IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!

[R A]

My first some what ok hay bale I have ever made! I'm excited! (I live a simple life )


forked big bale hay in to start to work on it and get to know square balers before the season hits.

my first go rounds had no twine

then a lot of this or no twine

then got one side going

I have a long, LONG way to go to start understanding this thing, but thanks to a manual, trial and error and the good ol' internet, I'm on my way!!!

 

[R A]

...and a few pictures to look at if you're bored.

I won't be able to sell pictures until I get a higher resolution camera, which will be a long time from now, but I am having fun practicing and maybe someday will????

 

[flatlander]

Your tractor/baler combination was exactly what I had a zillion yrs ago.
My advice is to not get in a hurry. That baler just didn't want to accept the rpm's of that old red beast.

Think the whole package cost around 1300 to start with. OH-The timing is critical as I'm sure you discovered. Have fun.javascript:emoticon(':roll:')

 

[Soapweed]

My first some what ok hay bale I have ever made! I'm excited! (I live a simple life )

Congratulations, R A. That is funny. With an imagination and creativity like yours, you will have that machine working well in no time.
With an imagination and creativity like yours, it won't matter if it works or not; you will have fun regardless.

Your other pictures are great as well. If baling doesn't pan out, you can always be a professional photographer.

 

[burnt]

One word of advice on powering that baler - DON"T put too much tractor in front of it!

When I ran a 14T, I would occasionally need to use my 65 hp. tractor on the wagons to get them into the barn sop I'd put my 1105 Massey on the baler.

Well, we ended up taking the cog out of the drive on the back of the drive line because they're not meant to have that much power going through them.

But our old 14T did a pile of bales for us.

 

[loomixguy]

I had an old IH 440T baler years ago. First job, I ended up rebuilding both knotters...then, it was Katy bar the door! That thing cranked out a mess of bales with very little other input. Since I was going to sell the hay, and it would be shipped, I only used the heaviest (170# knot strength) plastic twine. Some horse hay customers said the trash wouldn't pick up baling wire anymore, but they would plastic, so that's what I put on. I pulled it with a 4020 powershift, and baled in 2nd gear most of the time.

You will get to the point when you will seldom have to look behind to see if things are OK, as the noises the baler makes will let you know if there's a problem. Flatlander is 100% correct about the timing. The operater's manual is your best friend.

GREAT pix and good luck!

 

[Hayguy]

looks good RA, alot of knotter problems can be traced back to dull twine knives. the ones one that baler are rivited in place making sharpening a pita. however it may have been upgraded to bolt on kinves,an upgrade worth doing. also make sure that your slip clutch is sliping as per manual, if not it can take out the PTO on the tractor,especially non LIVE pto's as you have.

good luck

 

[littlejoe]

looks good RA, alot of knotter problems can be traced back to dull twine knives. the ones one that baler are rivited in place making sharpening a pita. however it may have been upgraded to bolt on kinves,an upgrade worth doing. also make sure that your slip clutch is sliping as per manual, if not it can take out the PTO on the tractor,especially non LIVE pto's as you have.

good luck

Besides knives needing to be sharp, the clearances should be properly adjusted. (i'm talking about knives in bale chamber now) Oughta be some shear bolts on flywheel and knotter drive. Make sure you got the right ones for spares. I run n.h.---on flywheel, you can just stick another one in, on knotters you wanta check the needle timing if one breaks, which is rare. Knotters were probably pretty close to right, when parked. If you get to having trouble with them, only make one adjustment @ a time---you can get a zillion bales outa set of knotters, I've seen guys buy new ones, mostly cause they got to changing too many things @ once and didn't understand what they were doing. Should you get to fighting this thing, there's probably some handy old guy down the road that's wore out a couple and can give you some neat tips.

 

[Faster horses]

Mr. FH has run New Holland balers since he was a
child and he understands those knotters, etc. He gets calls all the time from
people who are having baler problems. It's kind of fun for him
to fix one so it works right. So, I agee with littljoe~I bet you can
find someone who knows about those balers. Just don't be afraid
to call them--will save you wear and tear on your hair and your
teeth... :wink:

And they generally are glad to help and don't charge...least he
doesn't...

 

[R A]

Thanks for all the input on baling and looking at my pictures! I'll start by saying that my mechanical skills resume says barely able to change the oil, so this is fun messing with my hay equipment, getting it ready for haying and learning about it!

I bought my baler off a guy that didn't know much about balers....all he said was that it has knotter trouble...nothing broken, just don't tie. I didn't know a single thing to ask, just bought the thing.

To make a long story short.....my main problem has been the twine not releasing from the bill hooks. One side of the twine was set so tight it kept breaking underneath the baler, easy fix, and I learned how to string them. I unbolted the knotter assemblies to where I could flip them up. I worked them over real good with emory cloth, put them back, greased everything, then started adjusting the billhook adjustment screw, twine tension, rpm's on the tractor and the amount and how long at one time I fed the hay in....it eventually started baling bales tied with those easy fixes. I haven't got into anything anybody has mentioned in these posts here yet and appreciate the help!!!

Your tractor/baler combination was exactly what I had a zillion yrs ago.
My advice is to not get in a hurry. That baler just didn't want to accept the rpm's of that old red beast.

Think the whole package cost around 1300 to start with. OH-The timing is critical as I'm sure you discovered. Have fun.javascript:emoticon(':roll:')

Ok, thanks! I'll take it slow. I looked into it and it looks like the baler should recieve 540 to 1000 rpm's and the tractor can put out around 1500, so thanks again for your input and keeping me from maybe tearin' something up at the start! I haven't got into the timing yet, other than just visually looking at what is hitting in relationship to the other while running....it seems to be hitting right, but I'll check that out.

Yeah, the tractor came with a pull behind sickle bar mower, so I have $1100 in the tractor, mower, rake and baler.

Congratulations, R A. That is funny. With an imagination and creativity like yours, you will have that machine working well in no time.
With an imagination and creativity like yours, it won't matter if it works or not; you will have fun regardless.

Your other pictures are great as well. If baling doesn't pan out, you can always be a professional photographer.

Thanks! A bad day dealing with a baler that won't work is still better IMO than a lot of other things that I could be dealing with, so yeah, it's all fun!

Man, I hope baling pans out cameras, 10,000 lenses for every occasion, tripods, bags and all that is expensive! I always am shooting while doing something and my poor camera has taken quite the beating, if I had to shoot to be shooting for a good picture, to keep everything nice, I'd be lost.

One word of advice on powering that baler - DON"T put too much tractor in front of it!

When I ran a 14T, I would occasionally need to use my 65 hp. tractor on the wagons to get them into the barn sop I'd put my 1105 Massey on the baler.

Well, we ended up taking the cog out of the drive on the back of the drive line because they're not meant to have that much power going through them.

But our old 14T did a pile of bales for us.

Ok, thanks! I'm working towards getting a bigger tractor someday, and will remember that! I of course don't know anything about tractor horsepower. It looks like my tractor might be in the mid thirties on horsepower, hmmm, I also found while looking for that, that according to the serial number my tractor was made in 1950. I hope my 14t does a pile of bales my me!

I had an old IH 440T baler years ago. First job, I ended up rebuilding both knotters...then, it was Katy bar the door! That thing cranked out a mess of bales with very little other input. Since I was going to sell the hay, and it would be shipped, I only used the heaviest (170# knot strength) plastic twine. Some horse hay customers said the trash wouldn't pick up baling wire anymore, but they would plastic, so that's what I put on. I pulled it with a 4020 powershift, and baled in 2nd gear most of the time.

You will get to the point when you will seldom have to look behind to see if things are OK, as the noises the baler makes will let you know if there's a problem. Flatlander is 100% correct about the timing. The operater's manual is your best friend.

GREAT pix and good luck!

Thanks! I'm looking forward to being way more familiar with it! I read the manual before even really looking at the baler and nothing stuck. I'm reading it over and over again and now that I'm diving into the baler a little and things are starting to make more sense.

looks good RA, alot of knotter problems can be traced back to dull twine knives. the ones one that baler are rivited in place making sharpening a pita. however it may have been upgraded to bolt on kinves,an upgrade worth doing. also make sure that your slip clutch is sliping as per manual, if not it can take out the PTO on the tractor,especially non LIVE pto's as you have.

good luck

Thanks! Just getting ready to tackle the knifes and learn about them. I couldn't even tell ya which type is on there at the moment, but will, and appreciate you sayin the bolt on ones are better. Slip clutch - ok, I found it in the manual just now and will look into for sure, thanks! I've been thinking about how I am going to set up my windrows and stuff to make my non-live pto situation better.

looks good RA, alot of knotter problems can be traced back to dull twine knives. the ones one that baler are rivited in place making sharpening a pita. however it may have been upgraded to bolt on kinves,an upgrade worth doing. also make sure that your slip clutch is sliping as per manual, if not it can take out the PTO on the tractor,especially non LIVE pto's as you have.

good luck

Besides knives needing to be sharp, the clearances should be properly adjusted. (i'm talking about knives in bale chamber now) Oughta be some shear bolts on flywheel and knotter drive. Make sure you got the right ones for spares. I run n.h.---on flywheel, you can just stick another one in, on knotters you wanta check the needle timing if one breaks, which is rare. Knotters were probably pretty close to right, when parked. If you get to having trouble with them, only make one adjustment @ a time---you can get a zillion bales outa set of knotters, I've seen guys buy new ones, mostly cause they got to changing too many things @ once and didn't understand what they were doing. Should you get to fighting this thing, there's probably some handy old guy down the road that's wore out a couple and can give you some neat tips.

Thanks! I'll check out the knife clearances and how to adjust them. shear bolts - I'll get some, as I have none. I imagine there's probably quite a few things that would be real handy just to have on ya out in the field. One of my needles looks to be a little lower than the other and they both sit about an inch or two lower than the bottom of the baler??? Yeah, I know very few people around here and don't know a single person to go over this baler with me in person or help them go over their's.....I'll see what I can do about that, though. Having looked through mine some now, it would be a HUGE help.

Mr. FH has run New Holland balers since he was a
child and he understands those knotters, etc. He gets calls all the time from
people who are having baler problems. It's kind of fun for him
to fix one so it works right. So, I agee with littljoe~I bet you can
find someone who knows about those balers. Just don't be afraid
to call them--will save you wear and tear on your hair and your
teeth... :wink:

And they generally are glad to help and don't charge...least he
doesn't...

Thanks! I'm going to try and find someone around here. I grew up in Iowa. If I was still up there, I know a couple of guys that would be very helpful. I know I don't want to and can't afford to just take it in and have it gone over or fixed everytime something is wrong....I want to learn to fix it....that's all I know. It'll be fun.

 

[cowman52]

Sat on a 14 t about 50 years ago, be led alfalfa at night, pulled it with a wd 45 Allis. The tractor has 2 clutches, and it works really well. The shear pin in the cross auger is the hardest to replace. The pin in the needle lift is second. In those days, you would bend the wiper arm to get the knot out of the billhook. Did have the knotter assembly break, welded it back and never had a problem.
Have any of you seen the old Deere sidewinders??

You brought back memories

 

[burnt]

R A , if there's one thing that really scares the heck outta me about your tractor and baler, it's that lack of a PTO shield on a setup where you have to mount the tractor from the back. Meaning that you will at times be right beside a shaft that is spinning fast enough to send you halfway to the moon. Likely in pieces.

I have a friend/neighbor who got torn up in a PTO accident a couple of years ago. Lost one leg, smashed the other and lost most of his blood before they got him to hospital. But he lived.

Just keep that in mind and do whatever it takes to keep the job fun instead of somebody planning a funeral.

 

[R A]

Sat on a 14 t about 50 years ago, be led alfalfa at night, pulled it with a wd 45 Allis. The tractor has 2 clutches, and it works really well. The shear pin in the cross auger is the hardest to replace. The pin in the needle lift is second. In those days, you would bend the wiper arm to get the knot out of the billhook. Did have the knotter assembly break, welded it back and never had a problem.
Have any of you seen the old Deere sidewinders??

You brought back memories

There are more shear pins than I imagined I'll look for the ones you talked about. I looked for sidewinder pictures, but haven't found one yet. Seen 116w sidewinder mentioned a few times.

R A , if there's one thing that really scares the heck outta me about your tractor and baler, it's that lack of a PTO shield on a setup where you have to mount the tractor from the back. Meaning that you will at times be right beside a shaft that is spinning fast enough to send you halfway to the moon. Likely in pieces.

I have a friend/neighbor who got torn up in a PTO accident a couple of years ago. Lost one leg, smashed the other and lost most of his blood before they got him to hospital. But he lived.

Just keep that in mind and do whatever it takes to keep the job fun instead of somebody planning a funeral.

Thanks, burnt!...I appreciate the concern! Yeah, that isn't a good thing. That's a horrible story of your neighbor! Right now just having this new loud thing a luggin' and chuggin' is keeping me aware, but I bet as I get used to it I might get a little sloppy around it. I looked for places to mount a shield on it and am unsure of how I could. There is a guard up to a certain point, but, yeah, nothing right by where I am getting on and off. I searched 14t baler pics on the net and didn't see any with a guard there to see how to mount one. I can't imagine getting caught in that thing hauling butt like it does!!!

 

[R A]

 

[Cedarcreek]

I started with a NH 275 about the same vintage as your JD. Now I run a JD 347. The others have given you good advice. The slip clutch needs to be adjusted each season, they will stick when the baler sets over winter. If it is properly adjusted you wont have to worry if you put a bigger tractor on it. I run 140hp on mine some of the time. It's normal for the slip clutch to get a little warm in normal operation because it will slip a little on each bale. Your baler is made to run at 540 rpm. Follow the book on adjusting the knotter, probably best to go through the whole knotter adjustment sequence. Your needles setting about an inch below the bale case is normal. When your baling I try to adjust my speed so I get 15 to 17 strokes per bale for consistent bale length.

 

[Hayguy]

R A , if there's one thing that really scares the heck outta me about your tractor and baler, it's that lack of a PTO shield on a setup where you have to mount the tractor from the back. Meaning that you will at times be right beside a shaft that is spinning fast enough to send you halfway to the moon. Likely in pieces.

I have a friend/neighbor who got torn up in a PTO accident a couple of years ago. Lost one leg, smashed the other and lost most of his blood before they got him to hospital. But he lived.

Just keep that in mind and do whatever it takes to keep the job fun instead of somebody planning a funeral.

I'm sure that plastic Pto sheilds/gaurds from a newer baler could be made to fit, PLEASE check it out

 

[cowman52]

No the yokes are different, Have to use the original that was a u shaped sheet iron cover over the top and sides. The hanger mast pivots back and forth and the long middle shaft telescopes.
The bushings in the flywheel being worn have more to do with shear than overload of the machine.
The slip clutch is mainly for the pickup, the overriding clutch in the main drive line is to let the baler coast when the tractor is not powering the baler. There are 2 spring loaded dogs in it and usually 1 will break and wear the teeth out of the hub. The hanger bearing just behind it will overheat, there is a zerk and a bushings in it.
One hint, loose hay fines will build up in the lower corners of the bale case, and make tying a pure pain.
Keep us up on the old deere

 

[R A]

I started with a NH 275 about the same vintage as your JD. Now I run a JD 347. The others have given you good advice. The slip clutch needs to be adjusted each season, they will stick when the baler sets over winter. If it is properly adjusted you wont have to worry if you put a bigger tractor on it. I run 140hp on mine some of the time. It's normal for the slip clutch to get a little warm in normal operation because it will slip a little on each bale. Your baler is made to run at 540 rpm. Follow the book on adjusting the knotter, probably best to go through the whole knotter adjustment sequence. Your needles setting about an inch below the bale case is normal. When your baling I try to adjust my speed so I get 15 to 17 strokes per bale for consistent bale length.

Thanks! I will try to tackle the slip clutch and go over it! 15 to 17 strokes - thanks, I'll remember that! I appreciate it!

I appreciate all the comments made! I would be asking more questions, but don't know what to ask yet and all this is VERY helpful!

 

[R A]

R A , if there's one thing that really scares the heck outta me about your tractor and baler, it's that lack of a PTO shield on a setup where you have to mount the tractor from the back. Meaning that you will at times be right beside a shaft that is spinning fast enough to send you halfway to the moon. Likely in pieces.

I have a friend/neighbor who got torn up in a PTO accident a couple of years ago. Lost one leg, smashed the other and lost most of his blood before they got him to hospital. But he lived.

Just keep that in mind and do whatever it takes to keep the job fun instead of somebody planning a funeral.

I'm sure that plastic Pto sheilds/gaurds from a newer baler could be made to fit, PLEASE check it out

Will do! Thanks!

 

[R A]

No the yokes are different, Have to use the original that was a u shaped sheet iron cover over the top and sides. The hanger mast pivots back and forth and the long middle shaft telescopes.
The bushings in the flywheel being worn have more to do with shear than overload of the machine.
The slip clutch is mainly for the pickup, the overriding clutch in the main drive line is to let the baler coast when the tractor is not powering the baler. There are 2 spring loaded dogs in it and usually 1 will break and wear the teeth out of the hub. The hanger bearing just behind it will overheat, there is a zerk and a bushings in it.
One hint, loose hay fines will build up in the lower corners of the bale case, and make tying a pure pain.
Keep us up on the old deere

Thanks! I appreciate your help! I started cleaning it all up and going over everything today. There was hay in every knook and cranny. I took some pictures.