1002 NH bale picker issues

[MBMassey]

Hey Gents,

I bought a new holland 1002 bale picker this spring, and now that it's time to use it, it's breaking more bales then picking.

I'm picking the same way I bale and my 1/4 turn chute is dropping them the right way, but first the bales would hit, pull up and then catch the twine on the chain that lifts them off the ground and break them...so I removed that flap plate that they hit when they come up as it was jamming them.

They then started to feed in ok, but they come up, fall over and then don't go far enough in to be grabbed by the chain to pull over on the first lift table, or sometimes they just go up and fall and break again. I do have the round steel rod that directs them on there and it's about 10"'s high before the bend....

Anyone have any tips for this stupid picker?

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Anyone have any tips for this stupid picker?

First off, don't go insulting a 30-35 year old machine that has most likely picked bales off the ground its entire life. These machines need a lot of care and if they have been neglected it isn't the pickers fault. I can't offer any advice other then see if your NH dealer has a good mechanic that is familiar with these machines. He may know exactly the problem from your description or he may come out and look at it and figure it out fairly quick. The best advice anyone has ever given about these machines is to just sit down, take a deep breath and try to figure out how it works and once you know how it works look for what may be causing the problem. It rewards you in a couple ways, one is that you figure out what is wrong and the other is that you get a much better understanding of the NH stackwagon.

The 1002 was one of the very first stack wagons made so it wasn't perfect but they did work. Good luck to you and keep your mind and attitude about this machine open.

 

[MBMassey]

Thanks for your post, but I prefer to remain bitter and tired of old 2nd hand equipment that's sold as "great working condition"....I make sure before any piece of equipment leaves the yard it's maintained, but when you acheive anything more then destruction when you use it then you tend to get a little sick of any piece of equipment.

As for spending the $ to get a NH mechanic out...at $150 an hour for an on site..I'd be cheaper to buy another picker.

 

[zzvyb6]

First, put the flap plate back on. It serves to push the bale up agains the first chain so that the chain lifts the bale upwards and starts the rotation towards the first table. The rod which turns the vertical bale towards the first table is adjustable. Bales which don't run smoothly thru the pickup chute may be the wrong size. People who buy balers that produce illegally sized oddball bales are morons and ought to be dismembered or pay themselves to be shot.

If the bales are wet, or the bale chute has been run up against a fence post or smashed by a too hard left turn, then this is gonna be a problem for even a college graduate to solve. Maybe even an uneven one. One improvement I've made is to put a caster wheel on the chute so that it can ride the ground elevation. People who bale their mud bogs and don't smooth out the ruts will find this a noticable improvement. Another feature I added to mine is a hydraulic cylinder which can lift the chute and shake it a bit just in case a bale decides to linger a bit inside the chute to check out the neighbor bale who's wearing a thong or is topless. You also need to adjust your bale length so that two bales wll fit comfortably on the first table, too. Yes, size matters in most cases, (But this is not a Case, its a New Holland and Massive Ferguson's bales may stretch the old girl out and hurt her, but the twins have to add up to no more than the kitchen table. You need to adjust your rod controlling the first table lift so that it gets the job done in time. The flap plate you took off also serves to hold the two bales on the table while the twins are tossed up to the seconds table.

All this and you need to run the proper ground speed as well as pto rpm. Ground speed to shovel bales into the chute and pto rpm to run all the drive chains at a corresponding travel velocity. (That's a college level word that means speed as well as direction. If you have a direction that lasts for more than 4 hours, call the $150 per hour mechanic).

Mine runs a bit quirky sometimes because I forget to blow out the chaff from the valve control levers areas and that can cause them to have a premature ejection or worse: ejection failure. But, she's been a life saver as far as time and labor saving device that still draws some stares when people see her, especially if her skirt is short. We haven't talked about stack unload issues yet, but there can be some if you don't wait for the push off shoes to fully retract. Don't pull out too soon or they will get bent real bad and this can really hurt.

Get a manual by all means. Doing it manually saves a lot of trouble and takes the pressure off when the time comes to make her perform. It makes for a perfect marriage between the baler and the barn.

 

[jdbnh]

you definetly that rod to help feed them up. you will be surprised at how they help. your bales also have to be all the same size especially length wise and this will help in the feeding of the bales too. take your time with it, they are worth the effort. And a mechanic for $150, you need to move to Texas. $95 here.

 

[MBMassey]

Well I managed to get it to pick tonight by adjusting that up and down bent rod, and then putting the flapper back on with some bushings vs. bolts that were 2 sizes too small, but still it likes to mangle the odd bale and cut the twines.....

Anywho....got my load picked...backed up to my poles, tilted the deck fully and used the push-off's and everything seemed to be working fine...then I moved ahead a foot and started to pull the push-off's back in...well all HECK broke loose...the must have shifted a bit and jammed on the first set of uprights that the bales hit when you load from the lifting table....that in turn snapped the one sides cable, and jammed up the other one and also snapped the bolt on one side holding the uprights and pushed those over...

What a mess...and what a POS....I'm fixing this cable, maybe pick the rest of the bales if I can get it to work again and then it's up the road at the next auction, along with my first 124 massey baler....I have no time for equipment like this...I'd rather dish out another $2000 and buy another picker that works