# New Holland BC5070 small square baler



## memory (May 29, 2013)

We just recently bought a used but practically brand new New Holland BC5070. The first few times we baled with it, we did not have any issues, bales were all close to the same size, made good square tight bales.

Since then we baled quite a few bales of rye. Everything seemed fine for several hundred bales except for them being a little on the heavy side.

The last bit of rye we baled is when we ran into issues. They started out too heavy so I backed the pressure off and everything was good for a couple hundred bales. Then they started getting heavier and heavier even with the pressure backed all the way off. We noticed the middle rail was being pushed off real high and the bale itself was being pushed up too.

So we cleaned all the rye out of the chamber and noticed there was a couple of places where the rye was getting built up real bad in the chamber. And the bales was hanging up on that. That is why the middle rail was being pushed up. The rye was building up in 2 different places. One place was at the very end of the chamber, there are some carriage bolts at the end of the chamber and the rye was catching on that. But the second place, there was nothing for the rye to catch on. It was nice and smooth. So we cleaned all that out and it seems to be doing fine after that.

Now we are having some other issues with it. We just baled some timothy with it and now the bales are not a consistent length. I am guessing it has to do with the trip arm but have not had the chance to really look at it yet. I don't think the size of the windrow is the problem because the windrow is as wide as the head, almost too wide.

Another thing is for the pressure adjustment. It is hydraulic and it has a knob to turn to adjust it. Well, it has a lock nut on it to keep it from turning while baling. The thing is we have it out so far that you can't tighten the lock nut down, it is out to far.

Has anyone had any issues with this model? Hope you can understand what I am saying.


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## ARD Farm (Jul 12, 2012)

I've never had an issue with mine (hydraulic tension control knob) moving on my 575, in fact I don't believe it has a locknut.

Far as irregular length bales, that can be an inconsistent windrow, NH's are good for that. The windrow must be consistent in density. You can attach a small weight to the trip arm to keep it from bouncing, or a tarp strap. I use a weight myself.


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## sethd11 (Jan 1, 2012)

I've had the same issues with adjustment knob; just fix it as you go. You'll come up with something....
I've had the buildup in the chamber before, especially in straw.. Never baled rye. Build up was so bad I didn't even understand how it was making square bales anymore:..

Never had any issues with length


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Sounds like a candidate for bale skiis.

Regards, Mike


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## HayBalerTech (Jun 15, 2015)

Have seen the inconsistent bale length problem many times. When these balers are new, the knotter clutch cam and trip arm roller are full of thick paint. As you use the baler this paint wears off of them both like it should. When the paint wears off it directly affects the trip arm to star wheel gap. This gap should AT LEAST be 1/8" when the trip arm is in the RESET position. I recommend reading and understanding this portion out of the Ops. manual before making any adjustments because you may also need to make a minor adjustment to the knotter stop.
If the gap is less than 1/8" the star wheel may(and will) prematurely catch the trip arm sometimes, not allowing it to fall all the way back down. This is a very common cause of irregular bale lengths. Inconsistent windrows are another.
I do highly recommend Bale-Skiis, but they won't fix the problem if the trip arm isn't set correctly. Hope this helps.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Welcome to haytalk haybaler tech......


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## Coondle (Aug 28, 2013)

The build up of material in various parts of the chamber can occur with a number of materials.

In some material there is a natural gum and this with chaff from the knife's cutting action can glue itself together and adhere to almost anything.

I encounter this with oaten hay when it has had high nitrogen applications, irrespective of wether it is bone dry or not. Often dry is worst.

I seldom have a build up on the lower portion of the chamber, possibly because there is a little more moisture so the hay slides better.

When there is a conglomerate build up you may notice a mis-shaping of the bale.

I usually encounter it on the upper portion of the bale , or near the wedges

If on the upper right of the chamber the leading right end (it exits the baler first) of the bale is deformed sufficiently for me to notice it and set about removing the gum.

So far as the hydraulic tensioner lock-nut is concerned: try it without using the lock-nut, my 570 never had a lock-nut, and never needed one.


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## memory (May 29, 2013)

ARD Farm, what size of weight do you use on the trip arm?

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will check out the trip arm and see if I need to make any adjustments.


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## Ray 54 (Aug 2, 2014)

The build up of hay is just another thing to learn about. Grain hay is always dry and baled with dew on to save leaves and seeds in my world.We can go years and never see it,or a field some times,and then all of it does it some years.


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## ARD Farm (Jul 12, 2012)

memory said:


> ARD Farm, what size of weight do you use on the trip arm?
> 
> Thanks for all the suggestions. I will check out the trip arm and see if I need to make any adjustments.


I sawed off a 3 pound chunk of die plate and slotted it to fit over the arm and drilled and tapped it for 2 bolts so I can move it if I need to. I haven't yet. First location works fine (about halfway along the arm. Even painted it NH rattlecan red.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Just saw this thread.....I have a 5070 hayliner and this is my third season with it. This spring I baled some wheat hay and I experienced a build up in the bale case for the first time. Took me awhile to figure out what the problem was......the twine on the bottom corners of the bale were almost off the bale. I discovered it was a build up starting at the hay wedges and extending back about 8 inches and the force of the bale being pushed past this build up was pushing the twine almost off the bottom corners of the bale. Cleaned out the build up and haven't had a problem since.....couldn't figure out what caused it.

On the irregular bale length I haven't had too much of a problem with that as long as I have good windrows. My baler will throw out small bales though if you are in light hay and not going fast enough to keep the baler pretty full. As others have said make sure the trip arm is adjusted right. Not really sure what you are saying about the hydraulic tension adjustment knob.....I just turn the knob to where I want it set at.....no locknut that I'm aware of.


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

That locknut that you talk about might not be a lock nut. Between 575's and 5070's, I've set the tension (many times) on about 20 of them, and I never used any sort of locknut. The shaft is smooth that has that black knob on it. I bet you're talking about some sort of packing nut. You tighten it to keep the adjustment from leaking oil, and as you do that it makes the shaft turn harder. You never have to adjust that thing, unless it leaks oil.

Rodney


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## hay rake (Dec 31, 2011)

what are you raking with. also at what speed. we fought inconsistent bale length until we went to a rotary rake and put a hydro in front of it. rejoice though. i have never had a new holland baler that didn't bale better as it wore. we bought a 269 in 74 still use it on the unroller and it bales better today than it did then. i agree with everyone else never had a jam nut. as rodney said just the nut to tighten the seal.


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## memory (May 29, 2013)

We are using a Vermeer V rake, can't recall model right now. The timothy we just baled was fairly thick for the whole field so not sure the size of the windrow was the problem but could be wrong.

I will try to get a pic of that lock nut I am talking about.

For those that have this model, what pressure are you running at?


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## Coondle (Aug 28, 2013)

The pressures others bale at does not really matter.

Their hay is different to yours in variety, volume, moisture content, rate of feed an well they may have a different wedge configuration and side door settings (if they hay them at all).

What to do is adjust your pressure until the bale is the way you want bales to be coming out, then you can note the pressure and ensure it stays in that range as you bale under those conditions. Any one or more of the conditions of hay moisture, humidity, windrow density, and hay throughput in your baler can change and you will have to change the pressure to keep the bales coming out the way you want them.

Hay moisture is different through the windrow profile.

Dry hay is "hygroscopic" i.e. it can absorb moisture from the air. As it dries the windrow is usually lower in moisture content the closer you are to its top and outside. However once it has dried somewhat when atmospheric humidity rises the dry hay can absorb moisture direct from the air and as it does so then the upper part of the windrow can have more moisture content than the lower/inner parts which are partially insulated from the humid air. Often the moisture level in a windrow is quite variable and you really need average level or that about 2/3 the way down in the centre of the windrow.

The moisture levels that some in the northern mainland USA bale at are far far higher than say those in Western Texas would bale at and unheard of here in Western Australia. I have heard of 28% recently on this forum. I will not bale above about 17%, or below about 11%, but our export hay buyers here insist on 10% as a maximum or else discounts apply. It seems they do not want to buy water.

Having hydraulic tension on your baler makes adjustment to suit changing condition easy.

On some days when humidity changes fast and hay moisture level changes in line with the humidity I have to change the density setting at least every half hour.

On your baler there should be a green zone marked on the pressure gauge. Usually the baler should be running with the needle somewhere in that green zone.

For me if the pressure was outside that zone it was an indicator that the bales were nowhere near the density I wanted or I should not be baling because the hay moisture level was way too high and wet hay or way too low and smashed up chaffed hay.

Wet hay compresses much easier and therefore pressure would bev low and dry hay is harder to compress so hydraulic pressure would be high.

So the gauge is principally a relative guide for you under your conditions and your baler.


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## hay rake (Dec 31, 2011)

i was always told that wet hay had more drag so therefore less pressure was needed. not arguing with you just has me wondering as most things do. the difference in the moisture level that hay is baled in different areas has always blown my mind. unless we spray we start at 12 and there is no such thing as stopping because it got to dry. there days that we hope the moisture didn't grow as you said.


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## Coondle (Aug 28, 2013)

hay rake said:


> i was always told that wet hay had more drag so therefore less pressure was needed. not arguing with you just has me wondering as most things do. the difference in the moisture level that hay is baled in different areas has always blown my mind. unless we spray we start at 12 and there is no such thing as stopping because it got to dry. there days that we hope the moisture didn't grow as you said.


Baling at different moisture levels blew my mind when I visited the US and Canada and saw an acid spray setup on a small square baler. When I was there the weather was perfect for haymaking with long dry spells. In Wisconsin our friends told me that it was a drought. It had not rained for two weeks!!!!!!! For several years past in our winter we have had a spell of 5 weeks without rain, and that is our growing season. Saw some haymaking during our trip through Maine , but did come across the concept of up to 3 cuts in a season, never encountered that before .

In my part of the world with the dry climate I enjoy, I grow cereal oats to cut for hay because we cannot usually grow enough grass to cut meadow hay.

Baling takes place in mid October onwards when day-time temperatures rise from about the low to mid 70's (F) rising toward the 90's and relative humidity falling lower and lower as the baling season progresses. By about the third to fourth week in October the relative humidity is so low that dew does not form overnight. Ie "dew point" is not reached.

The hay depending on the weather (i.e. if no rain) becomes very dry, so dry in fact that the upper level of the hay will shatter into sharp splinters (we call it chaffing) when baled. These splinters are unsuitable for horses because the splinters lodge in the gums of horses and become infected.

With my small square baler, chaffing begins at about 10% moisture and hay is too wet to store without damage at 18% unless left in the paddock to dry some more whereas 17% is ready to store immediately. At 19% the hay will mould in the bale.

I bale the hay when the moisture level sits in the safe zone. I have a simple test to see if the hay is ready.

I take a handful of oat stalks from the mid level of the windrow, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, grasp in two hands about4 inches apart, form a crank handle shape and crank. If the hay breaks in less than 3/4 of one turn then the hay is below 10% and too dry to bale. At just under 1 turn the hay is at 10%. Each crank after that represents 1% additional moisture, 11% being at around 1 turn. If it breaks at 7 turns the hay is at 17% moisture and if it does not break at 7 turns it will not break the fibres in oats becoming tougher as moisture level rises and at 18% is so tough that it twists like a piece of string.

Another amazing co-incidence is that with my NH 570 baler the number of 120 degree twists on the hydraulic tension adjuster was the inverse of the number of twists at which the hay broke.

The window of opportunity for baling is usually more limited as the season progresses. Early on, with dew on the hay, baling cannot begin until

the dew dries off; then as the day heats up, relative humidity drops and the hay after several hours may become too dry to bale. Then as night comes on the temperature drops, relative humidity rises and so does the moisture level in the hay. Baling can commence again, but if dew starts to form then baling will have to stop. I have had conditions so dry that I could not begin to bale until 2.00 am and 30 minutes after sunrise (6.30) i had to stop.

"Spray" for preservatives/acid is unknown here. I first became aware of sprays when I visited the US. Without preservatives moisture level is critical.

Moisture does add a little to drag but higher moisture not only toughens the fibres in hay, it also softens them making compression easier and reduces springback so really a triple effect.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I still employ the twist method of moisture testing to see if it is time to get started baling when the weather allows....and then I use the in cab moisture monitor.

Regards, Mike


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## hay rake (Dec 31, 2011)

mike i'm not saying you don't know how to use one or anyone else that does. so know one get mad. but what i have found with new users to in cab testers is that they forget that they are averages. as iv'e said many times we start at 12% but if our in cab gets to 12% we need to stop baling because there is some above 12% hay going through with below 12. there is still some judgement to be used. but i have seen people with moldy hay say but we never went above... moisture but they did because they were reading the average and thought it was an absolute. i know iv'e wound someone up with this and it really was not my intent.


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## memory (May 29, 2013)

Here is the pic of the locknut I am referring too.


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## memory (May 29, 2013)

Here is the pic of the locknut I am referring too.


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## hay rake (Dec 31, 2011)

not a lock nut. it tightens (seals)the needle valve into body. if not leaking leave it alone


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