buying secondhand fusion

grass n slurry

Thinking of buying a secondhand fusion 1 or 2, any advice?

Muckit

Don't. Get a contractor! Consider spending baler budget on building a silage slab if you don't already have one!

Greengrass1

Muckit wrote: »

Don't. Get a contractor! Consider spending baler budget on building a silage slab if you don't already have one!

You don't know this lads circumstances mucking,

He could already be a contractor with baler and wrapper set up

freedominacup

grass n slurry wrote: »

Thinking of buying a secondhand fusion 1 or 2, any advice?

You need serious hp to drive them. There's some problem on the pick up and is apparently very hard on back ends that aren't big enough. Contractor here is on his third fusion and has had 200hp plus in front of the last two. As a customer very happy with them.

grass n slurry

I'm already contracting but don't have a baler, at the moment I'm drawing and stacking bales for another contractor and other hire work myself, thinking of maybe buying a clean fusion 1 with low bale count and starting from there

bogman_bass

grass n slurry wrote: »

thinking of maybe buying a clean fusion 1 with low bale count

Is there such a thing? Those things are bought to be worked hard

Limestone Cowboy

bogman_bass wrote: »

Is there such a thing? Those things are bought to be worked hard

Agreed with that. I'd doubt there are many/any fusion 1's with a low bale count in the country at this stage.

Jb1989

Latest one on done deal has 14500 bale count. That's the lowest on dd,
After that you want prices for them to have any idea where you stand.

annubis

you should talk to seedsower on one of the other farming forums, forum4farming.com, he was in same boat and ended up buying 2nd hand fusion

grass n slurry

Jb1989 wrote:

Latest one on done deal has 14500 bale count. That's the lowest on dd, After that you want prices for them to have any idea where you stand.

They want 50k plus vat for that fusion 2

grass n slurry

bogman_bass wrote:

Is there such a thing? Those things are bought to be worked hard

I no where there is a 08 fusion 1 with 54k bales for sale and the money isn't bad on it .

patsy_mccabe

A contractor said to me last year that 100,000 bales is the limit on them. After that it becomes uneconomical to repair them.

IH784man

Is a fusion for you though?Depends what part of country you are in and what sort of ground you'd be on mostly,If you already have 2 tractors a decent mchale f550 and wrapper would be as good an option imo.

freedominacup

IH784man wrote: »

Is a fusion for you though?Depends what part of country you are in and what sort of ground you'd be on mostly,If you already have 2 tractors a decent mchale f550 and wrapper would be as good an option imo.

Labour must be cheap and plentiful where you are.

IH784man

Would be cheaper than buying a 200hp tractor and a worn out fusion I would think

sthilmick

freedominacup wrote: »

You need serious hp to drive them. There's some problem on the pick up and is apparently very hard on back ends that aren't big enough. Contractor here is on his third fusion and has had 200hp plus in front of the last two. As a customer very happy with them.

Our contractor uses a Tm 135 last year and had no bother good sound bales he had an 8340 before that no problems there either. Seems like over kill with 200hp machine

grass n slurry

IH784man wrote:

Is a fusion for you though?Depends what part of country you are in and what sort of ground you'd be on mostly,If you already have 2 tractors a decent mchale f550 and wrapper would be as good an option imo.

Have two tractors but we draw and stack everything so the second one would be at that. Nothing wrong with a 550 but when you see a fusion working there is no going back to a baler and wrapper in my opinion

sthilmick

Auto wrapper with a powerpack might be an option

J.O. Farmer

freedominacup wrote: »

Labour must be cheap and plentiful where you are.

What about small fields that can be wettish even in summer like in many places west of the shannon.
There's no comparison with good land with 30 or 40 acres in one field and the 3 or 4 acre meadow fields in the west. Best of luck with a fusion in some of those.

Pacoa

What about a tarrup bio? Have you considered one of them or have you ruled them out?

grass n slurry

Pacoa wrote:

What about a tarrup bio? Have you considered one of them or have you ruled them out?

No didn't even think of one of them. What are they live? You wouldn't hear much about them

orm0nd

J.O. Farmer wrote: »

What about small fields that can be wettish even in summer like in many places west of the shannon.
There's no comparison with good land with 30 or 40 acres in one field and the 3 or 4 acre meadow fields in the west. Best of luck with a fusion in some of those.

the fusion 1 &2 are/were an utter disaster on soft ground,

the f 3 is I think a lighter machine & better weight distrubtion to the tractor,
different tyres as well I think

local lad has 1 with 130k bales clocked , would have a fair bit of money spent on it but working well

150 hp should be more than adequate in most cases 200 is certainly an over kill

Pacoa

No didn't even think of one of them. What are they live? You wouldn't hear much about them

I haven't heard too much about them either, only that they are lighter and easier to operate so smaller tractor aroung 110hp will do.

st1979

My contractor got a new Lely all in one type. Very happy with it. Said some customers were happier as it was all done early in day. Compared to separate baler wrapper contractors arriving in late at night to start wrapping pissed off some farmers

davidk1394

A friend of mine has 3 fusions. They clock up about 10,000 bales a year on each of them. Have a lot of work done but spend about 5k a year on repairs per baler. Need a minimum of 150hp to make a decent bale and the back end has to be piped specially for a fusion

patsy_mccabe

davidk1394 wrote: »

... the back end has to be piped specially for a fusion

Piped in what way, more solenoid vales?

freedominacup

IH784man wrote: »

Would be cheaper than buying a 200hp tractor and a worn out fusion I would think

Do the maths.

davidk1394

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Piped in what way, more solenoid vales?

Special coupling's had to be put on the back of all the new Hollands

oxjkqg

RE piping - load sensiong hydraulics have to be piped in older tractors and a free flow return etc - not a big issue.
u will drive a fusion with 120 130 hp no problem - if u want to do 25 bales per hour and have flat land.
150 - 180 if you want to throw out 50 to 60 bales an hour which are packed.
Ive operated all 3, the fusions ability to travel ground and complete 2 passes in 1 go leaving minimum ground disturbance is exceptional - it is all about the footwear on both baler and tractor.
Re reliability - sensor wise etc they are straightforward. bearings and chains will go on any machine but majority of 50/60k bales fusions will just get a new set of chains, pickup bearings etc, keep a record of bearings which go or have been done previously and u will have a mcahine which will work away doing the baling u want.

Obviously if you are a contractor and want to do 5 to 10 thousand bales a year you are better off by new!

sthilmick

I see most manufacturers going with tandem axels on the baler/wrappers. I even think krone offer it on the ordarny balers too. You can't beat a low pressure footprint to keep from marking the ground especially in this country you never know what the summer will be like

Limofarmer

My contractor has had all the fusions 1/2/3 and also keeps a baler and wrapped outfit as well . The fusion with 150 Hp plus tractors makes easy work of the silage making super well packed dense bales . With the the proper tractor on suitable rubber it is surprisingly easy on the ground .