# Baling with a track tractor



## mtrancher1 (Feb 28, 2010)

I run 2 NH 3x4 (960a and a 340) balers and are very happy with them. I was curious if I could bale hay with a challenger track tractor. Dealer says he has seen it in Utah?? I don't own one yet but was wondering about it. I know you need to take wide turns to prevent digging when you turn but I figured crossing pivot tracks they might be the cats ass. Anybody ever seen it?


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## Jay in WA (Mar 21, 2015)

I was wondering the same thing so I tried driving my track tractor thru the alfalfa field last year. Straight line is no problem. However turning on the ends really tears up the alfalfa. The more regrowth you have the worse it will be. Decided I was not interested in trying it on the baler.


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## Nate926 (Apr 6, 2014)

I think they would work great in big grass fields, anything else I'd say would be a no go, but never tried it. Would look awesome in front of a big square baler though.


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## Circle MC Farms LLC (Jul 22, 2011)

I've always thought it would be cool and there's the low ground pressure aspect of it too but the only ones I've ever seen used were baling straw.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

Just get some sort of quad track and would tear things up less on the turns.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Picturing a two track machine turning in teff...


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Not a lot of people running any kind of tracks here anymore except for maybe the seed corn and vegetable guys and they don't plant any endrows anyways.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

mlappin said:


> Not a lot of people running any kind of tracks here anymore except for maybe the seed corn and vegetable guys and they don't plant any endrows anyways.


Yep, nephew's grandpa's BIG family farm learned about the limitations of tracks the hard way year before last.

They do seed corn and regular corn and beans, several thousand acres worth. They rent one combine and buy two more every year. They farm a lot of muck ground in addition to the more typical northern Indiana sandy loam soils. Of course year before last was a very wet harvest (like I'm telling you anything you don't already know! LOL They started off on sandier ground that was wet, and tried a set of tracks. They sent the nephew down to pick them up from the factory with a $70,000 check, got them and installed them and dang if they weren't the cat's pajamas (in sand/loam). They were SO impressed they sent him back the next week with another $70,000 check for another pair for the second combine. Got them installed and figured all's well with the world. Until they started combining in muck...

They were combining in a field about a half mile or so behind the nephew's house. Evidently they found a VERY wet muck spot, as the S670 tried to do its impression of a nuclear submarine and DIVE! DIVE! DIVE!!!! Down she went to the point that the top of the track, which is about 5 feet off the ground, was about a foot deep UNDER the dirt that collapsed back in on top of it. Evidently whoever was running it had more confidence than sense, waded in there with a full grain tank, and put it on the bottom. They had been cutting ruts a foot and a half deep for about 100 yards before they put her under. He said that the auger was so low to the ground that you could reach up and grab the auger end boot standing on the field surface. Of course too low to get a cart under it, so they had to bring in another auger to put under the combine unload auger to get the grain off the machine so they could start recovery on it. Took two days with two of the farm's track hoes and some borrowed wooden mats shoved under the tracks with the track hoes, and a couple 4wd's and the farm's big Deere tractor on tracks to pull the thing out.

After going back to the tried-n-true "pick a round or half-round and run dump" method on muck, and still sticking the machines too many times to count, and then finally finishing corn and switching to beans in even worse conditions, they finally called in a neighbor that had a Deere S670 or S680 on triples. He actually ended up finishing their bean harvest for them. Said the combine was 23 feet wide outer triple to outer triple, and just managed to cross a 23 foot wide bridge with the outer tires squeaking on both guardrails all the way across. BUT, they got the crop out.

SO, yeah, like you said, tracks have their place... but they're NOT bulletproof!! In certain conditions triples will beat them all to pieces.

Later! OL J R


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## thendrix (May 14, 2015)

Damn I bet that was a sight to see!


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

thendrix said:


> Damn I bet that was a sight to see!


Yeah saw some pics from the nephew's phone... have to ask if they have any they can send me for the "wall of shame".

Later! OL J R


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

You ain't been stuck till you been stuck with tracks.

Local BTO found out the same thing in very wet conditions, got a tracked combine stuck, then a Cat tracked tractor stuck pulling on the combine, then another stuck trying to pull the tractor out, so three track machines stuck.

Some people don't know when to quit and some still haven't seen the light and invested in a good kinetic recovery rope.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

mlappin said:


> You ain't been stuck till you been stuck with tracks.
> 
> Local BTO found out the same thing in very wet conditions, got a tracked combine stuck, then a Cat tracked tractor stuck pulling on the combine, then another stuck trying to pull the tractor out, so three track machines stuck.
> 
> Some people don't know when to quit and some still haven't seen the light and invested in a good kinetic recovery rope.


Or a couple hundred feet of haywire... LOL

Why the old man never wanted a 4wd pickup. He always said it just got you another 50-100 feet before you got stuck then you were REALLY stuck!

Later! OL J R


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## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

We have our 3/8" 100' AT&T chain. We call it that cuz with that sucker, you can reach out and touch someone! We have a jerk strap and good tow rope too. It's one of those things you hope you never need...


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## RuttedField (Apr 24, 2016)

Tracks are not as good as a person would initially think, especially the rubberized ones.

Compaction is actually higher with tracks because axle loads are still the same and the bogie wheels put high pressure points on parts of the ground. Add to that the flexibility of of the outer edges of rubber tracks and the weight is actually centered down the tracks right along the rails. It is a non-issue with steel tracks, but look at a pair of worn rubber tracks and you can see this wear pattern, that means while the SURFACE AREA of a track is greater, simply dividing that by the weight of the machine is VERY misleading.

Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of tracks, and while there are a dozen reasons to buy tracked machines (I have one) compaction is NOT a good reason too.


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