Homesteading Forum banner

Need help with baler

28K views 23 replies 13 participants last post by  Ross 
#1 ·
We have a New Holland Hayliner 65, square baler. Bought it late last summer & used it once. Not too impressed, very crooked bales. Tightly packed on one side, loose on the other. String comes off the loose side when you pick them up.

Thought we remedied the problem, & just made our first cut this year.

We're going to lose the whole cut!!

Blasted baler STILL bales crooked. Knots sometimes get hung up, string snaps. One string is about 6 inches longer than the other. No matter how loose or tight you adjust the bars, the bales are the same. (can't remember what they're called, the 2 bars where the bale comes out)

Anyone ever work with this model? Need help, FAST!
 
#3 ·
not sure i have an answer. the NH 65 like most NH were fine bailors. it has no outstanding design errors that would cause you problems. if it is in working order it will bail as pretty a bail as you will ever see anywhere.

the tension on the bars SHOULD control the curve of the bail. have you tried fully loosening both bars and starting from "ZERO" or almost zero tension.

also try running the windrow of hay into the side of the intake chamber that the loose side of the bail is. if bail is loose on tractor side, position bailor closer to the tractor side.

the position and condition of the feed fingers (the fingers that are bolted to two loops of chain just above the feed chamber ) also have a lot to do with where the hay is positioned in the bail chamber (just before the plundger compresses the hay into the compressor area (where those bail tension adjuster bars are

i am assuming that the knotters are working consistant and that one knot is not slipping causing the bail to "uncompress" on that side.

hang in there. working with a uncorporative bailer is very frustrating, just remember its not the bailor's fault.....its some part or adjustment that needs care. or several parts or adjustments.
 
#5 ·
It's feeding too much hay into the side that is longer. You need to either position the baler while baling so more hay goes into the shorter side or adjust the feeder fork. If you want more help go to www.ytmag.com and then to the implement section. They will give you plenty of help and may have more info on how to correct it. The NH balers were notorious for making banana bales.

Bobg
 
#7 ·
Let's see if I remember the answers to your answers!!

1. Not sure about hay wedges, I'll have to ask hubby

2. We tried the tension on the bars every way. Loose & work our way up. Tight & work our way down. Doesn't seem to matter, still the same lopsided bale.

I'll suggest the hay positioning.

The feed fingers. One is replaced, when we got it. Hubby thinks they aren't pushing the hay far enough into the chamber. How far should they go in?

Knotter seems to work ok. Sometimes the knots get hung up, tho.

3. Airbladders? I don't think this has them.

4. Will pass on the info on hay positioning.

5. Dogs? I printed off the tech. picture from the New HOlland site & they were on there. Hubby seems to think they aren't on our baler. Doesn't remember seeing them. Like they are missing. Will have to look closer.

Thanks again, everyone! We did 25 bales (3 came undone), but have at least that much hay left, plus more to cut! Then we do the late summer cut.
 
#8 ·
the "dogs" should be to the left and right just behind the loading portion of the bail chamber. keeps the hay from expanding toward the front of the bail chamber as the plunger opens. the dogs will receed flush with the chamber walls as the plunger travel toward the rear.

if one dog is not retaining hay, it could affect hay compaction on that side.

if only one loading finger was replaced and the others are worn short or broken off short, that may affect the feed into the chamber.

the 65 does not use airsprings, its about 20 years too early for those...

in my short time of bailing hay i have used NH65, 68's, super 68's and 275 until switching to round bales (bad back). without a doubt NH is THE leading manufacture of dry forage equipment in the world. (although i like the hesston haybines better for toughtness) i have never seen a curved bail unless the tension bars were out of adjustment. but then again i only put up around 150 to 200 tons of hay (fescue/clover/bean) per year. reading the manual will tell the unexperienced how to adjust the bale shape, density, and length.
 
#9 ·
Your problem is the hay dogs and/or the feed fingers.

Dogs need to be there & working right. They looks small & unimportant - they are small, but very important.

The feed fingers need to be adjusted _just_ right and all will be well. I suspect the new one might be the wrong style (grab what fits) or was bolted on the wrong spot. I think this will be your big problem, and you need these adjusted. It is throwing the hay too far, or not far enough into the chamber, overloading one side/ underloading the other.

(My baler has 3 forks - right is spring loaded steel, middle is ridgid steel, left by chamber is cast pot metal - each has it's place & can't be interchanged, as simple as they look each does it's own job. Your whole fork design might be different than mine tho, not familar with your older model.)

On the 65, does the feed fork run on a big chain? It needs to be timed right, perhaps it was assembled wrong & not timed. Many times this makes broken parts, but it could be off just a tick & not hitting anything, but would not feed the chamber properly.

Folks do complain about this 'banana bale' from NH balers, but it is an adjustment issue - if the dogs are ok, it's the feed forks not set right. The baler is capible of making uniform bales if it is set up right.

I've been behind a NH baler for 35 years, it's been on the place for at least another 10 before I could handle a bale. Mine isn't quite as old as yours tho. It will work if set right.

The rear tensioners should be set equal to each other and are not the cause of your poor bales. You shouldn't have hay wedges; if some dim bulb put in one on one side only (back in the chamber behind the knotters) well that would be a problem, but not typical to have wedges in this style baler.

Dogs or feed fork, problem there.

--->Paul
 
#11 ·
Have you looked for a manual on e-bay? We found one for our jd tractor for a reasonable price, thank goodness. I like to get the manual and study it so I understand completely how a piece of machinery works before seriously trying to use it. Gives you a lot more to work with and a lot less frustration in the field.
 
#12 ·
I agree if the dogs and feed fingers are Ok AND the chamber is rust free it needs wedges. The biggest diff in needing or not needing wedges is the crop conditions. Longer coarser crops really benefit from wedges, so too irregular rows (or disrupted feeding from varying windrows). I've never seen a 65, but the 67, 68, 273, 275, 267, and 315 we've used all had wedges, and they went it to cure those banana shaped bales. Unmatched wedges might mess things up but I can't see them hurting anything.
 
#13 ·
my wording of the part you may be missing was incorrect, new holland calls them "bale stops" and calls for 4, 2 on each side. (our 315 has 5 3 on the intake side and 2 on the other) while i do not have the dealer parts book for the 65 ,have them for other nh balers from 1958 too 1983. may have it on micro fiche but have no reader anymore and poor eye sight. they did use a hydraulic tensioner for their balers too in this time frame and just recently saw a retrofit for an air bag tensioning system as well (on a john deere but hay have torch will retrofit!) i would take the hay dogs right off the baler too loosen them and check the pins they rotate on for grooving and the springs for tensioning . they are a bit tricky too take out and replace but worth the effort. new holland has differing part numbers for the springs after a certain serial number , since my parts books are original and new holland has past through a number of hands since the numbers they give are obsoletes.
 
#14 ·
Well, we've taken all 4 dogs out & loosened them. Unfortnately the spring to one gave up the ghost! It was so rusty, it broke right off.

We've been to 4 places, no luck. I expected this, since it's Sunday. Hubby wants to get whats left in the field today. There's 2 tractor place's 30 miles north & 25 miles west. Both closed, of course.

He found a spring from the hood (i think) of an old Impala. Going to cut & bend it, see if that work's for today.

Also, for the wedges or bale stops, could he fabricate them himself? He's fairly handy with the torch & welder. :shrug:
 
#15 ·
bale stops were about 6 bucks a piece the last time i got a set, not hard once you get a patern. the inset for the bolts is the hardest part other wise they are a peice of lite angle iron. any spring in a pinch! for wedges a piece of spreader slat from a manure spreader then bolts through the bale chamber at the predrilled positions
 
#16 ·
Ok, dogs were all cleaned & working (new spring works!). Went to bale hay. Same thing happened. Packed on one side. Loose on the other, far side of bale.

So I guess it's a timing problem with the feed fingers? Inside the baler, there's sticker that says how to time it (feed fingers). But can't find any marks that are supposed to be there.

Can we reset it ourselves? How the heck do you do it? Don't want to shatter anything!! :help:

(Thanks everyone for the ideas & suggestions!!!)
 
#19 ·
On timing the feeder fingers, you won't have any problem with breaking anything if you have the baler empty and run it through the cycle by hand. You want the fingers all the way in the chamber when the plunger is at its furthest point back (towards the tractor) and the fingers leaving the chamber when the plunger is coming back to compress the hay. It sounds to me that the finger that feeds the far side of the chamber is not delivering over as far as it should.

Jennifer
 
#20 ·
Just my two cents worth.

I have found several problems with my baler by getting a few bales started in the baler and then letting a 3rd or 4th "test" bale almost get to a size/point of tripping the knotter. Shut off tractor, kick the knotter manually, and rotate the knotter through its paces in slow motion as you watch it do its "thang" on a tensioned bale of hay.

Thanks,
Scott
 
#21 ·
I have to go along with the haydogs. I wanted to make one point about that though. I was getting crooked bales and noticed one of the haydog springs had broken. I couldn't stop to go to the parts store, so I raked two swaths together. really getting a full load of hay into the baler (even plugged er up a couple of times). The bales straightened right out (even with the broken haydog). If that works its the dogs.

I'm not sure I believe the feed forks are the problem because they have to fill the chamber before the plunger comes back around. it doesn't matter when this happens as long as it happens. When feed fork timing becomes a problem, you'll know it!! The sound of breaking metal and chains is unmistakeable......
 
#22 ·
It's not the timing of the forks. It's the position of them on the rail.

If the fork throws the hay too far into the chamber, the far side of the bale is full, and the near side is thin & loose.

Or other way around.

I'm not certain on older models, but on my NH baler, you can move the forks around, they clamp on the bar. Position on the bar is critical.

If a new one was 'just bolted on' any old place, that would be your problem.....

--->Paul
 
#23 ·
rambler said:
If the fork throws the hay too far into the chamber, the far side of the bale is full, and the near side is thin & loose.

Or other way around.

--->Paul
Ahhhhh Tonto see now Kemosabee.... I have an old Ford baler with two forks, and I'll tell ya there isn't a whole lot of room for error. The inner fork cant stay in the chamber long. If they're not timed right, there's gonna be some blacksmithin' going on
 
#24 ·
Scott what sort of baler? Most use a trip arm that is raised by a drive wheel attached to a cog that sticks into the bale. What is likely happening is the trip arm is worn (or the drive wheel but more likely the arm) and the drive wheel is slipping. A short term fix is to file some teeth into the arm, but really a replacement arm is in order.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top