New Idea 484 belt replacement

[RussSt50]

I need to replace one front upper belt on my new idea 484 round baler. It has mostly original belts that are endless, 2 ply. I would like to replace this one broken front upper belt, 11x73.25, with a splice, 3 ply belt.
Has anyone done this, will I get into trouble doing this?

 

[Bruce from Can.]

If you put a lace belt in your NI round baler, it probably wont last very long. These are a fixed chamber baler, and the bales density is actually created by crushing the hay within the chamber. This crushing effect puts pressure on the belts. Endless belts can stretch over time but take this load very well. The lace up belts will just have the belt lacing pull apart.
Now I am not going to tell you that if one of your endless belts gets ruined, that you cant put a lace belt on, and go on baling hay, because it will work, for a while. But it will eventually fail. It will also depend on how big a tractor you are using on the baler. If you are baling with a 50hp tractor, you will snuff the tractor before you will do much damage to the belts, but your bales will be soft , not hold their shape, and weigh very little. A 100hp tractor will make a decent bale, that will hold its shape, have more pounds of hay in the bale, but it puts much more stress on the belts.

 

[RussSt50]

Thanks Bruce, that was helpful.

 

[caterpillar guy]

Like Bruce said, though I can't imagine why anybody would want to mess with laced belts. That is one thing I don't miss with these NI balers and the endless belts. Dad had a Deere baler with laced belts was always messing with them to keep it working. Not going to say the belts couldn't have been getting deteriorated so they needed changing.