String breaks on bale

[Lone Wolf]

New baler last year and has been great. This week started to bale again and the right side has broken several bales. I have learned and finally got the bales 36" and density alot lighter than the previous bales (heavy enough to give you a hernia) wife can even pick them up. The string tensioner seems to be equal both sides. Once the knotter was jammed with string but other than that the string breaks. Frustrated that I have 2-3 bales that I have to throw on the ground to rebale every time the string breaks. Thanks

 

[Dill]

I read that a couple times and kept getting confused.
First off it sounds like your just running the chamber tension too high, if the bales are that stuffed. Back the screws off.
2nd are you using new twine? And were is the break? At the knot? Is knot left on the knotter?
What brand of baler?

 

[oldnslo]

Many years ago we had a Ford model 520 (I think) that would do this. We finally figured out that if we poured a little diesel fuel over the knotter discs it would work again for several thousand bales. The only conclusion we had was the discs would bind a little and fray the twine right at the knot. May not be your issue but look very closely at both knots on the "good" bales to see if there is any evidence of the twine being frayed on one side and not the other.

another possibility is that the twine tensioner / feed mechanism is gummed up with chaff.

Roy

 

[flusher]

Many years ago we had a Ford model 520 (I think) that would do this. We finally figured out that if we poured a little diesel fuel over the knotter discs it would work again for several thousand bales. The only conclusion we had was the discs would bind a little and fray the twine right at the knot. May not be your issue but look very closely at both knots on the "good" bales to see if there is any evidence of the twine being frayed on one side and not the other.

another possibility is that the twine tensioner / feed mechanism is gummed up with chaff.

Roy

I spray the knotters on my MF124 baler (two twine, small squares) with WD-40 every month or so. Seems to help.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Hi guys, when the string breaks it is on the lighter bales that I have set now. These bales are light enough for the wife to pick up so I can't blame the heaviness. The string does break at the knotter. In fact at one time the knotter was all jammed up and I have to cut/tear the string off it. The tensioner seems fine but I will check it out. Didn't think of the WD-40/lubing the knotters. Good suggestion. I need to put a fan back there as there was alot of dust/junk around the knotter/knifes.

Dill: New tine Baler: New Holland Model? The brand that the hay pickup is center of machine so you can drive right over the hay. I will check the other bale string, left side and compare.

Thanks

 

[Dill]

I didn't think New Holland made an inline baler. Just Hesston, which is then branded CIH, AGCO, MF and Challenger.
Were is the twine breaking and is the knot left on the knotter?

 

[trac]

Sounds like the knife arm is not sweeping the knot off the bill hook from what you describe. Going to have to remove the bolt that holds the the knotter frame in the home postion, and swing the frame upright. Be vary careful with your fingers as the knife arm swings back and forth as your doing this. The knife can cut you very badly. Again, extreme caution. The bottom of the knife arm should scrub the bottom of the biil hook. If it doesn't, it will have to be bent down against the bill hook to wipe the knot off of it. I use a good size cresent wrench to do this.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Dill,

Yea you are right the Baler is a MF-Hesston (I was thinking of my old 1970's baler was a NH). I looked at the other bales and all the knots were lined up together evenly across from each other and the cutting was smooth. Don't remember where the string actually broke at as this is new to me so I was not concentrating on that issue except throwing the hay back on the ground--my bad. The bill hook did get jammed twice and I had to pull or cut the string out of it. I will pay more attention next time. Going to read up on the tensioner this weekend and check that.

Trac,

I will look at the whole assmbly this weekend. This is new to me and the wife and I do all the work so not having any problems (I wish) would be nice. I will be very careful and appriecate the safety warning. Don't need an ER visit!

Thanks guys for the help and advice.

 

[Dill]

Ok now we getting somewhere cause I have the same baler.
And you have the same knotters as the Deere's so we aren't chasing some oddity.
Loosen the tension on billhook for the side that is breaking the twine. Just a turn or so. I don't think you have a string tension issue unless you just switched from plastic to sisal.

And the cool thing about this knotter is you don't need tools so swing the knotters up. Just pull the cotter pin, pop the pin and swing up.
For the small number of bales I don't think its a knife issue.

 

[zzvyb6]

The original jam may have bent the billhook jaw or broken the cam wheel off. Now its marginal. Just LOOK at it and compare the left vs. right side components.

Twine disk tension is a likely cause (as previously stated) if the twine is broken. If the twine is NOT broken, the tucker fingers may not be delivering the twine loop to the twine disk. Twine pull out of the twine box and billhook jaw draw force should be about 15 lbs apiece. You can measure this.

All you should need to do is run back over the broken bales and rebale them. Pull out the extra twine afterwards.

People who read the manual are usually way ahead of the game on these things.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Thanks guys, I will check it out this weekend and look at closer. Good site for help!! :thumbsup:

Going to look into a fan also to keep all the dust and junk out of it. Sure gets messy back there.

 

[Dill]

Yes I have never seen a baler that makes more chaff than the inlines. Mine easily makes twice as much chaff as our deere square balers. But man oh man can they take the hay and make a nice lego like stacking bale. Plus mine has a 6.5 ft pickup so if I get distracted and veer off course I'm still not apt to miss hay.

 

[MIKE R]

Check the twine coming out of the spools. There was some that came out all twisted up and the would keep breaking the twine on the one side. changed the ball and it tide the knot fine.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Dill,
Love this machine so does my wife as she can just drive and be a soical butterfly--just kidding but she loves it since she has trouble with a straight line. So much easier than my NH.

Mike,
I had a ball of twine that was almost finished before a new set of twine was going to take over when the breaking started but I will keep an eye on that when I get to the end again.

Thanks guys, alot to baling than just picking it up and stacking. Learning alot on what to watch for.

 

[Barry Bowen]

You really need to pay attention to exactly what is going on with where the break is in the twine. The broken twine will tell you EXACTLY what is wrong if you know what you are looking at. If you have access to an old JD baler manual they have a great section showing the problems with the twine and the knotts and what the problem is. Dull knives on the wipers will cause hang ups on the bill hooks. Too tight on the twine disc will cause shattered twine at the knott, and cause the twine to get built up on the bill hook. Too loose on the twine disc and the twine will pull out and not tie. We really need a lot more information about what is going wrong to tell you what the problem is.

Next suggestion is to read your manual on the knotters to see what it says about various adjustments and how to make them. Start there to make sure every thing is right. As you can see, just because the baler did fine last year does not mean a thing this year. Also new balers are more prone to problems then older balers, seems the dealer do not have any one who knows squat about the small squares any more. All the dealers want to sell is the 250K big square balers.

Here is a great link to a NH video on how knotters work. ALL THE KNOTTERS WORK ON THE SAME PRINCIPALS.

Small Square Baler Knotter - YouTube