Baler belts running straight

[Aaronknodel96]

Hi all, this will be my second year round baling did a bunch of work to my hesston 5600 over the winter but now I'm not sure if there is an issue with my upper belts, most of them are moving side to side by a couple of inches as I'm running it empty. I vaguely remember them not running perfectly straight when empty last year but I didn't spend a lot of time behind it while it ran empty so I'm not sure, is it normal to do this when empty? if not whats the likely culprit? all upper bearings are in good shape.

 

[Hay Dude]

Hi all, this will be my second year round baling did a bunch of work to my hesston 5600 over the winter but now I'm not sure if there is an issue with my upper belts, most of them are moving side to side by a couple of inches as I'm running it empty. I vaguely remember them not running perfectly straight when empty last year but I didn't spend a lot of time behind it while it ran empty so I'm not sure, is it normal to do this when empty? if not whats the likely culprit? all upper bearings are in good shape.

Sometimes the cause of wandering baler belts is that the belts were not broken in correctly. They need to be stretched gradually when new. If not, they can track/wander all over the place because they get a "memory" to them.
During core formation, it is important to get hay under all the belts as soon as possible. Do a quick weave, when starting a bale, being sure they get all the way to the left side of the baler. The left side is where you see most belt-tracking problems. The quick weave puts hay under all the belts, which applies tension to the belts. Tensioned belts seldom walk and twist.
Are you loading the right side of the baler more than the left side? This is what most beginners do and it causes problems.
Also if the belts are different lengths, this can cause wandering. When the baler is empty and tailgate closed, do the belts all have the same amount of "play" in them?

 

[RickB]

If they track side to side a bit without rubbing any guides, the sides of the chamber or take up arms there's nothing to worry about.

 

[Aaronknodel96]

Sometimes the cause of wandering baler belts is that the belts were not broken in correctly. They need to be stretched gradually when new. If not, they can track/wander all over the place because they get a "memory" to them.
During core formation, it is important to get hay under all the belts as soon as possible. Do a quick weave, when starting a bale, being sure they get all the way to the left side of the baler. The left side is where you see most belt-tracking problems. The quick weave puts hay under all the belts, which applies tension to the belts. Tensioned belts seldom walk and twist.
Are you loading the right side of the baler more than the left side? This is what most beginners do and it causes problems.
Also if the belts are different lengths, this can cause wandering. When the baler is empty and tailgate closed, do the belts all have the same amount of "play" in them?

Thanks for the reply, Most of the belts are newer but would have been broken in by the previous owner, if that's the case is there anything I can do? In terms of tension I would say they are all in the same ballpark but definitely not exactly the same, how tight should they be and how much difference from one belt to another is acceptable?

Thanks in advance

 

[5030]

How the belts track is entirely dependent on how you roll a bale. Nice thing about electronic monitoring is, you can see how the bale chamber is filling. Mine is like a video game. In lieu of no electronic fill indicators, try to bale full width (width of the pickup windrows).