Ask the Mechanic

By Steve Thompson, Contributing Editor

I read your earlier article with interest on how to maintain the length of square bales coming out of the baler. I don’t have a problem with long (snake) bales or short (value-added) bales, but I do have a problem with crooked (banana) bales. If I were selling my hay to Dole or to a monkey zoo, I would be fine. How can I get the twine the same length on both sides of the baler?

This is a common problem that can require occasional field adjustments. Let’s see if we can straighten out that banana. I have had the pleasure of having baled more than a million bales with a John Deere square baler while fighting 100°F temperatures, flies, gnats, mosquitoes, bumblebees and varying crop conditions. Using this experience, I’m glad to report that your baler fix is an easy one. But first, let me guess. When standing behind the baler, the twine appears to be longer on the left side.

First, we need to check the timing of the feeder forks. This is important because if they are slow in time with the plunger, this allows the hay that is placed on the upper left side of the bale to fall down before the plunger can slam it into the top left corner of the bale, causing the bale not to be as tight on the left side. What looks like a tying problem is a feeding problem. The amount of hay on the left side of the bale case is controlled by two things: (1) the rate of hay put in the baler with each stroke (hay pushes hay), and (2) the “attitude adjustment,” or where the forks leave the hay in the bale case.

To fix your problem, we must make sure the feeder forks (sometimes called fingers) are in time with the plunger. Put the feeder fork pin in the lower hole of the feeder fork. Turn the flywheel counterclockwise (arrow on flywheel) until the plunger is on the rearward stroke (plunger headed toward rear of baler), and the face of the plunger (the first slotted vertical piece of the plunger on which the angled plunger extensions are welded) appears in the front feeder fork slot. Roll the flywheel a little more until the face of the plunger is in the middle of the front feeder fork slot. Stop the flywheel at that point.

Next, measure the distance from the tip of the feeder forks to the left end slot opening (near left side of baler and “U” shaped) of the feeder fork slot. This distance should be 9.5 to 11.5 inches. If it isn’t, loosen the feeder fork drive chain idler, and move the feeder fork drive sprocket so that the feeder forks are in the proper distance from the end of the slot.

Now, check the attitude adjustment. Since you already have the feeder fork in the lower pinhole, the baler is set for maximum penetration of hay toward the left side of the baler. This is where the baler usually needs to run in lighter windrows and small-stemmed grass hay. The “Ask the Mechanic” writer’s rule is: “The lighter the hay, the lower the hole on a John Deere baler.” By the way, all brands of square balers have an “attitude adjustment” that allows for proper feeding of varying crop conditions.

Finally, we need to check and see how many strokes of hay it is taking your baler to drop a bale. If you are baling too slowly, this will cause banana bales because the feeder fork cannot get enough hay in front of it to push it all the way to the left side of the baler. I always liked to make a bale with around 16 to 18 strokes per bale on this model of baler. If your windrows are too thin to make this happen, unless you are going across the field in road gear, just rake more windrows together so you can travel around 2 mph to get the strokes per bale you need.

Make sure your baler is running the full 540 rpms (revolutions per minute). Since your baler runs at 82 strokes per minute, you’ll now be baling around four “square” bales per minute.

Safety Tip of the Month

Be careful when rotating the feeder forks after you loosen the chain idler or remove the master link for feeder fork adjustment. The feeder fork is in no way balanced and can rotate very quickly, catching your finger between the sprocket and chain. This hurts!

(BS)

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