causing the pickup to bottom out , the stripper bands will come into contact with the rotating bars holding the teeth.
Last year we had too much rain, and I left some ruts in the field while haying, bales over this area, and baler dropped into some wheel tracks 4-6? deep at the end of the field, I didn?t think much about it. While later the pick up wasn?t working as it should. Bent a stripper band and ripped it right off !! Never seen anything like that happen before.
So while I checked out the carnage under the pickup, I found two more bands bent a bit farther over from the broken band , bent another occasion . Both of these other bands had little more than a quarter inch of clearance before hitting the rotating bars. My baler has about 3000 bales through it now , and it is a Kubota. Went to my buddies place he has a year old NH , crawled under his pickup for a look, similar story. Many bands with small bends in them from bottoming out, and almost contacting the rotating bars holding the pickup teeth.
So if you have a late model baler, crawl under the pickup and have a look now and then. New balers are not the rough rugged machines of days gone by. And you had better have billiard table smooth fields. Just a heads up .
Last year we had too much rain, and I left some ruts in the field while haying, bales over this area, and baler dropped into some wheel tracks 4-6? deep at the end of the field, I didn?t think much about it. While later the pick up wasn?t working as it should. Bent a stripper band and ripped it right off !! Never seen anything like that happen before.
So while I checked out the carnage under the pickup, I found two more bands bent a bit farther over from the broken band , bent another occasion . Both of these other bands had little more than a quarter inch of clearance before hitting the rotating bars. My baler has about 3000 bales through it now , and it is a Kubota. Went to my buddies place he has a year old NH , crawled under his pickup for a look, similar story. Many bands with small bends in them from bottoming out, and almost contacting the rotating bars holding the pickup teeth.
So if you have a late model baler, crawl under the pickup and have a look now and then. New balers are not the rough rugged machines of days gone by. And you had better have billiard table smooth fields. Just a heads up .