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Handy gadget if you are baling hay

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Soapweed

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Ahandymachine.jpg

A handy machine
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Used to put new clips into baler belts
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It can be taken to the location of the baler.
Thebeltsdontevenneedtoberemovedfromthebaler.jpg

The belts don't even need to be removed from the baler.
Ithasbeenagoodinvestment.jpg

I've had this for at least fifteen years, and it has proven to be a good investment. It has saved us a lot of time by not having
to take the belts off to repair them.
 
We used those clips for a few years but I'm not a fan, as the clips tend to pull out of the belts over time, especially as the belts get older. I now buy the Gator setup which uses rivets and a heavy duty metal piece for either end of the belt. The only tools required are a hammer, knife, and something to bang on like a piece of 4x4.
 
I switched to the newer style riveted clips several years ago. Now all I do is replace the pins once a year. Using that would have been a lot handier than pulling belts every time splices need replaced.
 
diamond tread belts and gator splices with the rivets are the way to go. just replace pins every thousand bales and no problems
 
eatbeef said:
diamond tread belts and gator splices with the rivets are the way to go. just replace pins every thousand bales and no problems

What about if the belts turn over and get tangled? Do the fancy gator splices stand the stress, or does it completely wreck them? Seems like our belts have a tendency of occasionally flipping over in the wrong kind of hay. :?
 
I usually never have much trouble with belts twisting, but in tough conditions it can happen. Mainly have had it happen when i get a clump of hay stuck on one side of the pickup i have rolled an outside belt. I have never completely ruined a gator splice. The pins will break, and usually when i replace the pins there is a couple that are broke but you can drive them out with the new pin. Have seen a splice with like the edge of the splice bent, but you can usually straighten it and get a pin in.
 
I thought I was the only one to ever roll belts and rip out splices! :roll: :roll: :wink:

Where can you get one of those clamps? I just use a 6" vice and it does a geat job but is time consuming.

Normally the reason a belt rolls is if it is looser than the others either by being to long or to little hay at that area of the baler. With he open throat design and wide belts on the 530 it is not as much of a poblem as on the 510. I still feel I make better bales with the 510 but if the hay is not dry you will have problems with the 510. I think the 530 would bale water if you wanted to -- - but then if you did not wrap it you would have nothing of any value.
 
I've never yet had a belt flip on a JD, I always theorized that that was because the belts don't stay tight or turn when ejecting the bale so therefore don't run the risk of catching something and flipping. This feature is also nice because it eliminates the use of a come-along or a chain to achieve slack belts for a repair operation.
 
How often are you guys splicing belts? Just curious. We traded for a new baler before we started haying last year, got about 4500 bales made so far on these belts without needing any work done. Got a couple clips coming off now but far from having to fix anything.

Dad used to sell and service balers. As a kid I made a few bucks splicing belts for guys using one of those brown vice things. Pretty handy, I'd agree. Wouldn;t be hard to build one.
 
George said:
I think the 530 would bale water if you wanted to -- - but then if you did not wrap it you would have nothing of any value.

You know, I was thinking about that today, and patting myself on the back for hanging on to my old 530 all these years (best guestimate is that is has made well north of 30,000 bales here, and wasn't knew when we got it), when I remembered last years disaster. It turns out the 530 will not bale oats cut with a JD discbine with flails rather than rolls. The oats just head in there, forget to make the corner, stand straight up and down in the bale chamber and refuse to roll. Even if you manage to start a bale there is no guarantee you will finish it as this fiasco can occur at any stage of the bale making process. But the 530 wasn't alone with this problem, so we solved the problem by cutting the rest of the oats with the MacDon haybine.
 

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