John Deere 42 Kicker Hydraulics

johnwilsonosf · Jul 13, 2010

Greetings TractorByNet users,
I am hoping you can help me solve a problem with my John Deere 42 Kicker, attached to a JD 348 Baler. There is a hydraulics control valve that actuates the kicker. It is controlled by a motor that turns parts inside that allow more or less fluid through, which then tells the cylinder how hard to kick the bale. We were having problems with the kicker, and took of the cylinder to see if that was the problem. When it came off, I saw a small brass tip in the hydraulic hose. I fished it out, and it looks like part of the insides of the control valve. I am looking to find out information about the control unit. I found a name on the side of the piece, which said Casan, Made in America. I can not find any information of this company in my web searches. I may have misread the casan. Does any one know about this company or some other company with a closely similar name? Or better yet, has anyone ever taken apart one of these hydraulic control valves?

Thank you,
John

kennyd · Jul 13, 2010

Welcome to TBN

I can't help specifically with your problem, but can suggest you register at www.jdparts.com to look at the parts breakdown. It is the same basic system the dealer use at the parts counter, and it's FREE! There is a quick tutorial posted in my signature if you need help with it.

I found this diagram of the control valve, does the part you found look like anything there?

It is called "42 Bale Ejector" after you search for "42".

Hope this helps...

johnwilsonosf · Jul 14, 2010

Thank you for your help Kenny. I did find that diagram on line. I was hoping to find more information about the control manufacturer, as buying direct from JD can be expensive, where if it is just hydraulic controls from a supply company, it is much less expensive. If I can not find information about the hydraulics manufacturer, I will have to see if JD has the internal parts available, so I can see if they are what made the broken piece.

Cheers

kennyd · Jul 14, 2010

Sorry I could not help more...

But, in general-there are usually no brass pieces in a hydraulic control valve, steel and cast iron is mostly used. Can you post a picture of the piece you found?

johnwilsonosf · Jul 15, 2010

Thanks for your help. I am going to try and get the photo attached to this post. The piece is about 5/8 of an inch long, by 3/16 thick. When I drained the hydraulic reservoir of the kicker, There were lots of pieces of brass in the tank as well. You can see in the picture that there is lost of little pieces that we drained out, plus a few views of the larger piece. Last night I took the hydraulic control apart, and cleaned it. I took the valve rod of the control unit out as well, and it was clean, with no mars or blemishes. We have had this problem in the past on a 336 baler, and all we had to do was put a squirt of grease in the cap of the control valve, where the spring was.

When we put it all back together today, and back on the baler, we can kick the pan with no bale in it, but as soon as we have a bale on the pan, the pan kicks, but stays out, and does not return. It is almost as if the pump is not generating enough pressure to push the pan back down. And perhaps the piece I found is from the actual pump on the baler.

kennyd · Jul 15, 2010

Wow John...I wish I could be more help.

fleurious · Feb 23, 2014

johnwilsonosf said:
Thanks for your help. I am going to try and get the photo attached to this post. The piece is about 5/8 of an inch long, by 3/16 thick. When I drained the hydraulic reservoir of the kicker, There were lots of pieces of brass in the tank as well. You can see in the picture that there is lost of little pieces that we drained out, plus a few views of the larger piece. Last night I took the hydraulic control apart, and cleaned it. I took the valve rod of the control unit out as well, and it was clean, with no mars or blemishes. We have had this problem in the past on a 336 baler, and all we had to do was put a squirt of grease in the cap of the control valve, where the spring was.

When we put it all back together today, and back on the baler, we can kick the pan with no bale in it, but as soon as we have a bale on the pan, the pan kicks, but stays out, and does not return. It is almost as if the pump is not generating enough pressure to push the pan back down. And perhaps the piece I found is from the actual pump on the baler.

johnwilsonosf
Try replacing the spring in the kicking cylinder. My kicker was doing the same thing last year. Mine had a broken spring that caused it not to return it has nothing to do with your control valve.

RickB · Feb 23, 2014

fleurious said:
johnwilsonosf
Try replacing the spring in the kicking cylinder. My kicker was doing the same thing last year. Mine had a broken spring that caused it not to return it has nothing to do with your control valve.

If he hasn't gotten it fixed in 3-1/2 years, he's probably got a different baler.

johnwilsonosf · Feb 24, 2014

All,
Thank you for your help. I did manage to get it solved, but in the long run, we did sell the baler. Turns out the Brass pieces was the orifice that changes the flow pressure going to the kicking cylinder. I replaced it, and it helped. However, we kept running into more problems. Particularly, the spring in the control valve needed to be replaced, but even with that replaced we still could not maintain the kicker. We could kcik for about 1/2 hour, and then it would kick, and then not trip, and then kick, etc. At this point, I think that the pump was going, as the only thing I can think of is that the hydraulic oil got hot, and thin, and the pump could not produce the necessary pressure. Instead of throwing more money into it (the entire machine had seen better days, as we have put well over 100,000 bales through it) we traded it in on a NH 5070.
Thanks for all of your help.
John