NH 68 plunger bearing swap. Wood to HDPE (high density polyethelene)

[57JD320S]

Has anyone heard of or had any experience with upgrading the plunger bearings on an old NH 68 to a plastic material such as HDPE? I have an old 68 baler that works great and make good bales but was curious if this has been discussed and/or accomplished? I figured that nothing could be wrong with making a good baler better.

 

[rankrank1]

I think I would explore seeing if "Super" 68 bearings would fit your "standard" model 68 first. I believe the Super series balers came with metal roller bearings on the plunger.

FWIW: I have a NH 65 baler that has steel metal rollers on the plunger, but it still did use wood slides on the feeder fork carriage. I upgraded those wood slides to a phenolic style roller bearing through New Holland. The phenolics have held up well on the feeder fork carriage.

 

[tessiers]

I just did mine with Oak, not a big chore and wood should last a long time if taken care of, not sure of the advantages of HDPE but I suppose it would work. I shoot mine with a shot of lemon pledge a few times a year, keeps them slick and doesn't seam to collect the dust like other stuff I have tried. I'm assuming you don't bale too much with that machine anyways, a few hundred bales a year, wood should last about forever. Mine were bad from setting outside and rotting prior to my getting the baler, not from wear.

 

[57JD320S]

anks for the replies. I am still working on this in theory an researching other options