Practical test: Case IH LBX422 big baler The Case IH LBX422 big baler pumps out 120cm wide x 70cm high packages at an impressive output rate. Bale shape is good, as is pack density, yet there are crop conditions where the machine’s feeding system can struggle, as we discovered when we took an LBX out on straw-pumping tour last summer
Star of this particular profi practical test turn is Case IH’s LBX422 big baler, the middle member in a family of four.
Baby of the bunch is the LBX322, which produces an 80cm x 70cm bale, while up at the top end sits the LBX432 flag and its 120cm x 90cm package. Our machine, the LBX422, slots squarely in between, banging out the popular 120cm x 70cm bale profile, leaving the 80cm x 90cm LBX332 to complete the quartet. All four Case IH baler models are marketed with a choice of feed system depending on model – tine feeder or packer feeder rake
or rotor cutter – and we went for the top spec crop-slicing rotor cutter version.
Before tucking into 422 rotor cutter detail, let’s get the obvious out of the way. Case IH’s LBX big balers roll out of the same CNH harvester factory as their bright yellow BB model counterparts from New Holland. Home to both baler families is this is especially significant – other than to make the point that if an observer questions why the different-coloured ranges look similar, it’s because they are. Machine production location sorted, we now focus on the tested LBX422, kicking off at the front end.
Control of the big baler is via five spool valves: One single-acting valve supply and return for the bale ejector and chute, one double-acting pair for the knives and the knife bank, and yet another double-acting pair for the pick-up.
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