Baler help!

[Mark T]

I have a New Holland Super 68 Baler.

When trying to get up some rained-on mulch hay, I encountered a problem.

The tines and plunger stopped moving. The pto power shaft still turns, but the power is not being transferred to the flywheel.

I checked the shear pin and it is in place. I also cannot turn the flywheel by hand. I emptied out the bale chamber thinkling there was too much pressure but that didn't help.

I'm stumped at what to check next.

Thanks in advance for the help.

[Ross]

Your slip cluth is spinning likely because the brake has tripped to stop the plunger from shearing off the twine needles. Or you have something seriously jammed in. Are you using a proper NH shear bolt? (side issue at this point) Are the needles partly extended into the chamber to start a knot? You'll have to physically pull them back into the rest position and make sure the steel cable has pulled out the stop (or brake) all the way out of the chamber. You may have to rock the plunger back....yes it can be very difficult. It's midway on the left side (if it were a car the drivers side) of the baler, follow the steel cable attached to the needles. Once its reset change the shear bolt and try rolling it over.

[Mark T]

The twine needles are back; I manually pulled back so that it wouldn't engage the safety.

[Ross]

Did you actually check the safety was out of the way? Sometimes that cable stretches... or breaks lettign it come forward. If it isn't that I'm afraid its something more serious like the gear box or bearing off the plunger carrier. It takes a lot to thoroughly stop a square baler!

[Mark T]

Found the problem - the wooden slide base had swelled from the moisture. We moved it forward and adjusted upwards and it is now working.

Thanks for the help.