IH 46 square baler knotter problems.

[gthorule1971]

found the problem with mine, the disc that holds the twine was out of adjustment, i noticed when i spun it by hand both twines were going into same slot on disc with outside disc while the inside, one twine in slot, one in semi circle notch.so i loosened the lock nut and nut on the end of the disc spun it back about 2 mm locked it back up and bobs your uncle over two hundred bales done now and its only dropped two i can live with that! by the way i just set it by guess as i was out in a paddock but all i did was make the top of the finger between the two slots level with the top of the plate the twine runs down as the needle pulls it through cheers peter

 

[GREENBOY]

An old farmer recommended to change the twine to sisal and it worked a treat. I just need to get the knives to be slightly lower to cut the sisal but problem solved. It was because the previous twine was too thin for the holders to grip whereas the sisal was 1.5 times thicker! Can wait for the next hay season to come.

 

[GREENBOY]

Another issue seems to be causing the main issue is the bill hook on the is not closing at the end of the cycle - it looks as though there is wearing inside the bill hook cam which holds open the bill hook - like it is stuck, when you tap the open tooth it then clicks into place. I have swung up the knotter and taken off the cam and cleaned it out, it looks like the ball on the bill hook is less round than it should be, any idea what would be best course of action, i am thinking or smoothing out the can a bit to try and stop it sticking, or it there anything else I can do?

 

[cowridermi]

Here are a couple of manuals that my help.


http://www.mediafire.com/download/2kvrmva3wmdoy4o IH 430 & 440 Balers OM

http://www.mediafire.com/view/j9oqkvb47ps7a8a Ford-NH Std-HD Baler Knotter Service Manual

 

[t78j]

Greenly-
same problem just happened to me on my IH 47 baler. i left it with a broken finger last year and finally got around to setting it back up today. i noticed that one knotter seemed to not be completing it's cycle. it wasn't rotated as far back around toward the finger as the other and the clamp on the billhook was still open. after screwing with it for several hours i just realized that the hook itself is loose on its shaft. if you swing the knotter up and push the cam back out of the way so you can open the hook clamp and let the spinner clear the frame then you can swing the knotter all the way strait up in the air and watch the hook spin. in the middle of the spin i can grab the hook with my finders and keep swinging the knotter frame and the billhook shaft and gear keep spinning but the hook stays put.
I'm looking for help cause i can't figure out hoe the hook is held on its shaft. its almost like its pressed on and came a little loose. i got it back in a position that will work but i think once i put twine tension on it it will probably shift again... this is all after spending hours trying to polish the tension plate cam and the little roller on the bill hook...
sound like you have the same problem as as far as i can see there is no timing for the hook. only the plates. so if it's out of position compare to your other knotter then either whatever holds the gear to the billhook shaft has broke or whatever holds the hook head on the shaft has come loose. mine being the latter...


I'm thinking of trying to cross drill the billhook and put a roll pin in it.

HELP ANYONE?

 

[GREENBOY]

Hi t78j

Sorry only just seen your message - as I had given up waiting for a solution - however I have finally sorted the problem out. It looks like it is all down to the play in the bill hook beak, ie the little tooth that has a rolling ball on one end, this tooth opens as it turns,captures the twine and then close right at the end of the cycle as the roller ball falls off the main frame cliff (cant think of a better word than cliff) at the point where the end of the cam has done its job basically. My problem was that because of a slight play in the tooth/beak it wobbled which meant that it is not forced to close by slipping off the cliff.
After speaking to someone they advised that a quick fix is to file the cliff a couple of millimeters so that it compensates for the play in the beak, this is irreversible and will creat problems if you get a new or better bill hook. So I waited and eventually by luck managed to buy a nearly new whole bill hook. After fighting to position the cam in the right place to knock out the pin I got the new one in. After adjusting the knife position to make sure that the twine was not cut too early it seems to work almost perfectly - sadly the day I tested it in a stationary position it has rained every day since!! But I am confident that this was the only problem. It took a lot of playing around to work out what was wrong but after it seems so obvious, the ball on e end of the bill hook has too much side to side play - its like a having a wonky loose tooth as a kid. If you can do a make shift job perfect but I would try and source a bill hook with no play in it first, seek and thee shall find, took me 2 years and a lot of luck in the end.
I am happy to post some pictures for those that would like some description on the problem. Just to mention my bill hook that was loose was the outside one? The one away from the hay being drawn up into the baker, it may be that this one always has the wear issue first, something to think about if stripping an old baler for spares.

Greenboy