9YG-2.24D (S9000 Superior) Round Baler

Dual-Gearbox Adjustable Hitch — 100° Swing / 30° Tilt / 1,000 N·m

The defining feature of the Superior — not available on either other S9000 variant

The hitch assembly on most towed round balers is a rigid or semi-rigid drawbar — it allows horizontal articulation for turns, but does not permit the baler to tilt laterally relative to the tractor. This works fine on flat or gently rolling ground, but on a side slope the tractor and baler tilt together, and the pickup tilts with them. At a 15° slope — common in Appalachian hay fields, Pacific Northwest grass seed country, or mid-Atlantic pasture — a fixed-hitch baler’s pickup can be running several inches out of level. The uphill end misses crop, the downhill end digs and gathers soil, and bale shape degrades because the material enters the chamber unevenly.

The Superior’s dual-gearbox hitch solves this mechanically. Two gearboxes are mounted on a shared carrier frame. The carrier connects to the tractor drawbar pin through a joint that allows lateral rotation up to 30° in either direction — independent of what the tractor’s body is doing. When the tractor is tilted 15° on a side slope, the operator can compensate by dialing in 15° of counter-tilt on the hitch, keeping the pickup running level relative to the ground surface. The same carrier also provides 100° of horizontal swing — enough for full headland turns in tight fields without cutting PTO power.

The gearbox-based design also improves power transmission efficiency compared to shaft-only arrangements at steep angles. Because the gearboxes redirect drive inside the carrier, the PTO shaft input angle is managed internally — the external shaft sees a gentler effective operating angle even when the carrier is tilted or swung significantly. The hitch is rated to 1,000 N·m, which covers the full torque demands of the 18-roller compression chamber and dual 20A rear drive under heavy-crop loading.

Dual 20A Heavy-Duty Rear Chamber Chain — 500–1,000 kgf

Higher compression force; symmetrical load distribution at elevated torque ratings

The 20A roller chain designation refers to the chain’s pitch and load rating — 20A chains are rated for higher tensile and fatigue loads than the lighter chain grades used in standard round baler rear drives. Running a pair of them, one on each side of the chamber, achieves two things. First, compression force increases to a rated 500–1,000 kgf — the higher end of the range for heavy, dense material like wet alfalfa or corn stover — which directly translates to tighter, heavier bales. Second, symmetric dual-side drive means both sides of the 1,400 mm chamber receive equal input torque simultaneously, eliminating the slight roller speed differential that single-side drive systems produce and that can cause minor density variation across the bale’s width.

The 20A specification also has a service life advantage. Chain wear rate is closely related to the ratio of working load to rated load capacity — a chain operating at 60% of its rated capacity wears measurably slower than one at 85%. By using a higher-rated chain across both sides, each chain’s working load as a fraction of its rated capacity is lower, extending inspection and replacement intervals in typical operating conditions.

I farm in western Virginia where maybe 30% of my hay ground has side slopes that a standard baler just can’t work cleanly on. I’ve been pushing around the issue for years — slow down, go around, take extra passes. The Superior changed that. I can run the tractor along a contour with 18–20° of lateral tilt dialed in, and the pickup tracks the windrow like the ground is flat. The quality of bales on hillside ground is now the same as what I get on the flat fields, which has never happened with any other machine I’ve run. I’ve put 3,400 bales on it this season, most of them in conditions that would have been a problem before. Gate cycle is fast. Bales are consistently shaped and transport well on the flatbed. If you’re farming any kind of rolling or contoured ground, this is the right tool — the hitch adjustability is genuinely useful, not a gimmick.

Oregon grass seed country has side slopes and heavy crop — exactly what the Superior is designed for. We’ve been impressed with the hitch performance. On our steeper ground (around 20–22° grade) we can run continuously where we used to have to stop and reposition. The dual 20A chain handles wet ryegrass without the stalling issues we had on our previous machine. I’m giving four stars rather than five for one practical reason: the machine is heavy at 10,076 lb, and on our softer fields after fall rain, it leaves a deeper wheel track than we’d like. This is probably unavoidable given the engineering it carries, but worth knowing if soil compaction is a management concern on your operation. On firm, dry ground there’s no issue.

Custom baling in eastern Kentucky means dealing with small, hilly farms — lots of field shape variety, frequent turns, and grades that make bale quality inconsistent if the machine can’t compensate for slope. I bought the Superior specifically for this customer base. It’s been the right call. The horizontal swing lets me turn without cutting power, which adds up to real time savings over a long day with lots of headlands. The lateral tilt handles the grade changes cleanly. I’ve run about 7,200 bales on it this season, and my customer callbacks for bale quality complaints have dropped noticeably compared to the machine it replaced. For custom operators working hill-country, this is a competitive advantage — you can work ground that other operators decline.

Fescue on Ozark hill ground is a specific challenge — it’s heavy when wet, it lies in windrows that follow the contour, and the fields have all kinds of grade changes. The Superior handles it well. I adjusted the lateral tilt mid-field a few times when the grade changed significantly, and found the adjustment mechanism smooth and easy to operate without stopping. Two things I’d note: the gearbox hitch does need more frequent greasing than a standard drawbar — plan for that at the daily maintenance level. Also, the learning curve for setting lateral tilt correctly took me a couple days to dial in. Once I understood the adjustment range and got a feel for it, it became intuitive. Four stars reflects the learning curve and the greasing demand, not any performance complaint.

I’ll be direct: if you farm flat ground, buy the standard S9000 or the Classic and save the money. I purchased the Superior without fully understanding how flat-specific it is, thinking the extra engineering would simply translate to better performance across the board. For flat Indiana ground, the hitch adjustability goes unused. The machine bales well — the intake is clean, the bale quality is consistent, the density sensor works — but I’m paying for engineering that my land doesn’t need. The dual 20A chain does produce noticeably firm bales, which is a genuine benefit for my corn stover work. But if I were choosing again with the same operation, I’d choose the Classic for the driveline upgrades and skip the terrain hitch. Three stars is not a quality complaint — it’s an honest signal that this machine is terrain-specific, and the page descriptions should make that clearer before purchase.