New Holland 273 Haybine, left knotter not working all the time

[gauthiershauna]

Hello, my left knotter has never worked 100% of the time it, the right knotter always works. It is not consistent, sometimes it will make 10 bales, then 2 broken bales. Then one good bale then 3 broken bales....
is it something to do with the timing? I put in new twine. I was maybe thinking that the cutter knives might need to be replaced,(but they are in the same shape as the ones on the right) as it will not make a knot and it will make a broken bale then the next bale to come out will have a long twine attached to it from the previous bale. Please help, this is driving my crazy, I know its probably just a simple adjustment that I need to do.

 

[RickB]

You need to understand the nature of the mistie. Buy an operator's manual, carefully follow the troubleshooting and systematic knotter adjustment procedure. Any specific advise you get here will be pure speculation because we don't know the exact symptoms.

 

[zzvyb6]

You can check a few things because you have one working OK. The solution is to have the bad knotter parts work the same way as the good one.

1) Check the pull tension for twine exiting the bale box. Should be about 10 lbs (fish scale).

2) Check the tucker fingers to see if they approach the rising needles at the same time with the same spacing (3/16").

3) Check the wiper arm pressure on the billhook. The wiper arm scrapes the twisted twine off the billhook to complete the knot. If there is very little interference pressure, bend the wiper arm until there is contact pressure.

4) Check the pullout tension is the twine disks to make sure that the disk holds the end of the forming knot. Pullout should also be about 10 lbs.

5) Check (by hand) to see if the needles place the twine in the twine disk groove as they rise. Move the needle on the needle frame laterally or fore/aft until the twine lays in the twine disk slot.

6) Make sure the needles are threaded properly. The is often a threading route inside the cover of the twine box.

Check all these thing by rolling the flywheel very slowly with no hay in the bale chamber (makes it easier). And I mean VERY slowly !

Let us know what you find for the next person's sake.

 

[mattv1]

does the behavior change if the windrow is thick or thin?

I had a 273 that did the same thing -- i tried everything with the knotters and knotter assemblies and got no resolution. When I would run on very light windrows, at low speed, i would make bales without trouble. As soon as i sped up or got to a thicker, heavier windrow --- the knotter problems always came back.

I ended up adjusting the penetration depth of the feeders into the chamber after noticing that the left side of the bale seemed to have more hay in it (though not banana shaped). After backing the feeder penetration out little by little, i was able to run through heavy windrows again and kept the bale in proper shape.

 

[bfletch7441]

You can check a few things because you have one working OK. The solution is to have the bad knotter parts work the same way as the good one.

1) Check the pull tension for twine exiting the bale box. Should be about 10 lbs (fish scale).

2) Check the tucker fingers to see if they approach the rising needles at the same time with the same spacing (3/16").

3) Check the wiper arm pressure on the billhook. The wiper arm scrapes the twisted twine off the billhook to complete the knot. If there is very little interference pressure, bend the wiper arm until there is contact pressure.

4) Check the pullout tension is the twine disks to make sure that the disk holds the end of the forming knot. Pullout should also be about 10 lbs.

5) Check (by hand) to see if the needles place the twine in the twine disk groove as they rise. Move the needle on the needle frame laterally or fore/aft until the twine lays in the twine disk slot.

6) Make sure the needles are threaded properly. The is often a threading route inside the cover of the twine box.

Check all these thing by rolling the flywheel very slowly with no hay in the bale chamber (makes it easier). And I mean VERY slowly !

Let us know what you find for the next person's sake.

You might check the twine disc timing also. Mine, a NH 278, was doing the same thing this year, and once i adjusted the twine disc timing, it tied like a dream. Good luck and let us know what fixes the problem.

Ben