The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

As hay making time is getting closer. Time seems to be beating us to put a new engine in my friend's Power Major, which we usually use on the old Allis Chalmers conventional baler. Not really started yet, so can't see it being up and running in the next 3 weeks or so!
So should I not worry about borrowing another tractor and hitch it up to the Dexta? As you will have seen from previous posts she has just been rebuilt so 'hopefully' everything is working as it should! Fields are all level and we don't have a bale sledge to pull behind baler.

Anyone any experience baling with a Dexta?

It depends on the baler.
Dexta will handle a small baler, eg NH68, IH B46/47, MF 20 (just). See if you can find a spec for your Allis Chalmers.

according to my baler comparison book the Allis will need about 30 to 35hp on the PTO. This would put it at the maximum a Dexta could handle but, if you take it steady and keep an eye on your temperature she should be fine.

It will depend on the crop but you will need to keep your ram strokes to around 70 per minute at PTO speed, to get a good, trouble free bale, it is when you let them drop and large lumps are formed in the bale, that you will get problems with bale shape.

Thanks for info. That was my thoughts that it will need all the hp she's got. The trick will be the rowing up of the grass with the haybob, I will try and drive a little narrower so the swath is smaller. Hopefully the grass will be nice and dry and it will be sunny, as sunshine on the baler makes a big difference to the flow of grass- for some mystical reason!
Will keep an eye on the temp gauge now that she has got one. If it starts creeping up, it will be a call to a neighbouring farmer to borrow a bigger tractor!

When It gets time to doing it, I'll let you know how I get on.

Which Allis baler have you got?

I will have to check to see if there is a model number on it somewhere. It is in a friend's shed at the moment but I need to get it out and check it anyway. I will let you know.

Got the baler out last night.
The baler is an Allis Chalmers 201 model. So I would assume this is the smallest of the 200 series balers, which is good news as far as power requirement to drive it I assume.
Have had to turn the drawbar upside down and put it on its longest hole to get the run of the pto as straight as possible.

i used my std dexta on the old ih 46 baler for years with no real issues.
this was only on the flatter of fields, and the dexta was live drive!!
these days i have a nh370 and tend to favour my 5610, but do use the power major at times.
happy haymaking, rich.

@rich2a
How do you like the NH370? They are said to be good balers?
Would a Dexta handle one?

hi ben, i like the 370, it bales fast and over the 7 yrs it barley thrown a bale
dexta will bale on a flat field as long as you have a light, well dried crop.
i also make haylage with it - using the 5610 - mow, leave 1 day - row +bale day 2.
i still think the 46 made a more even bale - perhaps i just go faster with the 370!!
rich.

rich2a wrote:hi ben, i like the 370, it bales fast and over the 7 yrs it barley thrown a bale
dexta will bale on a flat field as long as you have a light, well dried crop.
i also make haylage with it - using the 5610 - mow, leave 1 day - row +bale day 2.
i still think the 46 made a more even bale - perhaps i just go faster with the 370!!
rich.

Do you turn your haylage, or just row it up & bale it?

How do you wrap the small bales?

Would the Dexta struggle to bale haylage?

haylage depends on crop and weather - i try and mow, row+ bale.
i have a small bale wrapper -it will bale small rounds up to 3` dia or conventional bales,
i think dexta will struggle with the haylage!

Update to original post

Baled one field on Friday and another on Sunday. Happy to report Dexta laughed at the Allis Chalmers 201T baler! I think it coped better than the Power Major!! Power was not a problem, that was more than baler capacity which in 2nd gear in heavy crop struggled. 1st was fine but she would have taken it a little quicker. Dexta is more nimble on the end turns than the major. Also sounds daft - but getting a new drawbar pin that was exactly the right size for the drawbar / baler holes helped, it took out any potential slop with the motion of the ram.

I have another 3 fields to do when we get a better forecast, I will try and remember to get a photo of her working if its not such a rush!

agroman wrote:Update to original post

Baled one field on Friday and another on Sunday. Happy to report Dexta laughed at the Allis Chalmers 201T baler! I think it coped better than the Power Major!! Power was not a problem, that was more than baler capacity which in 2nd gear in heavy crop struggled. 1st was fine but she would have taken it a little quicker. Dexta is more nimble on the end turns than the major. Also sounds daft - but getting a new drawbar pin that was exactly the right size for the drawbar / baler holes helped, it took out any potential slop with the motion of the ram.

I have another 3 fields to do when we get a better forecast, I will try and remember to get a photo of her working if its not such a rush!

Thanks for the update.
Look forward to any pics/vids you may have.

Mine does well with New Holland 66 baler! -[img][/img]

Glad we made hay when we did, weather has been pants since! Now got to move my dung heap!

[img][IMG]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c242/agroman1/IMG_1413_zps5etrsihs.jpg[/img][/img]