so everything is working good on it.I took out the plunger to check the knife and wear blocks. The knife is kinda dull looking. The wear blocks are real worn, I found from the parts book the ones i need,i think. The book shows some that mine doesnt have. The one I'm having a hard time on is the bottom one on the "not" knife side the parts guy said it was 168$ all the rest are 30-40$ each. the one on the right is 168$ does that sound right or any one have any ideas?
jd 214t plunger
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flusher
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Kinda dull? I'd try to sharpen those knives before spending a bundle on replacements.
AKfish
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They don't have to be all that "sharp"! The real test is whether the bale sections are cut consistently as they leave the chamber and the final bale is fairly square across the sides.
No loose strands of hay hanging off the sides and you don't want to see strands of hay connecting bales together - like train cars!
Bales start coming out like that -- better get those knives sharpened!
AKfish
No loose strands of hay hanging off the sides and you don't want to see strands of hay connecting bales together - like train cars!
Bales start coming out like that -- better get those knives sharpened!
AKfish
Barry Bowen
Gold Member
What happened to the 14t you were working on earlier? Did you get rid of it to get this baler, or is this a project piece?
What you are up against here is designed obsolescence. JD planned on pricing these parts radically to force you into another baler. This is the design flaw of the 14, 214, and 24 series balers. When that block is that far gone, and that one is in really really bad shape, usually the rail it runs on is shot also. When JD made the 224, they went to bearings on both sides of the plunger where you have the wear block. With the new design of the 224 the only wear block is on the front edge of the plunger where there is very little weight or wear on it. Look it up on JD parts on the 336 plunger. JD still uses this design today with the bearings.
Depending on how much hay you do, and how good you are at agro engineering there is something you could try anyway. First you have to make sure the rails inside the baler are straight and worth putting all this work and money into. If you can get that block ground so that the new surface is flat, you could shim it to the correct height and weld it in place. OR you could get a block of steel the size of the replacement part and weld that in. Metal will not be the same, but it may work for a good while if you only do a few hundred a year. These would be one time repairs, and when it wears out again the plunger is done. If you are only doing a few hundred bales a year, maybe worth thinking about.
In the mean time, start hunting for a nice old JD 336. You will not regret moving up to the 336. Look hard enough and long enough, and you can find them that need work for 500-1000, or have been parked in a barn since grandpa stopped baling 20 years ago. Keep the knotters out of this baler if these are the ones we got working in the spring. They will fit the 336, and a 336 is much more repairable than a 214.
JD learned alot about how to make a good baler from the 214, 14, 224, and 24 balers. By the time they got to the 336 they really had it figured out and it really has not changed much since then. Another good one to find, but fewer are out there is the 224t. It has all the basic design of the 336, just a generation older, but a great baler.
As to knives, I agree with AKFish, he is right on. Sharpen the suckers, make sure you mount the stationary knife on the bale case GOOD and tight, hammer blows to the head of the plow bolts holding it in, and clean out really well behind it. As long as it cut fairly clean, go with it and save the money for a newer baler.
What you are up against here is designed obsolescence. JD planned on pricing these parts radically to force you into another baler. This is the design flaw of the 14, 214, and 24 series balers. When that block is that far gone, and that one is in really really bad shape, usually the rail it runs on is shot also. When JD made the 224, they went to bearings on both sides of the plunger where you have the wear block. With the new design of the 224 the only wear block is on the front edge of the plunger where there is very little weight or wear on it. Look it up on JD parts on the 336 plunger. JD still uses this design today with the bearings.
Depending on how much hay you do, and how good you are at agro engineering there is something you could try anyway. First you have to make sure the rails inside the baler are straight and worth putting all this work and money into. If you can get that block ground so that the new surface is flat, you could shim it to the correct height and weld it in place. OR you could get a block of steel the size of the replacement part and weld that in. Metal will not be the same, but it may work for a good while if you only do a few hundred a year. These would be one time repairs, and when it wears out again the plunger is done. If you are only doing a few hundred bales a year, maybe worth thinking about.
In the mean time, start hunting for a nice old JD 336. You will not regret moving up to the 336. Look hard enough and long enough, and you can find them that need work for 500-1000, or have been parked in a barn since grandpa stopped baling 20 years ago. Keep the knotters out of this baler if these are the ones we got working in the spring. They will fit the 336, and a 336 is much more repairable than a 214.
JD learned alot about how to make a good baler from the 214, 14, 224, and 24 balers. By the time they got to the 336 they really had it figured out and it really has not changed much since then. Another good one to find, but fewer are out there is the 224t. It has all the basic design of the 336, just a generation older, but a great baler.
As to knives, I agree with AKFish, he is right on. Sharpen the suckers, make sure you mount the stationary knife on the bale case GOOD and tight, hammer blows to the head of the plow bolts holding it in, and clean out really well behind it. As long as it cut fairly clean, go with it and save the money for a newer baler.
nope same 214 as last spring. just trying to get one more thing working as it should, till i saw the 168$ wear block ha! only had 1 siamese bale last year and not sure it was the balers fault i might have caused that one f'ing with it the twine got looped and tied 2 together