Horsepower needed for baler

Hi,
I have Ford tractors (861, 841, 881) that have about 40hp at pto. I am considering a few different balers but don't know if I can run them using the tractors I have. The balers are JD337, NH320, or a NH311. Anyone know the horsepower specs for these balers? I don't want to push the tractors to the max. Would like the option of being able to use a kicker and pull a wagon behind. The ground is pretty level and only about 30 acres to be cut. Any other advice on balers that would match up with these tractors would be welcome! I'm new to balers and just starting to look for haying equipment.
Thanks in advance!
 
If your ground is real level you maybe OK. The trouble is not the horsepower needed to run the baler, it is the weight of the tractor to handle the baler PLUS a load of hay safely. None of your 40 HP tractors is really going to be the best pulling a baler and a kicker wagon.
 
Thank you. The weight of the tractor is about 5000oibs with the rear pie weights attached. Also have a set of half-tracks that can be attached which will increase traction quite a bit.
 
My uncle bales hay with an 861 diesel and a 327 JD with a
kicker and wagon. It's a little light in the pants but if
your ground is level you should be alright.
 

Since I cut back five years ago I have been baling with my 971D. As others have said power is not a question, and I often pull a wagon behind the baler. The problem is in the traction on a hill that I have in one field. I will be putting the front weight box on it this spring.
 
You should be ok. Might be a little light for a newer baler, but should work.

My slightly older baler )NH 270) is a little bit less capacity, and works well with my 35hp IHC 300 tractor and a 100 bale wagon behind, on hills. The 960 Ford works good with the
baler too of course. The lower hp 300 is actually nicer, with the hi-lo 10 speed and live pto I can match speeds easier than the 960. Your SoS might be the real deal?

As others say, hp isn't so much of a deal as is weight and many speeds to chose from to match the windrow size.

Paul
 
back in the day we pulled a ih baler with kickerand pulled a 16 foot wagon with a jd 1020, worked great , and a few years later i pulled a new holland 310 with kicker and 18 foot wagon with a 3600 ford and it was a load felt like it wasa to much for it, i think a 55 hp tractor would be great for it.
 
My baler tractor quit one year, so in a pinch I pulled a NH 316 and an 18' kicker wagon with a David Brown 880. Like the others have said, it did ok on the level, but once the wagon got 1/2 full you didn't even want to look at a hill. I went down the road and borrowed my buddy's 756 to finish the field.
Pete
 
I don't know these new balers but I pulled a McCormic with kicker and wagon behind a 28 horsepower John Deere B with no problems at all. So unless the new baler takes way morepower to run you should be fine with the 861 as it has the lower first gear (I think) and LPTO than your 841 ( only a 4 speed with no LPTO) I know I would not have a SOS tractor for anything but if you like it then you would have more speeds for to adjust for size of windrow.
 
A baler wont pull your tractor 'to the max'. You have plenty of tractor.However,if pulling a wagon,hills may tend to push the tractor around.On flat ground,no problem.I've baled several times with a Farmall H.Neighbor across the road pulled a baler with a 901 on 50+ acres for over 30 years.Thousands of similar small tractors have baled hay for 'always'.Go for it. In a year or two you can upgrade to a 4000,or 5000 if you want.Start with the tractors you already own.
 
I've baled a lot of hay with a JD B or a Farmall 200. Not much horsepower there. Got pushed around
some with a wagon on behind the baler. Ran out of traction a few times too. Have to choose your
route carefully. Takes a little planning without live power, but you have to work with what you
have.
 
Years ago I used a JD-14T behind my 841S. It did it but it was a rocking ride at best. Every time the plunger hit to pack hay the tractor would sort of rock back but it did it with no other problems. I have since switch to a heavy tractor when baling square bales with live PTO
 
My Grandpa baled for many years with a Super H Farmall - rated 33 h.p. Any of your Fords would work with any of those balers.
However... the 4-speed in your 841 has the fastest low gear, and the fewest gear choices, so it would be my last pick of those
models. If your Select-O-Speed is in good shape, that would be my first choice for baling. Since your ground is fairly flat and you
have the tractors weighted, there shouldn't be any problem.
 
You may need to rake smaller windrows if your tractor is below 60 HP and does not have creeper gears.
 
I'm not as familiar with the jd baker
but we have a 315 new holland that is
similar to the ones you are looking at
as well as a older ,269. It takes
more tractor than you might think to
run that 315 compared to the 269. If
I.was going to.bale with a smaller
lighter gas tractor like yours I would
be looking for a little bit lighter
and lower capacity baler. Won't move
the tractor around as bad.
 
IMHO, the 311 would be a nice baler for the HP you have. I've not read good things about the 320, fast plunger speed,
parts flying apart. Kicker, JD pan kickers are plentiful used and so my vote would be the 337 if you are going that
route.
 
My Ford 841 has a Sherman auxilary hi/lo transmission, since I could actually gear down below the standard 1st gear. Though this also slows down the pto.
Now I think about it, maybe that's a good thing since I hear you shouldn't run the NH320 at normal pto speed since at the over 100 plunger cycles/minute will damage the baler over time. Then I could also keep the engine RPMs in the power curve rather than throttling down. Seems like it would be good ... but I have no idea how it would work out on the field and which gear would be best. Would have to figure that out in the field.
 
I'll almost bet you have a Sherman combo like I have in my 841S. Put the Sherman in neutral and then pull out side ways on the handle. If it pulls out about a 1/2 inch then pull it up and then you will be in the standard gears. It took me a couple years to figure that one out on my 841S till I looked at the shift plate that is under the steering wheel
 
In that case you should run ALL your PTO equipment with it in the standard gear as in Sherman out and up that way your not running your machine to slow or to fast since it over drive the PTO spins faster and in under it spins slower
 
(quoted from post at 12:38:03 02/20/18) My Ford 841 has a Sherman auxilary hi/lo transmission, since I could actually gear down below the standard 1st gear. Though this also slows down the pto.
Now I think about it, maybe that's a good thing since I hear you shouldn't run the NH320 at normal pto speed since at the over 100 plunger cycles/minute will damage the baler over time. Then I could also keep the engine RPMs in the power curve rather than throttling down. Seems like it would be good ... but I have no idea how it would work out on the field and which gear would be best. Would have to figure that out in the field.

Most equipment should be run at or close to its rated speed, but it is particularly true with square hay balers, especially older ones.
 
How fast you need to run especially with an older baler is determined by the size of the windrow so you are putting about the same amount of hay in the baler all the time.Thats where having multiple gears comes in,when the hay is heavy slow down ground speed and when the hay is light speed the ground speed up.I usually square bale with my old Oliver 62-T baler pulled by my D15 Allis Chalmers I can shift ranges on the go makes it nice as that old Oliver doesn't like to have hay crowded into it.
 
(quoted from post at 16:38:03 02/20/18)
Now I think about it, maybe that's a good thing since [b:233c445b5c]I hear you shouldn't run the NH320 at normal pto speed since at the over 100 plunger cycles/minute will damage the baler over time[/b:233c445b5c]. Then I could also keep the engine RPMs in the power curve rather than throttling down. Seems like it would be good ... but I have no idea how it would work out on the field and which gear would be best. Would have to figure that out in the field.

Just the opposite is true. You want to bust a baler, run it slow. I'd rather see you adding 10-15 RPM than slowing it that much. Best practice is to run the baler at about the suggested RPM from the manufacturer and vary your ground speed to suit conditions.
 
I'd say the 861 would be the best choice. Live power. Baled "hundreds" of acres with an 860, 532 ford baler and flat racks. Kicker will be heavier but if you don't have hills OK. Don't have to fill it up either. Hardly ever put more than 100 bales on a wagon here. The NH311 would be my first choice, then the Deere.
 
Just came from a farm auction out in Amish country Lancaster Cnty PA. I was one of only a couple guys that were not Amish, and probably close to a couple hundred people there. There were two balers: NH 311 and NH 276. Both had their own engines which is something I think I'd like to have since some of my tractors are not live PTO, and don't want to beat up on my Ford 881 select-o-speed tranny.

Again, this is my first foray into balers so don't know much.
The 311 was my main interest for going. It had good sheet metal, very little rust, well greased, everything seemed tight (e.g. bearings). But when I stuck my head in the chamber where the hay is brought in, there was some bent and roughed up sheet metal along the edges inside that was not noticeable when standing in front. It was bright and shiny like it happened yesterday. There was also what looked like the remains of something hinged on the top of the chamber just outside the plunger area but was mangled up. Next to it was a hole with something that sort of looked like a nozzle but bent up and flopping loose. I later thought maybe it was part of a sprayer for treating the hay, but there was no sprayer on the baler. I saw in the 276 that same metal hinge that holds a plate that dangles downward, which was gone in the 311. Also, there was a single fork that moves the hay into the plunger chamber. I wasn't sure if there should be a pair next to each other as I saw in the 276 for comparison, but figured so. Kinda looked like something bad got sucked into the mechanism. Maybe this was no problem or easy fix, but I shied away from that baler since I had no idea. The 276 was definitely more worn, with rust and sheet metal rot on the top baler, and some in the chute, but the mechanism actually looked okay to me. I happened to rotate the flywheel a smidge, heard a gurggle, and a bunch of oil/water shot out the engine's air filter where the oil cup was attached. Did it everytime I moved the flywheel. Didn't seem like a good sign. It was a 4 cylinder Wisconsin engine and looked well used. Again, not knowing for sure and given the rot, I shied away from this one too. So I am still looking for a baler, but slowly learning about the balers. I don't know what exactly to look for other than the obvious bent or broken parts. Be nice to know what to look for particularly on the knotters.
I think best for me might be one with an engine and kicker. Might be hard to find one not beat up or have to pay a ransom for. Was hoping to find a non-junker on my budget of under $3000, but have a feeling it won't be easy to find.
I didn't stick around to see what the 311 and 276 sold for.
 

One thing you want to watch on the 800 series Ford (probably 600 series too) is the drawbar hanger. That design only has 4 bolts, real close together, holding it on. It's common, at least around me, to see those bolt holes wallowed out or retapped to a larger size. Ford should have braced to to the draw bar mount and sides of the pumpkin. The side to side swaying motion of a baler has broken a lot of those mounts.
 
(quoted from post at 00:36:19 02/20/18) I meant 5000 lbs on that last post.
good evening farmerblair, I think you should be ok hp wise, the 881 according to tractor data is around 56 engine hp, and 46 pto hp so should be ok for hp. I would suggest to help you out on the weight end of things to get -40 windshieldwasher fluid in your tires, that way you don't have to worry about calcium rotting out your rims and should give you another 1000. lbs gvw. the more weight you have blair the less beating you and the tractor will take :lol: I tried in july cutting with a case 310b at 3500 lbs and about 25 to 30 hp and the tractor and me both got a beating from my jd. 336 baler :cry: so I picked up a Minneapolis Moline m5 at 67 hp and 8000 lbs with a live pto and amplitorque tranny and it doesn't even know the balers back there :D I took over last year the haying here at home and it's been a steep learning curve for sure, but there are a lot of knowledgable people on here with a lot of experience who will help you out.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top