My 1012 do NOT have the tie off feature. I presume you mean that in order to have a very stable stack when unloading, you switch the 4th or 5th tier around to crosslink bales with those of the other layers. I watch/count the slices from the first table and when I feel like it, I stop and rearrange a few bales that keeps the entire stack together. This is only when I deliver to a customer on the road who has a garage for a barn. She and her kids then have some fun knocking the stack down to put it in their loft. For my own barn I bring in 56 on the wagon and another 8 - 10 on the first table and dump them in front of the elevator helter skelter. As a result, I'm in and out in the time it takes to roll the rear forks forward to accept another load (60 seconds). Other models (with higher numbers) have a feature to perform the cross tie automatically when the operator wants it done.
Yes my rig goes thru a 10' high sliding door. This is necessary when I have a customer coming for the hay (usually the next day) and I keep 40 to 70 for them on the stacker and inside my shed (which uses 10' sheets of T1-11 for the door panels). This also works out when you are watching the weather. I could dump the stack in the shed if I wanted to avoid the elevator, and can reload the stack with my model, but I would have to lower the platform to exit the shed.
Maintenance consists of replacing a few rusty steel hydraulic lines with rubber, replacing the steel cable in the table rack, and blowing the chaff out of the chains and levers and sensors with a leaf blower after each cutting. Chaff buildup can prevent the 1st table sensor from recognizing that its full.
It was a bit tricky to pick up bales going around corners but you get the hang of it pretty quick. I added a hydraulic chute lift to it. This helps you shake a bale loose from the chute if you get a wet or loose one stuck in it. I add a few quarts of oil to the reservoir as necessay. When you raise the stack, some oil sometime squirts out of the cylinder breather probably because of a worn seal.
I want the stacks to tip over in my case. Don't want anybody getting hit (people or dogs). The 'reward' for a bale coming loose from the stacker or the elevator and hitting someone (must be a head shot) is a full glass of Jim Beam (no ice, maybe a shot of water added).
I have a pretty severe side hill that bales sometime even tumble down when exiting the baler. No problem with my stacker, though. I added some 2x4 on the edges of the first table to keep them in place on the hill. If the load off the first table comes forward at you when going downhill. that can be a problem. Its easliy solved by adjusting the table lift stop lever to push it further onto the rack. I don't have a problem with uneven bale lengths as long as they fit onto the first table as a pair. Thats a baler issue, not a stacker problem. The only real problem I have is on 2nd or third cutting when the bales can get too heavy. If I forget to adjust the bale tension, they can come out 150# and I never know it until its time to put them up the elevator. That's lost profit as well as possible mold or back problems. My customers like a "light" bale to make it easy to throw up into their barns or trucks.
It does take some mechanical awareness. Baler and rake are offset to the right. But the stacker is loading from the left. That means knowing how to go thru gates, driveways, shed doors etc. without bending something. With a stack wagon, the ideal hay field is about 1/4 mile long and 20' wide cul de sac. That gives you a full stack in a down and back operation and done for the day. It works out for mowing, raking and baling, too. Yes Mom can run it. Doesn't take much power at all but there is a large tongue load. I towed it home on the back of a Suburban. It was on hard on the bump stops.
Yes my rig goes thru a 10' high sliding door. This is necessary when I have a customer coming for the hay (usually the next day) and I keep 40 to 70 for them on the stacker and inside my shed (which uses 10' sheets of T1-11 for the door panels). This also works out when you are watching the weather. I could dump the stack in the shed if I wanted to avoid the elevator, and can reload the stack with my model, but I would have to lower the platform to exit the shed.
Maintenance consists of replacing a few rusty steel hydraulic lines with rubber, replacing the steel cable in the table rack, and blowing the chaff out of the chains and levers and sensors with a leaf blower after each cutting. Chaff buildup can prevent the 1st table sensor from recognizing that its full.
It was a bit tricky to pick up bales going around corners but you get the hang of it pretty quick. I added a hydraulic chute lift to it. This helps you shake a bale loose from the chute if you get a wet or loose one stuck in it. I add a few quarts of oil to the reservoir as necessay. When you raise the stack, some oil sometime squirts out of the cylinder breather probably because of a worn seal.
I want the stacks to tip over in my case. Don't want anybody getting hit (people or dogs). The 'reward' for a bale coming loose from the stacker or the elevator and hitting someone (must be a head shot) is a full glass of Jim Beam (no ice, maybe a shot of water added).
I have a pretty severe side hill that bales sometime even tumble down when exiting the baler. No problem with my stacker, though. I added some 2x4 on the edges of the first table to keep them in place on the hill. If the load off the first table comes forward at you when going downhill. that can be a problem. Its easliy solved by adjusting the table lift stop lever to push it further onto the rack. I don't have a problem with uneven bale lengths as long as they fit onto the first table as a pair. Thats a baler issue, not a stacker problem. The only real problem I have is on 2nd or third cutting when the bales can get too heavy. If I forget to adjust the bale tension, they can come out 150# and I never know it until its time to put them up the elevator. That's lost profit as well as possible mold or back problems. My customers like a "light" bale to make it easy to throw up into their barns or trucks.
It does take some mechanical awareness. Baler and rake are offset to the right. But the stacker is loading from the left. That means knowing how to go thru gates, driveways, shed doors etc. without bending something. With a stack wagon, the ideal hay field is about 1/4 mile long and 20' wide cul de sac. That gives you a full stack in a down and back operation and done for the day. It works out for mowing, raking and baling, too. Yes Mom can run it. Doesn't take much power at all but there is a large tongue load. I towed it home on the back of a Suburban. It was on hard on the bump stops.