Ready. Set. Roll.

By Steve Thompson
Progressive Farmer Contributing Editor

With the amount of hay fed last winter plus drought in parts of the Plains and West, there likely will be localized hay shortages this year. Every bale will be important. So, the last thing you need is a balky baler. As they say, time is quality in the hay business, and quality is money.

It’s not possible to cover every maintenance scenario for a round baler. But there is a doable list of preventative maintenance you can perform to dramatically raise the odds your baler will stay in the field. I wrote an article for The Progressive Farmer in 1995 in which I stated, “The hayfield is a lonely place when you’re ‘broke’ down.” Nothing has changed since then.

Here’s a checklist of maintenance items to work through.

Drive Components. Check the main gearbox oil level. Its life expectancy is all about the oil level. Check, adjust and lubricate the chains. A worn or stiff chain causes premature wear on sprockets. Check the power-take-off driveline and lubricate, especially the CV joint.

Pickup Components. Check the drive belt and idler. Throw an extra belt behind the seat of the truck. It’s responsible for picking up every ton of hay that goes through your baler. Count the missing pickup teeth and replace them. These abused, hard workers are largely responsible for the final shape of your bale. Look at the cam bearings and cam surfaces. It’s easy to overlook wear, and when your pickup locks up—well, you don’t have time for this.

Inspect the rotor strippers, if equipped. These little guys can work like a dream in fine-stemmed hay. But if you cross the road into a hybrid sudan or cane field, you could be there awhile. Most baler manufacturers recommend changing rotor strippers when they are worn 3 to 4 millimeters.

Twine Wrapping System. There are four ways the twine arm(s) can be moved across the bale to tie the bale. They can be moved by an electrical actuator, a hydraulic cylinder or by a mechanical trip method driven by the baler itself. For you seasoned baler guys working some of those old balers out there, pull the rope and move the tying arm across the bale. I will explain the No. 1 reason why each of these fails to work properly. But beware: They all will occasionally fail to cut the twine after the bale is formed.

â-¶ Electrical tying: Battery voltage is low to actuator. The actuator requires a ton of amps to operate. If the cab in your tractor doesn’t have a factory plug to use for running the baler, go directly to the battery with your monitor leads.

â-¶ Hydraulic tying: Leaky cylinders and hoses are an issue, but the most common problem is twine wrap consistency. Tractor remotes are hard to “feather,” and with a restrictor in the hydraulic circuit to control oil flow, arm speed changes with hydraulic oil temperature. When you begin baling for the day, the bale will have more twine on it than it will have when the hydraulic oil heats from normal use. A variable resistor fixes the problem, but you must adjust it as the oil temperature changes.

â-¶ Mechanical tying: This system works similar to the one on a small square baler. When the adjustable trip arm trips at the selected bale size, a pawl engages and activates the tying system. Belt slippage from the driving belt can be a problem because of accumulated dust and debris. Always blow out the tying system area each day before use, and keep an extra tying system drive belt handy.

â-¶ Pull rope tying: The No. 1 problem with this system is that the rope breaks because it rotted during the winter. Grab some twine, and you’ll be good to go.

Automatic Net-Wrapping System. My dad always said if it had the word “automatic” in front of it, we should get ready to work on it. I knew he was right when we bought our first net-wrapping system. But it’s different today. They are a dream to run.

The biggest cause of net-wrapping problems is due to poor-quality wrap. It’s important the roll is wound straight. As a matter of fact, the first thing you should do if you’re having wrapping problems is change the roll of wrap.

Rolls. Check each roller for straightness and that all shafts and bearings turn freely. There should be no rubber missing from rubber pads. Make sure the pads are worn evenly. Replace all noisy or tight bearings.

When baling, it’s not a bad idea to stop every half hour or so to check the bearings for excess heat buildup. Heat means the bearing is failing. Fire may not be far around the corner.

Electrical. Check the electrical harnesses for damage (especially if the baler has been around cows). For some reason, cows love to eat wires, and farmers like to drive away from the baler after it’s unhooked without disconnecting the main wiring harness.

Belts. Belts are the workhorses on balers that use belts for compression. Some farmers can get a ton of wear out of belts; then there are those who go through a set of belts often.

If you have rocky conditions, pieces of wood or cow bones in the field, try to keep the rake high enough to avoid raking this debris into the windrow. If you are finding holes in your belts about the size of a nickel, look for rocks or foreign objects. My neighbor once thought someone was shooting his belts at close range with a shotgun. No, he was shooting rocks through his belts.

Never allow belts to “roll” on the guides. Adjust the tracking so belts stay close to the center of the guides. Otherwise, your belts will get long strings hanging off the sides of the belts. These “hangnails” need to be cut off using a sharp knife. The strings can be easily caught up by the hay, which causes premature belt wear. If you want your baler belts to last, remember: No strings attached!

Lacing and/or pins should be replaced when worn; size and splice belts, as needed, when you find it difficult to consistently make bales with good conformation. Worn-out pins will cause premature lacing wear.

Hydraulics. All balers use hydraulic cylinders to raise the gate to dump the bale. Some use hydraulics to supply pressure to form the bale density; some use a hydraulic cylinder to raise the pickup cylinder; and others use a hydraulic cylinder to operate the tying system.

It’s important the tractor hooked to the baler has a strong hydraulic system with no leaks. Many times, the poor ol’ baler gets blamed for causing a problem when it’s really the tractor.

The thing about a hydraulic cylinder is that it can be leaking internally (past the sealing ring and into the other end of the cylinder) and look perfect. The baler’s manual will usually show you how to test hydraulic cylinders.

A valve body must restrict oil if the baler uses hydraulic tension for bale density. This valve is usually adjustable. If anything (like a blown “O” ring or a piece of trash) gets under this valve, the baler can’t build pressure to restrict the tension arm, which translates into a loose bale. Usually, removing the trash will fix the problem.

Safety. The round baler is one of the most dangerous pieces of equipment on any farm. Inspect all warning lights, shields and warning decals.

Make sure the fire extinguisher is charged. If you don’t have a water fire extinguisher on your baler, buy yourself one now for your next birthday.

I believe one of the best safety moves I ever did was to install extended rear-view mirrors on both sides of my baling tractor. The width of the round baler makes it nearly impossible to make a safe left turn without pulling off into the ditch on the right so you can see if someone is behind you.

The Last Windrow. Owning and operating a round baler can be one of the most rewarding and profitable jobs on the farm. But if the baler is not operating properly, baling hay is a frustrating and expensive task.

A careful check of your baler during the off-season—and between cuttings—is the best way to head off problems when your baler hits the field. It takes a little money to keep a baler in shape, but as any “baler man” knows, it takes time, money and good weather to bale hay.

(BAS)

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