14T baler knotting issue

[digits]

Hi,

I have a 14T baler, with manual, and have some issues with one of the knots. The left one (if you are on the tractor) is quite often loose. When I use the modern plastic twine, 1 out of 3 bales fails. The knot is being made, but loosens before the bale makes it out of the machine. When I switched back to the old sisal twine, about 1 out of 10 bales failed.

When I rebaled the failed bales, which involved a lot of stopping and manouevring and inconsistent windrow sizes, all my bales (about 30) were knotted correctly with the sisal twine. Because everything is so random, I have no clue on how to troubleshoot. I was hoping anybody here would have some suggestions.

I used the baler 2 weeks ago and had similar issues. At that time, one of the twine was also very loose. I increased the driving speed of the tractor (as per the manual), and that issue has been solved. I do have the impression that this made the knotting issue a bit worse though.

Thank you,
digits

 

[oldnslo]

Have you tried cleaning the knotter real well? We had a Ford 520 (I think) that approx every 10,000 bales we had to clean the one knotter or it would start having knots fail. Never did figure why but ran the baler for 10 + years this way.

FYI: We just poured some diesel fuel over the knotter. This worked the best of anything we tried.

 

[zzvyb6]

I'll bet the problem is caused by insufficient pullout tension for twine exiting the twine box. Should be 10+ lbs. You can easily check this by comparing the pulling tension from the left and right side twine balls. Reset them by tightening the thumb nuts or nuts on the springs on the twine box cover.

If the tension is within spec, check the tucker finger proximity to the needles when they lift. Make sure its about 1/8" or less. Adjust as necessary. Also, the needles need to place the twine into the twine disk notch, if not fix it by moving the needle on the needle frame.

My guess is twine tension from the twine box. The plastic is more slippery. No reason to miss even 1 out of 100 if the tension, twine placement and wiper arm clearances are proper.

Please let us know what you found that works. Otherwise keep posting until it works correctly. My 14T recently started missing a few bales last week. Turns out I switched brands of plastic twine. The new one from TSC is slightly thinner, so less tension. It's fixed now.

 

[digits]

I'll bet the problem is caused by insufficient pullout tension for twine exiting the twine box. Should be 10+ lbs. You can easily check this by comparing the pulling tension from the left and right side twine balls. Reset them by tightening the thumb nuts or nuts on the springs on the twine box cover.

If the tension is within spec, check the tucker finger proximity to the needles when they lift. Make sure its about 1/8" or less. Adjust as necessary. Also, the needles need to place the twine into the twine disk notch, if not fix it by moving the needle on the needle frame.

My guess is twine tension from the twine box. The plastic is more slippery. No reason to miss even 1 out of 100 if the tension, twine placement and wiper arm clearances are proper.

Please let us know what you found that works. Otherwise keep posting until it works correctly. My 14T recently started missing a few bales last week. Turns out I switched brands of plastic twine. The new one from TSC is slightly thinner, so less tension. It's fixed now.

The twine tension was noticeably different for both twines. The tension has been adjusted and I will see what the next batch of baling brings. I will report back in a few weeks. Thanks for the suggestions!

Regarding the cleaning: will do. I only removed the big chunks of dirt before, didn't use any cleaner or fuel, will do that as well, thanks!