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| I have a 664 that needs belts and a considerable amount or pickup work, I would estimate about $3000 in repairs not including my time. My grandpa bought it new and we use it mostly on all dry land...which can be kinda rough. I put up about 500 acres or appox 1000 bales most years. I would guess it has about 15,000 bales on it.
Guy I know has a BR780 that has been sitting for about 3 years and has about 5000 bales on it. Everything appears to be in decent/good shape. He is asking $12,500 but I think we can deal.
For those of you that have ran both, should I fix the old 664 and just keep going (I do really like the baler) or get in a little newer less used one? I know nothing about the BR780s.
Thanks
Scott |
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Texas | Over the years I have had both. Progressed from the 664 to the 780 and now the 7090. The 78 moved the bearings to the outside of the chamber. And I felt it started bales easier and faster. The 664 did a good job, but I was glad to see it go down the road mainly because of the bearings. 12,500 may be a little high depending upon condition but sounds pretty close. I think you will like the 780. |
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| Our area used to be almost exclusively NH round baler country. Everyone had either a 664 or a 688 and many traded for a BR when they came out. Today you find virtually no BR's left around here, it's JD or Vermeer. The biggest problem with the BR780 was they like to flip the belts. The baler has different guide and less guides than the old 664 had. The other major problem is the weak pickups and I don't remember what else was a problem, just know they were uniformly cussed at. Cousin also had a BR7090 and it was gone in 2 years. I never had a BR but had a 664 and IMO they went backwards with the BR. I went to a JD 567 and they baler works quite well. |
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Saronville NE | I had a BR780 for a while, it made picture perfect square bales everytime, it would out eat the 566 I had before it, we had a few pickup promblems, but not anymore then we did with our 568s we have been running. Just got a new BR7090 specialty crop for this year, baled our first field with it coupe nights ago, was real thin hay dur to being hailed very badly, were putting 3 windrows into 1 to have a decent windrow to pickup, and was running 9.5 mph, any slower and the bales weren't nice looking, tried to stay at the 7-7.5 we usually run and couldn't keep it full, so upped another gear, then they looked nicer.
The advantage NH has over the JD IMO and I thought this with the 780 also, is I like the netwrap upfront, you can see if its working or not, and I like that all the bearings are block bearings and on the outside of the baler, a lot easier to change and service, the pickup is wider then JDs megawide also. Will see how the 7090 holds up, if it doesn't we will go back to a 569 next time, if it does hold up and the new NH 560s seem to be getting along good, will pry stick with the NH. It was $10k cheaper to go to new NH, this time, that adds up, so will see in future what happens. |
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Western Iowa | I am not sure you plan on cornstalks, but dad has a 780, works nice in hay, makes a great bale, nice the netwrap is in front, but it has the extra wide pickup which does NOT work well in cornstalks. I guess the regular pickup works a lot better in stalks because it sits back closer to the chamber. The wide pickup has some extra 'fingers' that try to walk the material from the pickup to the chamber. They work good in hay but not worth a toot in cornstalks
Also the 780 is a 4 bar pickup. You can change the spiders to a 5 bar and it helps on picking up short hay. |
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New Holland Balers-664 or BR780
