Puffer Reviews
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The Bale Basket, made by E-Z Trails, attaches behind your square baler and takes all the hard work out of baling! It performs this task by being a free energy device. And how do I know this? I know this because I read it on their web page.
In a nut shell, you back off some of the bale spring tension hence the energy that would have been spent overcoming the bale spring tension is used to lift the bales up to the top of the Bale Basket, see the picture "Bale Tension". Furthermore the bale density stays the same because the forming bale still has tension on it because of the force of the bales being drove up the Bale Basket's chute. For every reaction there is an equal and opposite reaction. This energy is stored in the basket so when the time comes for unloading you simply pull a trip, the back door opens and all the bales spill out. Next pull the tractor and Bale Basket forward then as soon as the door clears the bales it will slam shut. Sweet!
These quality machines are well built! I could never build one for what I paid for it. I would love to meet the person that invented this, it's difficult to imagine that it works as well as it does. The trike design makes backing up easy. I can also back up, limited by my experience, some with the Bale Basket attached to the baler. This came in handy when I almost took out my mail box.
I'm sure most of these are sold to people that have been baling their whole life. I, on the other hand, had 200 bales of experience before trying out my two new Bale Baskets. So some instructions would have been helpful for me but to be honest there is not much to it and maybe that's why EZ Trails didn't attach any instruction sheet. I finally came to the conclusion that the adjustable tung should be in the collapsed position and the chute guide should be raised, as in the picture "Chute Guide", so that the bale is feed somewhat level or upwards. After those adjustments and some final bale spring tension adjustments the rig worked every time.
Some amount of turning, when baling, can be done but you can not get to extreme when turning or else one of the bales will bind or get kicked out of the mouth of the chute. One can turn sharper when the baler is not baling hence the PTO is disengaged. It's like everything else about haying/baling it all take some skill, thinking things out and coming up with a plan so think ahead!
Because I have a New Holland baler I had to purchase a new hitch for it. This hitch can be seen in the above picture "Hitch". Just like the Bale Baskets your better off purchasing their hitch than trying to build one. Maybe some New Holland balers have the hitch retaining pin horizontal because my new hitch had the hole drilled that way. But no big problem, I just drilled a new hole oriented in the vertical direction.
When the Bale Basket is disconnected from the baler there will be a bale that needs to be removed from the Bale Basket chute and one in the baler. These two bales ride nicely on the frame of the Bale Basket as can be seen in the picture "Two Extra Bales"
Hitching can be a drawback but I'm thinking about using a small winch, like a boat winch, to draw the Bale Basket in for one man operation (hitching the Bale Basket to the baler).
The bottom line is that the Bale Basket is a quality purchase. It's well designed and it has become obvious that the bugs have been worked out thus making it a perfected tool.
Click here to see a video of the Bale Basket in action.
Happy baling,
Puffergas
The Bale Basket, made by E-Z Trails, attaches behind your square baler and takes all the hard work out of baling! It performs this task by being a free energy device. And how do I know this? I know this because I read it on their web page.
In a nut shell, you back off some of the bale spring tension hence the energy that would have been spent overcoming the bale spring tension is used to lift the bales up to the top of the Bale Basket, see the picture "Bale Tension". Furthermore the bale density stays the same because the forming bale still has tension on it because of the force of the bales being drove up the Bale Basket's chute. For every reaction there is an equal and opposite reaction. This energy is stored in the basket so when the time comes for unloading you simply pull a trip, the back door opens and all the bales spill out. Next pull the tractor and Bale Basket forward then as soon as the door clears the bales it will slam shut. Sweet!
These quality machines are well built! I could never build one for what I paid for it. I would love to meet the person that invented this, it's difficult to imagine that it works as well as it does. The trike design makes backing up easy. I can also back up, limited by my experience, some with the Bale Basket attached to the baler. This came in handy when I almost took out my mail box.
I'm sure most of these are sold to people that have been baling their whole life. I, on the other hand, had 200 bales of experience before trying out my two new Bale Baskets. So some instructions would have been helpful for me but to be honest there is not much to it and maybe that's why EZ Trails didn't attach any instruction sheet. I finally came to the conclusion that the adjustable tung should be in the collapsed position and the chute guide should be raised, as in the picture "Chute Guide", so that the bale is feed somewhat level or upwards. After those adjustments and some final bale spring tension adjustments the rig worked every time.
Some amount of turning, when baling, can be done but you can not get to extreme when turning or else one of the bales will bind or get kicked out of the mouth of the chute. One can turn sharper when the baler is not baling hence the PTO is disengaged. It's like everything else about haying/baling it all take some skill, thinking things out and coming up with a plan so think ahead!
 Chute Guide |
 Loaded |
 Two Extra Bales |
 Hitch |
 The Rig |
 Bale Tension |
Because I have a New Holland baler I had to purchase a new hitch for it. This hitch can be seen in the above picture "Hitch". Just like the Bale Baskets your better off purchasing their hitch than trying to build one. Maybe some New Holland balers have the hitch retaining pin horizontal because my new hitch had the hole drilled that way. But no big problem, I just drilled a new hole oriented in the vertical direction.
When the Bale Basket is disconnected from the baler there will be a bale that needs to be removed from the Bale Basket chute and one in the baler. These two bales ride nicely on the frame of the Bale Basket as can be seen in the picture "Two Extra Bales"
Hitching can be a drawback but I'm thinking about using a small winch, like a boat winch, to draw the Bale Basket in for one man operation (hitching the Bale Basket to the baler).
The bottom line is that the Bale Basket is a quality purchase. It's well designed and it has become obvious that the bugs have been worked out thus making it a perfected tool.
Click here to see a video of the Bale Basket in action.
Happy baling,
Puffergas