ford 509

[NYEthan]

Just found a ford 509 baler. Thought the feeder arm was pretty neat. Anybody got a bunch of cuss words to say or were they just an all right baler? Would like to hear some opinions.

 

[BobH in NH]

I have one plus a parts baler. Used it for over 20 years until I upgraded to a 532. And I like the 509/250 much better than the 532.

My 509/250 was one of the last ones made and had some improvements over the earlier ones. Once I got the knotters straightened out it ran flawlessly and might have missed 1 in 500 or more bales. But you have to feed it right or it makes banana bales.

I ran it with a '52 Ford 8N and only had trouble in real heavy windrows - The baler couldn't handle the volume of hay because the 8N is relatively fast in 1st gear. Ran much better at the end when I got a newer tractor with live PTO!

You have to periodically replace the wooden plunger runners and keep it adjusted for wear. Later ones had a shear pin in the push rod for the feed fork - Only shear pin on the baler. Flywheel and drive line are protected by slip clutches. You have to keep them free and properly adjusted. Knotters are real easy to work on. I've taken mine apart in the windrow, replaced a broken piece from my parts baler, reassembled and timed and was back up baling in less than 30 minutes. (Thunder storm was moving in fast).

BUT - The baler is relatively small and slow. I think the most I pushed through mine was around 450 in a day.

I mostly round bale now. But I'm repairing the plunger in the old 250 to use again.

Email me with any specific questions you have.

 

[Errin OH]

509 and sweep arm?

The 509/150 used a track feed system to the chamber.

The 504/250 and 506/350 used a "C" shaped arm to push hay in the chamber. The 504/250 had the flywheel on front. The 506/350 had the flywheel on the side.

I use a 504/250 and have noting bad to say about it. I would say about the only issue I see is it is a bit picky on hay conditions.

In really dry stuff it gets tough to make a tight bale once the chamber got all shined up. Weges would be nice but not normally not needed.

It to wet conditions the auger doesn't get the hay moving right across the pickup right and you end up feeding wads to the chamber.

In the right conditions your you can make a nice tight 36"/60lb bales all day long. Of course as with any older baler, capacity is on the low side, compaired to todays balers. The 504/250 was rated around 60 strokes per minuite and you want to make a bale in 14-16 strokes. Not counting dead head time you can punch out 230-240 bales an hour. But a lot has to be right to meet that number. My best with it was 876 bales in roughly 6 hours (one big field with long rows dropped on the ground).

 

[BobH in NH]

OOPS - Guess I blew that one! Late at night, half asleep, and I should have checked the numbers. Perhaps I should add advancing age too!

 

[NYEthan]

Yes it has the flywheel in the front and the arm between the pickup head and the plunger. Ive looking for a baler just to have one. I used to work for John deere and worked on about a million 336. Not trying to make a living with it just trying to fill in this craving for something new and different. Sure looks like it would be neat with the claw pushing the hay in the chamber. When I get it home I will probably have more questions. With my work schedule it will be a few weeks. thanks for the input

 

[Errin OH]

A bit more info on the 540/250

Very early versions used adjustable fingers on the meetering wheel to set bale lenght. Later version went to a trip arm that was adjustable by moving a stop.

Early versions used wood runners on the plunger. Later versions have rollers on the plunger.

Early versions used chains on the auger drive. Later versions had belts.

I am sure you can find just about any combo of the above. But if you have rollers with an adjustable trip arm and belt drive you'll have just about one of the most simplest, trouble free balers ever made. As Bob said keep those slip clutches clean and free. They serve a purpose. I got to learn that the hard way.

 

[BobH in NH]

According to the S/N on mine, it was one of the last ones made. Has belt drive on auger, latest style over-run clutch/pto shaft, latest style bale metering system with drop arm and stop bolt, and latest style push arm for sweep fork (spring and shear bolt).But it has wooden plunger runners. My parts book doesn't even show a plunger with rollers.

Be careful with over run clutch and slip clutches on the flywheel. Mine had evidently seized up, hit a big clump of damp hay, and I ended shearing off the PTO input shaft in the splined area for the ORC. Was running it with the old JD A - Didn't realize it had that much power.

Clutch discs are still available from NH, but are terribly expensive. (If I remember correctly, the larger ones for the flywheel were in excess of $75 each, and that was about 5 years ago - My 532 uses the exact same discs). I do have a 3rd party source for these- will have to search for the info. Pick-up times were available, but the last time I tried to get them my local dealer said they were obsolete. Hay bands for the pickup are obsolete. I did see some NOS wooden runners advertised on ebay a few months ago but they are obsolete. Made my own last two times from rock maple and soaked in oil. Bill hooks were available but were well over $100 each 15 years ago.

If I remember correctly the shear bolt is 1/4" x 2-1/4", but will have to check on that. My arm had enough play that standard bolts would shear the moment you started feeding heavy windrows. I used grade 5 or 8 bolts, and even those sheared when they should.

Have Operators Manual and Parts Manual, and I believe the Dealer New Baler Set-up Manual, and I think some of them are scanned into my computer. Can also find the ops manual frequently on ebay. If you get the baler, let me know if you want me to copy the manuals for you.

 

[Errin OH]

I do not have the S/N handy for mine but if you look it up on the on the NH web site in the psrts listing it shows both (wood and roller). Maybe it was an option vs a change??? I have seen two others but most were wood.

The is a procedure in releasing the flywheel slip clucth for storage. I generally remove it to clean it up real good at the begining of the season regardless. Just becarful as the pressure plate comes apart when taken off (springs fall out of place).

 

[BobH in NH]

Mine"s been "parked" for 4 or 5 years. I had bought a 532 with an ejector (not installed) to replace it, but had to correct bunches of "stuff" on the 532 before I could use it. (Like replace one knotter gear with a new one that came with it, rebuild the hitch - this mine had been welded with a battery and coat hanger from the looks; and redo the flywheel clutches). Then we damaged the flywheel hub when the PTO shaft slipped apart while being pulled over the road behind my SUV. So I used the 250 another few fields, until the plunger came unglued and stuck in the chamber.

I now bale mostly with a Hesston 5530 Rounder and feed the sheep and goats outside with round bale feeder panels from Premier. No more picking up, stacking, etc. Use a bale spear on 3pt hitch to load in the field, transport 6 per trip on my beavertail, unload and stack at the house with a bobcat and spear. Puts a whole new dimension into haying!