it was easier to remove too especially in ring feeders i'm not a fan of net
What old Round Baler?
- Thread starter Selectamatic
- Start date
nooooooooooooooooo thats the devils work
Oh yes i realise that.
As for JD balers i had a narrow pickup string only 550 once. I wouldn't recommend one to anyone unless i really wanted to really pee them off
The worst , slowest baler I've ever used , rollers go smooth and bale stops spinning in dry straw ,
Agree with all that.
I like my 578 but it took a few seasons to iron out the kinks. Works faultlessly now
I got it second hand quite cheap because the person who owned it first couldnt work out how to fix it Have limited experience of other balers but didnt see what all the hype was about a mchale baler i used a bit. The JD bales were just as heavy and i was no slower with it when we were both at it either
Boohoo
Member
- Location
- Newtownabbey
You should run courses to train John Deere engineers and technicians, the 575 and 578s I drove were all bought new and none of them were up to scratch. The season long demo of a 678 combi resulted in the purchase of a new Fusion.I like my 578 but it took a few seasons to iron out the kinks. Works faultlessly now
Have limited experience of other balers but didnt see what all the hype was about a mchale baler i used a bit. The JD bales were just as heavy and i was no slower with it when we were both at it either
8100
Member
- Location
- South Cheshire
The one i used would not bale straw or short hay.Had a retrofit net kit on it that never worked right too.
I only took the net arm thing off hit it with a hammer a couple of times to straighten it out right and put it back together like the book said it should go. Someone who thought they knew best (probably a jd engineer) had put it back completley wrong. It doesnt do a lot with me now and likely never will but it did 300 bales of hay last week and only missed one and that was my fault
Maybe the driver on the mchale wasnt up to much?
Boohoo
Member
- Location
- Newtownabbey
I'd assume that wasn't the problem with the Deere's I drove, unless the factory was building them wrong. 300 bales a week would be just about bearable, we were doing more than that in a day and around 20000 a season.I only took the net arm thing off hit it with a hammer a couple of times to straighten it out right and put it back together like the book said it should go. Someone who thought they knew best (probably a jd engineer) had put it back completley wrong. It doesnt do a lot with me now and likely never will but it did 300 bales of hay last week and only missed one and that was my fault
Maybe the driver on the mchale wasnt up to much?
Not sure what you mean about the driver on the McHale not being up to much
Maybe I wasn't clear but after 6 seasons of JD 575, 578 and 678 they were replaced by a new Fusion.We bought in round bales made with net before we had our own baler and found when we cut it there was lots of little bits of net coming off, was difficult to remove from crop and we didnt want the animals eating it. String is easy to remove, the bales are messier but as we are all haylage now we wrap everything so it's no issue. Baler was cheaper too for being string only.
H200GT
Member
- Location
- NORTH WALES
I like my 578 but it took a few seasons to iron out the kinks. Works faultlessly now
Have limited experience of other balers but didnt see what all the hype was about a mchale baler i used a bit. The JD bales were just as heavy and i was no slower with it when we were both at it either
Having operated a 578 for over 5 seasons and more recently a F5500 McHale last 2 seasons, i have to agree and disagree with you. Whilst i agree the the 578 produces a very good silage bale, In terms of build quality, speed, and reliability they are worlds appart.
It has at best what can only be described as an unreliable netting system. Some days it works perfectly, others it can drive you mad, for no apparent reason. This is by far the worst thing about this baler
The pickup is generally good, but dont get a lump on the edge, it blocks almost every time this happens.
Also it cant match the output of a McHale, which is easily 25% faster at bailing. But we are of course comparing balers from different eras.
Overall though they are not bad balers, once you know your way around them and get used to operating it can do a very good silage bale at a reasonable pace. Ideal for farmer with a few 100 to do each year, i would not go back to contracting with one
H200GT
Member
- Location
- NORTH WALES
YorkshireAndrew
Member
- Location
- West / North Yorks border
We still use a Welger RP12 , straightforward machine but does struggle sometimes in very dry winter barley straw . Not much to go wrong with them .
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I know a few that replaced a 578 with a mchale and all say the same as you about it being a better baler. The one i had a go on was in the same field as me baling at the same time. I was making bales just as fast as he was. I had a go with the mchale and couldnt really see it was any better or faster but i only did 30odd bales with it. Maybe a better driver than me or the one that was using it would have shown more of a difference. Probably see more of a difference if i did more bales with it too its not really fair to judge it after that but at first impressions i couldnt see what the hype was about the mchale tbhI'd assume that wasn't the problem with the Deere's I drove, unless the factory was building them wrong. 300 bales a week would be just about bearable, we were doing more than that in a day and around 20000 a season.
Not sure what you mean about the driver on the McHale not being up to much
I know what you mean about the net system on it
I seem to have sorted mine i havent had trouble with it for a few years now probably done 3000 balrs in that time which i know isnt a lot but so far so good. I hope i havent just jynxed it
H200GT
Member
- Location
- NORTH WALES
We manged to get ours fairly reliable, it didnt miss net many. But i could never trust it, you were allways looking back to see if the net had fed into the chamber and not wrapped around the roller, and dredded the error tone from the box. You could bale a couple hundred and each one would be perfect, then for no apparent reason it would miss one.
We tried all sorts of adjustments over they the years, and even resorted to the talcum powder / anti static polish remidies on the rubber roller, but im yet to be convinced they actually did anything. All sorts of nets also tried, but again, not convinced any actually made the netting system more reliable.
The only thing i did find that made a difference was to run the baler slightly over 540 at around 580. This seemed to help. I did contemplate changing the pulley so the net would initially feed in faster but never got around to it.
If Deere could have got the netting system sorted, it would have been a really good baler for its time. This was the difference in my view from it being a really good machine, to it being average overall. But there is no doubt, it can make a very good bale when set up correctly.
With the McHale i dont even look back, nets perfectly every time.
We tried all sorts of adjustments over they the years, and even resorted to the talcum powder / anti static polish remidies on the rubber roller, but im yet to be convinced they actually did anything. All sorts of nets also tried, but again, not convinced any actually made the netting system more reliable.
The only thing i did find that made a difference was to run the baler slightly over 540 at around 580. This seemed to help. I did contemplate changing the pulley so the net would initially feed in faster but never got around to it.
If Deere could have got the netting system sorted, it would have been a really good baler for its time. This was the difference in my view from it being a really good machine, to it being average overall. But there is no doubt, it can make a very good bale when set up correctly.
With the McHale i dont even look back, nets perfectly every time.
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Dont let the rollers go smooth?
paint them with a gritty paint or weld bar on them.
We welded bars on , and painted , but still poor , baler its worst one I've ever driven by a massive amount , and now I remember it didn't like to net when wind was blowing into front of baler