# NH 310 baler, how fast do you run your tractor rpms?



## Marshall (Jul 22, 2009)

I just got a new JD 5085M and I bought a NH 310 baler. I want to pop out a few square bales just for the higher return on hay sales. I also round bale most everything we cut, but I wanted to try the squares.

How fast do you run the rpms on the tractor for one of these older square balers? I ordered an owners manual on 8/23/09 and it hasn't come in yet.....

I ran it today just for about 10 square bales at 1250 rpms in a slow gear just to get the baler moving and to watch the baler while my wife was driving the tractor. The tractor has the 540E (economy setting on the PTO) and you run the rpms at 1650 for the 540 rpms on that setting. That seems way too fast to me.

I haven't used a square baler since I was a kid and I dont remember how fast pop made me run the tractor. I ask pop that question now and he wants you to go around 1200 to 1300 rpms. Pop likes to go slow on all of the equipment. I have had folks come out to our fields and ask why we cut and bale so slow. I dont know any other way, its Pop's way, or no way.

Suggestions, answers, comments, anything reply is appreciated.

Marshall


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## HL649 (Jul 23, 2009)

Well, the eqipment is designed to run at 540 PTO so it should run at that all day. That said it depends on the size of the windrow. If it is a heavy crop I run at 540. If the windrow is light I slow down the PTO and try to speed up the ground speed. I find it works best when the baler pickup is full all the time. This keeps the bales nice and square with no soft spots.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

If I remember correctly, around 18 strokes per bale makes a good solid bale without costing any productivity.


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## Heyhay..eh (Aug 7, 2009)

I run a square baler (JD337) and it would be rare that I would be under 1700 rpm with it. For the most part I would run it at the optimum pto speed for the tractor, generally around 2000rpm. The big challenge is to ensure that the throat is full most of the time if you are in light windrows. If you have sufficient material then you will want to be at optimum pto speed to ensure that you baler is not labouring. The ground speed you settle on will be a function of the gear you choose more that the rpm you set the throttle at.

A lot of your technique will come with practice as you get used to the tractor baler combination so try a few things and see what is comfortable for you ... or the lady.

Take care


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## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

I attended an instructional session on the NH 315 and they factroy man suggested we run the baler at 90 to 93 strokes per minute. Use what ever PTO RPMs geqiored tp get it.

The reason was that with these machines the cutting action is when the torque is the least on the crank. The higher strokes give the plunger a little more energy to cut the the hay.


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## Banjo (Sep 8, 2009)

The owner of a local farm machinery dealer (who seems to know balers upside down, and has been selling NH balers since his Dad owned the business) said always run a baler at 540 RPM. I have a NH271 and it works better since I followed his advice. I also found my baler ran a *LOT* smoother after I finished replacing all the chains, especially the big heavy one on the feeder tine drive (it was very worn).

With mine (and I think the 310 is similar) it works out to roughly I stroke per second. The 18 flakes per bale sounds like a good rule of thumb (although I'd heard 8 from another friend who claimed that's what he got from a NH tech). With a good windrow I can get a good solid bale out every 12-15 seconds with mine, although perhaps ~20 secs is more the norm.

One final 310 comment, another friend of mine has one and he commented that if he pushed his baler as hard as I do mine it would plug. He's a lot more tentative (and perhaps smarter?) than me, so I don't know how much of that is user preference.

Hope this helps, FWIW.

cheers, Andrew


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

After giving it some thought, 18 seems high, we might have tried for 12-14 slices per bale. 8 would prolly work too depending on the baler.


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## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

The book for baling for a NH bale wagon suggest no fewer than 15 strokes per bale, if putting up a 42 inch long bale. 
I put up a 34" bale to have a tight firm bale weighing 55 lbs. When I have 11 strokes per bale I drop back a gear, when it is 18 strokes per bale I go up a gear. 
I set the throttle to produce 92 strokes a minute and adjust the speed by changing gears. Be simpler with a hydro drive but I am happy most of my gears are synchronized. Some times I am in a creeper gear, and other times I am one gear short of road gear. As the man said the idea is to keep the throat full of hay. 
In theory at 11 strokes per bale that is a tad over 3" per flake. If you are just short of tripping at 11 strokes but trip on the 12 th that results in a 36" maybe even 37" bale length. That is assuming the bale length is really set for 34 inches and has not crept up to 35 or even 36 inches. Have three of these in a row trying to fit on the second table. Just a bit too much length to fit up on the load rack.


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

If you're baling a big windrow (I have no idea how big the 310 is), then you'd need to run at whatever rpm gives it 540pto rpm. If it's being really worked, I doubt the 540E pto will muster enough power out of the motor, but I could be wrong. We normally run 1800-2300 rpm on the 7400's. If it's a big windrow, then give it the power. If the bales come out lopsided (the plunger side is fuller, and longer) then knock the rpm's back until the bale is uniform. Many times ground speed and engine rpm can take care of most baler issues - the problem is getting guys to get out of the tractor and check bales.

Rodney


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## OhioHay (Jun 4, 2008)

The manual for our inline balers says to always run at 540 rpms to achieve 100 strokes per minute and adjust ground speed to keep the baler at capacity. On one tractor that is 1750 rpm and on the other baler tractor that is 2000 rpm


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## 4020man (Jun 21, 2008)

We run both balers 540 rpm all the time. We adjust the ground speed as needed also to keep the baler up to capacity. By running the baler at 540 rpm all the time and keeping it full to capacity. That makes it nice when there is rain on the way and we have to get the hay baled


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