Kubota L4610HST and hay

RichNJKubota · Jun 30, 2004

We did it.
Did our 10 acres of hay with the L4610. Cut the hay with an old JD 480 mower conditioner, raked it with a wheel rake and baled with a NH 320 w/kicker.
I did not think the Kubota had enough power to pull the baler and a hay wagon but had no problem even pulling with a full load of hay in the wagon. The hay field has a very gentle slope that was not enough to cause any problems.
The action of the baler did make the tractor rock back and forth when sitting. But when moving did not notice it.
This is the first year we did it ourselves. Prior to this we had a local farmer do it. But now farmers are retiring and the land is growing McMansions.
Since there has been some discussion on the forum about smaller tractors doing hay - thought I'd let you know.

Rich
Now, if I just had a few bucks to buy that drum cutter and rake/tedder from CCM......

grandad · Jun 30, 2004

If you've read some of the old posts on this subject, you know there seem to be two primary concerns with using smaller tractors to operate and pull a baler. One is having enough weight in the tractor to control what is being pulled, and the other is stress to the pto drivetrain from the operation of the baler.

Sounds like on your land the weight problem is manageable. Did you get any sense of whether the baler operation was feeding back any excess shock to the pto as it cycled?

So long as that does not seem to be an issue, doing this with 10 acres a couple times each year is probably not asking too much.

By the way, I can remember our old baler rocking the entire rig back and forth from 40 years ago (with a Farmall Super M!). Thanks for the observation!

art · Jul 1, 2004

Rick, it's good to know that the tractor did it for you and I would have told you that it should be able to. The part that I find unique is the fact in this area that size baler, the larest in it's class is normally pulled by 100 horsepower plus size tractors in this area. I would have tried to find the 310 model which would be more appropriate for the tractor size! Good luck.

DAP · Jul 1, 2004

Rich ... can you feed us image hungry geeks with some shots of the baler and tractor?

RichNJKubota · Jul 1, 2004

My neighbor took a picture. When the film is developed I'll post it.
The NH 320 baler worked fine with the Kubota. One of the neighbors has a 310 and it seems like it's basically the same machine with the exception of the way the hay is put into the bale chamber. The 320 has a more elaborate system that looks like it could really process alot of hay - more than the 310.

Rich

steveky · Jul 3, 2004

I've baled a couple of acres with my L3010 and an antique #3 MF baler. The baler was given to me as it was locked up and should have been headed for the scrape iron pile. I can only bale a couple of windrows without the baler getting extremely hot. It actually caught fire last year, the neighbors got a real chuckle out of that. Usually I bale some, haul some, have a cold one, then start all over. I'm just glad I have one good piece of equipment that doesn't require some sort of engineering each time its used. The Kubota is working hard with the baler, but seems to do just fine. My neighbor wants me to do some custom baling, thats funny.

Steve

slowzuki · Jul 5, 2004

Do you think maybe a bearing is gone in it? I've never heard of a baler catching fire!

steveky · Jul 5, 2004

Very possible, I know the flywheel bushing needs replacing and it probably needs new shims on the plunger. Just not going to spend any money on it. Its still going, just gets alittle warm. It may be getting better, it didn't catch on fire this year.

JimME · Jul 7, 2004

Rich,

Whatever were you thinking? There's at least 2 dozen messages on here that say you shouldn't have done and couldn't have done what you did. The nerve of you to attempt to bail hay with a CUT.

Shame on you!

You're not related to the Wright Brothers are you? I think everyone told them they couldn't fly either and look what happened.

I'm glad to hear that your 4610 made some hay. I'll look forward to seeing a picture.

RichNJKubota · Jul 16, 2004

Here's the only picture available. My neighbor (a retired farmer) took this with a disposable 35mm camera.
Not a very good picture but you get the idea.