Whatever happened to Claas Round Balers?

Contractor here has a relatively new Claas baler (I'm not sure what model, 354 I think). He picks 30ft rows with it. It's reliable enough in years like this, but when it goes at wet stuff, it can chew bearings more often. He had to put a gearbox into it too 2 years ago. We have made a lot of bales over the years, and no baler has ever come close to packing bales and making bales the size that the Claas does.
 
The class 254 seems to make a bigger bale than the welger/mchales. Probably not as well packed but they seem a bigger diameter.
 
Around 1990 a local man started up baling with a new Claas 46. One of the local wits called to inform an already established contractor (who was known for saying that everyone else's gear was rubbish except his own). The conversation went as follows,
X has bought a new baler.
What did he buy?
A Claas.
A Claas of shit!
 
I remember seeing a Rollant 85 in a dealers yard 20 years ago, it was a huge old beast of a thing.
Saw a Rollant 34 baling hay around Cork one time, never saw another one
 
Win said:
The guy i drove for had a new RP 200 in 1995 which had net although we didn't use it straight away, might of been two or three years and then it was difficult to persuade people to have it. Did the last of the RP 12's have it? Thought there was one not far away with it RP 12s maybe? Jeez it would be painful having to watch the string going on now!!
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Rp12s 's had option for net. And that was 1990/91 anyway. They also had a twin tie twine option to speed it up. was a bit more troublesome I think.
 
l think the answer to the OP is that Claas were so focused on acquiring Renault at the turn of the century that they took their eye off the ball of baler development and fell behind.
Certainly the 46 was a good baler in hay and straw. Baleing heavy Irish silage crops was possibly beyond the remit of its design.The 200 series that replaced it however turned out to be a major disappointment and it all went downhill from there.
l generally keep machines a long time but the 250 Claas was here for just one season and that was too long.
 
Gosh I remember Dad giving me a earful for telling the baler man to put net on the bales, as it was 5 pence dearer, and he liked twine better because it was far easier to take off!
He never appreciated that a very young me didn't have the leather he had for skin and that thin blue twine was very painful for me to pull at!

We've progressed to film on film and never want to see net on a bale again!😂
 
We originally had a 44 and now a 46 only ever bales barley straw ideal for that ,a lot of the time straw would be less than perfect and with bales less dense the bedding machine can still handle them as long as it never sees grass it should out last me.
 
AYF said:
Gosh I remember Dad giving me a earful for telling the baler man to put net on the bales, as it was 5 pence dearer, and he liked twine better because it was far easier to take off!
He never appreciated that a very young me didn't have the leather he had for skin and that thin blue twine was very painful for me to pull at!

We've progressed to film on film and never want to see net on a bale again!😂
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I had a bit of a rant from my balerman yesterday , after he baled 30 bales for me . I copped that he was using film , and i had never had film before . I asked was he trying to convert people to film . Several expletives followed . Not likely . Burst yourself lifting a roll of it up there . No straps on it . You cant be on the phone/Talking to lad beside you , and watching that stuff . Only reason i used it today , was a rep dropped in a few rolls to me , im low on wrap , with the film , i only put on 16 turns , and it is as good as 22 turns with net .
I think it looks a great job .
 
AYF said:
Gosh I remember Dad giving me a earful for telling the baler man to put net on the bales, as it was 5 pence dearer, and he liked twine better because it was far easier to take off!
He never appreciated that a very young me didn't have the leather he had for skin and that thin blue twine was very painful for me to pull at!

We've progressed to film on film and never want to see net on a bale again!😂
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Five pence extra was a bargain, last time I priced both applications twine was coming in at around 20 cent per bale and net was around 70 cent. The last time I was asked to use twine when baling was two years ago. Twine was around €12 for a double roll of twine, then it went to €18 and when I priced it two years ago the man said €28!
 
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TAFKAT said:
Nearly all the RP12S that had net were imports, the net option wasn't encouraged in this country as it was troublesome. Twin tie was only an option, we had one with single tie. It took 34 seconds to tie a bale. I often ate a sandwich while I was waiting.
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The Claas 44 single electric tie was similar, then the Claas 46 twin tie had it down to around 20 seconds. The first time I netted a bale it completed it so fast that I did it a second time thinking that it hadn’t done it properly the first time. Six seconds to net a bale with three revolutions of the bale.
 
Titan 8820 said:
l think the answer to the OP is that Claas were so focused on acquiring Renault at the turn of the century that they took their eye off the ball of baler development and fell behind.
Certainly the 46 was a good baler in hay and straw. Baleing heavy Irish silage crops was possibly beyond the remit of its design.The 200 series that replaced it however turned out to be a major disappointment and it all went downhill from there.
l generally keep machines a long time but the 250 Claas was here for just one season and that was too long.
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Exactly!
In the late 90's Claas weren't bothered about improving their baler design, I remember a very experienced mechanic making suggestions to a visiting Claas engineer about improvements to the balers ( small modifications and upgrades) Claas guy wouldn't have any of it!
Claas didn't seem to have much interest in improving the balers at that time, they were much more interested in fiddling with the then newly introduced Lexion combines and their Cebis control system
I remember when the 250 was introduced ,a lot of the early ones were recalled for warranty work at barely a month after delivery
 
eddie86 said:
Rp12s 's had option for net. And that was 1990/91 anyway. They also had a twin tie twine option to speed it up. was a bit more troublesome I think.
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The twin tie on the 200 was troublesome from what i remember, was there a plastic flipper thingy which was supposed to flick the string down in? String not being cut, trolley stuck at one end, the list goes on, you'd almost have a another bale made now by the time the string was on and wrapped for that matter!!
 
jf 850 said:
I had a bit of a rant from my balerman yesterday , after he baled 30 bales for me . I copped that he was using film , and i had never had film before . I asked was he trying to convert people to film . Several expletives followed . Not likely . Burst yourself lifting a roll of it up there . No straps on it . You cant be on the phone/Talking to lad beside you , and watching that stuff . Only reason i used it today , was a rep dropped in a few rolls to me , im low on wrap , with the film , i only put on 16 turns , and it is as good as 22 turns with net .
I think it looks a great job .
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Let us know what you think.
 
jf 850 said:
I had a bit of a rant from my balerman yesterday , after he baled 30 bales for me . I copped that he was using film , and i had never had film before . I asked was he trying to convert people to film . Several expletives followed . Not likely . Burst yourself lifting a roll of it up there . No straps on it . You cant be on the phone/Talking to lad beside you , and watching that stuff . Only reason i used it today , was a rep dropped in a few rolls to me , im low on wrap , with the film , i only put on 16 turns , and it is as good as 22 turns with net .
I think it looks a great job .
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He wouldn't usually be like that at all.........
 
Masseyrk662 said:
Will you go for it next time do you think ?
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I didnt know I was getting it , .
Nor wasn't asked did I want it .

He seems to think that it's a lot of hassle for him . Lifting it , and lack of straps supplied for doing so , seemed part of the issue
 
Had a Claas 255 here until it left last year, always made far bigger bales than welgar/NH bales that we bought in. First baler we had was a rp12 had the net or string option on it although the net would never manage to work for more than 5 bales at a time
 
I remember a claas dealer a few years ago telling me that if they soon don't go and beef up their balers and lower the cost of spare parts into this country it won't be worth their while
 
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