Close call baler bearing caught fire

[Lineman North Florida]

Had a close call today bearing on one of the tubes that the belts ride on caught fire fortunately I got the tractor unhooked and my wife got the fire extinguisher and got the bearing fire out, got it to the barn and tube is ruined, can't get one till Thursday, but my buddy finished rolling my field for me so the good lord was looking out for me, it could have been a lot worse.

 

[Hay Dude]

Had a close call today bearing on one of the tubes that the belts ride on caught fire fortunately I got the tractor unhooked and my wife got the fire extinguisher and got the bearing fire out, got it to the barn and tube is ruined, can't get one till Thursday, but my buddy finished rolling my field for me so the good lord was looking out for me, it could have been a lot worse.

Scary aint it? Thank the Lord you are ok!
Had 3 close calls last year. 2 were on a NEW baler and believe it was a lemon as it never baled correctly. Had 2 bearing fires in the first 500 bales. Previous 2 round balers went 10,000+ bales with no hot bearings.
My last round baler was built during Covid and wasn’t properly greased or assembled by management or temporary workers, etc.

Here’s the bearing I lost on the 2nd close call. It’s not easy to see, but you can see where the bearing turned the area black. It also distorted/melted the belt there a little.

Its gone now.

 

[5030]

I always carry an IR, non contact heat gun with me and 'shoot' the bearings and mechanical parts regularly. So far, so good.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Scary aint it? Thank the Lord you are ok!
Had 3 close calls last year. 2 were on a NEW baler and believe it was a lemon as it never baled correctly. Had 2 bearing fires in the first 500 bales. Previous 2 round balers went 10,000+ bales with no hot bearings.
My last round baler was built during Covid and wasn’t properly greased or assembled by management or temporary workers, etc.

Here’s the bearing I lost on the 2nd close call. It’s not easy to see, but you can see where the bearing turned the area black. It also distorted/melted the belt there a little.

View attachment 748871





Its gone now.

Yep it is a little scary for a minute or two at least until you get the bale kicked out and get your tractor unhooked from the baler as even though I would hate to lose my baler I would hate to lose one of my tractors more. I thought it was just the bearing and I would have been able to replace it and get it back to work but it distorted the tube and they didn't have one and it won't be in until Thursday. Between filling up my diesel tanks and this little setback I'll be lucky to break even on this first round, but the good news is I have a field full of rolls that didn't get wet and I don't have to depend on the government for my next meal, and I'm above ground so I am doing good.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I always carry an IR, non contact heat gun with me and 'shoot' the bearings and mechanical parts regularly. So far, so good.

I have one as well, but when it happened I had only rolled 28 rolls, hadn't even got started good yet, in hindsight I should have checked it sooner but it's just one of those things that you are not expecting to happen that quick.

 

[Tx Jim]

Ditto about baler fire increasing ones heartbeat rate! I remember well the day about 25 yrs ago that my rd baler burnt. I thought I had extinguished the fire 3 times then my water fire extinguisher was empty. I saved my tractor but baler was a crispy critter.