Hesston CaseIH Round Baler Pre-Purchase Questions

[Bill VA]

Thinking about a backup to my JD 335 round baler and am seeing some year end “deals” on Hesston/CaseIH round balers. 530 which I believe are 39”x48” balers and 540 which I believe are 4x4 balers. Not sure the CaseIH equivalent model numbers.

My JD 335 is a 4x4 which I’d prefer to stay the same. I’d like electric tie, not sure hydraulic tie was offered?

What should I look for on these balers that would be a red flag? How is the drive roller constructed? On the JD, there are two and if the rubber on them is gone, that’s bad news. What about the Hesston? One drive roller or two and I assume it has some kind of rubber coating?

On the Hesston round balers with no monitor, how do you evenly fill the bale chamber for a square shoulder bale? Weaving I get, but visually how do you know. My JD 335 has indicators on the front of the baler.

I’d buy another JD, but some of these Hesston are much less expensive and in as much as it would be a back-up…

Not interested in a 4x5 round baler at this point, my small time hay customers like the 4x4 or smaller round bales.

Any sage pre-buy advice is appreciated.

 

[jhwis]

I used to have a Hesston 5545. It was closed throat, so it would plug if you weren't careful. It was a simple, handy little baler for my operation back in the day. Seemed to never break down.

 

[Bill VA]

Thanks for the reply!

 

[jhwis]

Thanks for the reply!

Also, mine had a simple monitor with lights or a buzzer than indicated an uneven bale, but I never used it. Weaving pretty much solved the issue. Heavy windrows helped also.

 

[Tx Jim]

Due to you liking your JD 335 why don't you consider a JD 430 or 435 & just set it to make 4X4 bales

 

[Bill VA]

Due to you liking your JD 335 why don't you consider a JD 430 or 435 & just set it to make 4X4 bales

I would consider another JD 4x4 round baler, but these used Hesston’s carry a pretty low price. As to the 430 and 435, they are to large for my smallest tractor and I want to keep that tractor in play if needed. Thx!

 

[Larry986]

I would consider another JD 4x4 round baler, but these used Hesston’s carry a pretty low price. As to the 430 and 435, they are to large for my smallest tractor and I want to keep that tractor in play if needed. Thx!

There is a reason they carry a low price. They aren't worth much. I had a 740 many years ago, and it was a pain to start a bale unless conditions were just right. This was a pretty low hour baler but some design features left a bit to be desired. It had hydraulic tie which was a single arm controlled by a hyd. remote, which meant dual hydraulics. It also had a very annoying habit of wrapping hay around the ends of the rollers which ultimately led to it's downfall because someone forgot to watch the hay buildup on the rollers and one started a fire after they parked for the day. Another thing that sucks about them is their goofy hitch design which makes it impossible to unhook quickly in the event of such an event as the affore mentioned fire We almost lost the tractor too, but they got lucky and got it free before the fire got too big. I could go on, but my story is already long enough to be boring so I'll just say that in my opinion you should resist the lure of low price and search more carefully. There are always more things to consider than one realizes in these situations.