PTO HP needed for #46 baler

I am looking at a #46 baler and was wondering how many PTO HP is needed to run it.

Thanks

Hi Bob, when we had an IH #46 baler, occasionally we would use the SC about 24HP or JD420 about 28HP but in hilly fields, you had to be careful going down hills as the baler would push the tractor and lack of live PTO was also a challenge. The B414D at about 40HP with live PTO and heavier was a better match. If it has a bale thrower and dragging wagon behind on hilly ground, you require something in the 55 to 65HP range not for the HP but for the pulling and holding capability on the hills. If you have hilly fields it is all about the ratio of baler and wagon(with bales) to tractor weight.

JimB

I have used an 860 ford on a 46 and it is about 40 hp but I think a 600 ford which is about 30 hp would handle it as well. Of course if you are on hilly ground you may need a bigger tractor just for weight.

Dad ran a New Holland 69 with a Farmall H for several years. I tried running it with a Farmall A once, it would work with very thin windrows but not a normal sized one!

Steven: Way back when A and Super A were relatively new, and NH 60 series and IH 46 balers were new, I had a neighbor with a Super A that wanted a new baler. He figured a new baler would speed up his loose hay operstion, and he didn't want a baler with engine, as he plan on a larger tractor as finances permitted.

He tried 4 balers on demonstration IH 46, MF forget the number, and NH S-69 and NH forget this model also but the smallest model with standard size bale. He couldn't run the IH or MF. The S-69 operated easiest on PTO, but he felt the lighter NH would be better on hills even though it ran a bit harder on PTO. I asked the NH dealer why, as we had an S-69. We decided the difference had to be the fact S-69 had it's plunger mounted on sealed bearing rollers. Anyway, he went on to bale about 6,000 bales yearly with Super A for three years, then he added a new David Brown 990 tractor. He then relagated the SA to mowing and raking.

I saw this as an IH mistake back then. Had the SA been able to run the 46, he would have also bought a 50 hp IH tractor. Just part of the evolution. I ocasionally used my Farmall 130 on our S-69 with thrower and pulling wagon on level ground. In the mid 60s I started haylage with Farmall 560D on NH S-717, 300 pulling wagons and Cockshutt 540 on blower. Almost daily I had material that got too dry for haylage. I couldn't take my crew off haylage to bale up this bit of too dry material. Between milkings, I'd turn it with rake to get bottom dry, then bale it with 130. Usually it never amounted to more than 100 bales, often in corners, and I told my haylage crew not to spend time on short windrows.

Pullrd our #46 baler with a thrower and wagon with a 28 MAX PTO HP 1949 John Deere B, Started using a 1950 JD AR at 39 HP but the B handled the baler better