Banana nose bales in JD 336

[kydick]

first of all i will say that i dont know anything about your baler. i have only used a new holland super 68 baler. remember 1 time seemed like the baler was putting more hay on 1 side more than the other. we moved both both sets of the fingers closer to the bale chamber but didnt help. had a mechanic come and look at it. said we needed new fingers and move the farthest fingers back towerds the end of the rod. that was our problem.

 

[wmonroe]

Kydick, sent you a pm.

 

[beggar]

Hi. I know this subject has been talked about before a lot. I thought I'd see if there is any new thoughts on addressing the problem. I use an old, but well maintained, 336 baler. Bale grass hay. I get a share of banana-nose bales. Nothing too serious if you handle them correctly when picking them up and stacking them. I'm not really complaining as I've dealt with the problem for a long time. I try to keep a steady feed of hay into the baler and that seems to help if keep my windrows at the right density and don't let the hay get too dry. But I read somewhere that folks have used some newer designed 336 feeder fingers with more adjustment on them (my current fingers have three holes). Any thoughts on these or some other things I can do to help minimize the banana bales? Thanks much!

I am not familiar with a JD baler but on NH or Hesson there is 4 -2 top and 2 botton-fingers in the bale chamber to put static pressure on bale as it starts forming in the start of the chamber.The two tops are right under the knotters.they have springs on them that can break and also they can break causing bales to misshape.because of more drag on one side or the other.Also if your strings are too tight it can cause this.good luck

 

[Tx Jim]

I am not familiar with a JD baler but on NH or Hesson there is 4 -2 top and 2 botton-fingers in the bale chamber to put static pressure on bale as it starts forming in the start of the chamber.The two tops are right under the knotters.they have springs on them that can break and also they can break causing bales to misshape.because of more drag on one side or the other.Also if your strings are too tight it can cause this.good luck

Sorry but the fingers you refer to known as hay dogs do not affect banana shaped bales on any brand sq baler. Hay dogs hold hay on formed bale back from the twine so knotters have an opportunity to tie the knot. Also tightness of strings is determined by how tight the hay is packed IE how much the bales weigh. Banana shaped bales are caused from size of windrow,ground speed & feeder finger adjustment not hay dogs or tightness of twine.

 

[5030]

I don't do green either but are there asjustable bale wedges in the chamber sides and if so are they equally inserted in the chamber? I control my bale shape by the windrow density (I make it bark always) and the wedges. I want 10 to 12 slices per bale and adjust my ground and PTO speed to get that. You can count the slices from the tractor by listening to the plunger and the knotter tie. Once I get the magic number dialed in, I close the window, crank up the ac and rock on....

If I have the crew pick them up right away, I run the quarter turn. If it's the next day, I run a flat chute. Bales on the cut side standing on the ground, in a heavy dew, will suck moisture into the hay by aspiration.

Nothing better that a green dotted line down the field.