# Use of hydraulic bale tensioner



## dooleydave (Oct 3, 2009)

I am looking into buying a new baler and am wondering about adding a hydraulic bale tension kit. I custom bale, and some of my customers claim that using a hydraulic tensioner causes bale length to vary quite a bit when encountering a combination of light and heavy windrows. They see this as undesirable due to taking up more space in the haymow. If it is true that bale lengths vary, can anyone explain why this happens? I thought the hydraulic tensioner tried to maintain a constant weight of the bale. Thanks for any help anyone can offer.


----------



## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

The hydraulic tensioner shouldn't cause that, you may want to look at an airbaler tensioner, some folks have better luck and they are a lot cheaper to repair.

Consistant raking and fairly high number of flakes is about all you can do for length. The bales will vary +/- one flake no matter what so fewer large flakes makes the unevenness more noticeable.


----------



## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

and ground speed with uneven windrows, if you are whipping along with a light windrow and hit a heavier spot without slowing down, you are going to get a magnum loaf. I think the hydraulic tension does do much better on the tightness of each bale but I have had mine since 2008 and I still get longies and shorties sometimes-biggest bales always come in heavy 1st cutting og. Will be curious to see how my Krone rotary rake made windrows help with that this spring.


----------



## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

slowzuki said:


> The hydraulic tensioner shouldn't cause that, you may want to look at an airbaler tensioner, some folks have better luck and they are a lot cheaper to repair.
> 
> Consistant raking and fairly high number of flakes is about all you can do for length. The bales will vary +/- one flake no matter what so fewer large flakes makes the unevenness more noticeable.


If you worry about a hydraulic tensioner breaking on you, don't. There is a much much larger chance that other things are going to break before the tensioner. I've never had a problem with hydraulic tensioners breaking or having any kind of problem.


----------



## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

I've looked at a couple of JD balers with bad pumps, the new pump from JD is more than the price of a used baler. Not that surprising, the lube pump is super expensive from JD too.



Teslan said:


> If you worry about a hydraulic tensioner breaking on you, don't. There is a much much larger chance that other things are going to break before the tensioner. I've never had a problem with hydraulic tensioners breaking or having any kind of problem.


----------



## covenanthay (Oct 2, 2009)

Bale variation is window size and ground speed dependent-not the hydraulic tensioner. It is just a habit with us to count strokes and vary ground speed accordingly.


----------



## T & R Hay Farms (Jan 19, 2012)

Air Tensioner is the only way to go! We installed a home-made one and it works flawlessly. Makes really consistent bales, even in the most varying windrows.





  








Picture 008




__
T & R Hay Farms


__
Mar 27, 2013











  








Picture 006




__
T & R Hay Farms


__
Mar 27, 2013











  








Picture 009




__
T & R Hay Farms


__
Mar 27, 2013











  








Picture 007




__
T & R Hay Farms


__
Mar 27, 2013








As you can see, we made this a dual tanked system. Mostly just for looks.... That baler has been sold and we have installed another home-made one on our 8535 Case-Inline baler. It also works flawlessly.

Regards,

Richard


----------



## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

slowzuki said:


> I've looked at a couple of JD balers with bad pumps, the new pump from JD is more than the price of a used baler. Not that surprising, the lube pump is super expensive from JD too.


Do JD balers have a problem with the hydraulics? I have never looked at one or operated one. Just Hesston and NH in my experience haven't had trouble then.


----------



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

T & R Hay Farms said:


> Air Tensioner is the only way to go! We installed a home-made one and it works flawlessly. Makes really consistent bales, even in the most varying windrows.
> 
> As you can see, we made this a dual tanked system. Mostly just for looks... . That baler has been sold and we have installed another home-made one on our 8535 Case-Inline baler. It also works flawlessly.
> 
> ...


You did a fine job Richard....it would be nice for all the members if maybe you could post pics of your latest fabrication and maybe give some building description/explanation of your design to go along with your pics. Tell folks where you got your air bag, tank, and gauges and what kind they are....you know, just some good information for prospective builders. I don't think that there is any question that the air bag design is a better, more accurate product than the hydraulic versions. If my hydraulic tensioner on my 1839 bites the dust in the future, I am going to put the air bag on instead of the hydraulic tensioner.

Regards, Mike


----------



## DKFarms (Aug 11, 2008)

I have one on my Massey In-line and it's been trouble free. Once I dial it in for the bale weight, it maintains it pretty close even as the quality and mix of hay changes in the field. My problem with irregular length bales is like the others indicated here; uneven windrows and not adjusting speed to windrow conditions.


----------



## aehunt (Jun 22, 2011)

T & R Hay Farms said:


> Air Tensioner is the only way to go! We installed a home-made one and it works flawlessly. Makes really consistent bales, even in the most varying windrows.
> 
> As you can see, we made this a dual tanked system. Mostly just for looks... . That baler has been sold and we have installed another home-made one on our 8535 Case-Inline baler. It also works flawlessly.
> 
> ...


That is a goog looking rig you have. I am working on building my own Air Tensioner and was wondering how much variance you see in air bag pressure in the same field. Also, what kind of pressure are you runing in your bag


----------



## T & R Hay Farms (Jan 19, 2012)

We run about 50-60 lbs and get a 55-65 lb bale typically.

Richard


----------

