# john deere 100 big square baler



## RyanL (Mar 30, 2014)

hi, i know this is going to get bashed right away, sinse my other research i have read on these balers are bad. but im looking for honest opinions from people who have used or own these balers. im just looking at possibly adding a big square baler for hay sales. how bad are these balers for dry alfalfa/grass mix. ive seen some for sale with 40,000 bales that tells me they must work to some extent. we have round and small square so not looking to replace them. just looking at baling around 200-500 big squares depending on sales. thanks


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## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

No


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## PaMike (Dec 7, 2013)

I think stack summed it up....


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## Farmerbrown2 (Sep 25, 2018)

Run make sure you zigzag friends of mine had one it would not even make a good boat anchor! They bought a new Hesston and have not looked back.


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## Farmerbrown2 (Sep 25, 2018)

They broke the needles twice think it cost them $5,000 each time at that time they where only baling few hundred a year and these guys farm with money it's there hobby. They figure the new Hesston is cheap compared to maintaining the JD.


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## RyanL (Mar 30, 2014)

but they look so nice sitting there, haha well i like honest answers. ive read no, stay away alot but never really got much reasons why.


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## Trillium Farm (Dec 18, 2014)

RyanL said:


> but they look so nice sitting there, haha well i like honest answers. ive read no, stay away alot but never really got much reasons why.


Run and Run again while shooting back at that damned thing !

Get a Hesston or if you can afford it a Krone


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## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

RyanL said:


> but they look so nice sitting there, haha well i like honest answers. ive read no, stay away alot but never really got much reasons why.


No stuffer, single knot, and others I've tried to forget. I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it more, the 100 was a large hay compressor that sometimes wrapped twine around it.

My first big squares I ever had made were with a 100. Guy I hired had 3 of them at once. Decent bales but no comparison between Hesston and the Deere.


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## RyanL (Mar 30, 2014)

sounds like better go back to looking at hesston like orginally was. thanks


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## PaMike (Dec 7, 2013)

...or buy the 100. It will help get your post count higher on haytalk....and give us something to talk about all winter...


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## RyanL (Mar 30, 2014)

i hear ya PaMike, it might be a good ol' time... so as for the hesstons i would be looking for a older one, but im unsure if want 3x3 or 3x4? i guess i need to talk the potentional buyers(amish) and see what size they like. then i seen most of the older models are single axle. is this disavantage on rolling ground or rougher fields? i would be pulling with 7230 premium JD mfwd with weights and would load tires


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

RyanL said:


> i hear ya PaMike, it might be a good ol' time... so as for the hesstons i would be looking for a older one, but im unsure if want 3x3 or 3x4? i guess i need to talk the potentional buyers(amish) and see what size they like. then i seen most of the older models are single axle. is this disavantage on rolling ground or rougher fields? i would be pulling with 7230 premium JD mfwd with weights and would load tires


You need a bigger tractor then that to handle a 3x3 nevermind a 3x4.


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## PaCustomBaler (Nov 29, 2010)

RyanL said:


> i hear ya PaMike, it might be a good ol' time... so as for the hesstons i would be looking for a older one, but im unsure if want 3x3 or 3x4? i guess i need to talk the potentional buyers(amish) and see what size they like. then i seen most of the older models are single axle. is this disavantage on rolling ground or rougher fields? i would be pulling with 7230 premium JD mfwd with weights and would load tires


Ours is a Case 8575 (hesston 4755) with single axle. Does fine on rolling ground, bounces a bit on rougher fields but so do I in an air suspension seat. Just make sure you get the spindles magnafluxed every year or every other year. Father-in-law sent a tire up through the twine box on his baler (not sure on his 3x3 or 4x4 baler) one summer after spindle left loose.

Stack said it....100 is just a mobile hay compressor.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

RyanL said:


> i hear ya PaMike, it might be a good ol' time... so as for the hesstons i would be looking for a older one, but im unsure if want 3x3 or 3x4? i guess i need to talk the potentional buyers(amish) and see what size they like. then i seen most of the older models are single axle. is this disavantage on rolling ground or rougher fields? i would be pulling with 7230 premium JD mfwd with weights and would load tires


Amish like 3x3's according to my research, but 3x3's aren't very friendly to stack like a 3x4.
I'm sticking with rounds until I can afford a 3x4.


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## RyanL (Mar 30, 2014)

well, hopefully they will be picking them up out field as we bale like they do with our small squares. they have skidsteers and trailers,so stacking be on them.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

I think every one has well pointed out the weak spots of the JD100, besides that no one has mentioned that some of them had mechanical failures of the plunger head. If you cannot resist the urge to try one of these, my experience with the NH D1000 would suggest that to make the 100 work decent you will need to always have a big windrow so that the continuous feeder will fill the top of the chamber properly. Also don't get greedy with the chamber density. More density equals more friction on the twine as it slips around the bale equals more tying problems because the twine has pulled out of the twine holder. The D1000 got away with some of the designs that doomed the JD 100 because the D1000 had a 24" tall chamber instead of a 35" tall chamber.


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## RyanL (Mar 30, 2014)

i think im over the the 100 looking at older hesston balers now


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## barnrope (Mar 22, 2010)

i resisted buying a 100 JD last spring and found a cheap 4755 Hesston with 64,000 bales through it. It now has 67,000 bales through it and Im able to sell the hay for enough money more than round bales to about pay for the baler in a year.


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