ddivinia
Elite Member
I am looking at a JD 346 baler
Any comments one way or another on this model?
D.
Any comments one way or another on this model?
D.
JD 346 Baler
- Thread starter ddivinia
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OK I won the auction:
john deere 346 square hay baler - eBay (item 150443595220 end time May-20-10 20:35:19 PDT)
I wont be able to go get it until after Memorial Day weekend. My JD dealer has a very good tech for square balers. I am thinking of just dropping it off there and having him go thru it and give me a report.
john deere 346 square hay baler - eBay (item 150443595220 end time May-20-10 20:35:19 PDT)
D.
john deere 346 square hay baler - eBay (item 150443595220 end time May-20-10 20:35:19 PDT)
I wont be able to go get it until after Memorial Day weekend. My JD dealer has a very good tech for square balers. I am thinking of just dropping it off there and having him go thru it and give me a report.
john deere 346 square hay baler - eBay (item 150443595220 end time May-20-10 20:35:19 PDT)
D.
flusher
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Congrats on your new baler. Looks real nice. Price is in line with what others have paid on eBay for similar balers in good condition like yours (I keep track of the eBay auctions for haying equipment so I have some idea of ballpark prices people are paying for this type of gear).
Also nice that it's located in TX so you don't have to journey too far to pick it up. I was fortunate in finding an MF124 baler two years ago that was only about 35 miles from my place. Towed it home via the back roads with the F150.
Good to know i didn't get hosed on it. I hope it is in good shape. The guy has been baling with it. We will see how it looks in person and what my JD tech says.
I am wondering if it will run the new style twine. The poly twine. All the horse people around here love that stuff. My hay is finally horse quality. I want to get a horse quality price for it.
AKfish
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Just noticed this thread... (I'm a little slow on the uptake sometimes!) Baler looks to be fairly straight - no major bruises evident in the pics!
Old farmer in SD tells me that when you see a small square baler using sisal twine that the knotters are likely getting worn, billhook, etc. and can't use the poly. Slips the knots too easily and won't tie consistently. Not sure myself...
'Course there are folk's that won't use the poly cause it doesn't "degrade" as it's not a natural, organic product... So, they won't buy poly tied bales.
I'll be waitin' to see your report and pictures from your square bale operation.
Best of luck.
AKfish
Baler looks to be fairly straight - no major bruises evident in the pics!Old farmer in SD tells me that when you see a small square baler using sisal twine that the knotters are likely getting worn, billhook, etc. and can't use the poly. Slips the knots too easily and won't tie consistently. Not sure myself...
'Course there are folk's that won't use the poly cause it doesn't "degrade" as it's not a natural, organic product... So, they won't buy poly tied bales.
I'll be waitin' to see your report and pictures from your square bale operation.
Best of luck.
AKfish
I used sisal in my old IH-37 and I still use it in my new JD. I hate the plastic stuff. You drop some sisal on the ground, it just stays there and rots. The plastic will manage to find a piece of rotating equipment and tangle itself in it.
Mickey_Fx
Veteran Member
Back around 1980 I had one of these balers. It was a mixed bag at best.
It was new, well, tech used as it had a couple tons of hay through it. Here is the issues I had with it:
* Instruction manual was incorrect for timing the needles. Time the needles to the manual and you would be breaking them quickly. I went through a number of needles until I had a JD mech tell me the manual was wrong.
* Broke a knoter frame for no apparent reason. Replacement was a generic replacement. Came with instruction on what had to be modified depending upon which model baler it was going on.
* Had to replace the crank big-end bearing a couple times every season. It just wasn't up to the task when running heavy loads through the machine. Always carried a spare with me as you never knew when a bearing was going to go. This bearing came with a custom ID and not available anywhere other than a JD dealership. I came up with a workaround and bought bearing from a bearing supplier and paid something like a third of what the JD dealership was charging.
* Early models came with the tongue jack that was a real widow maker. Could have done some real damage when the handle came flying off and missed my head by a couple inches.
If one is prepared for some of it's short comings, the baler could push a lot of hay through it.
It was new, well, tech used as it had a couple tons of hay through it. Here is the issues I had with it:
* Instruction manual was incorrect for timing the needles. Time the needles to the manual and you would be breaking them quickly. I went through a number of needles until I had a JD mech tell me the manual was wrong.
* Broke a knoter frame for no apparent reason. Replacement was a generic replacement. Came with instruction on what had to be modified depending upon which model baler it was going on.
* Had to replace the crank big-end bearing a couple times every season. It just wasn't up to the task when running heavy loads through the machine. Always carried a spare with me as you never knew when a bearing was going to go. This bearing came with a custom ID and not available anywhere other than a JD dealership. I came up with a workaround and bought bearing from a bearing supplier and paid something like a third of what the JD dealership was charging.
* Early models came with the tongue jack that was a real widow maker. Could have done some real damage when the handle came flying off and missed my head by a couple inches.
If one is prepared for some of it's short comings, the baler could push a lot of hay through it.
I dropped it off at the JD dealership. It will be interesting to see what all they find. First off he said one knotter looked good, the other one needed to be timed.
Said the plunger bearings are shot.
No clutch plates in the clutch.
Grade 8 bolt in the shear pin
They are going to get me an estimate early this week. I hope it is not too painful.
D.
flusher
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Sorry about your troubles. But that's about par for the course with these old balers. The two friction plates in the slip clutch on my MF124 baler were completely worn away. Found replacements (low bidder at $30 each) from an MF dealer in Maine. So far I haven't had to do anything to the plunger except check the timing.
AKfish
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Yep... I've had to cut that plastic stuff off of cows and horses hooves. Pretty nasty situation if you don't catch it right away.
Takes weeks of spraying that purple antibiotic spray on the ankle to get it all healed up again.
AKfish
AKfish
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D.
I bought $450 of spare part "consumables" at the local JD dealer for the 336 near my Dad before I headed back north. Set of needles. Box of pickup teeth. Couple dozen shear bolts. New teflon bushings for the feeder arm, etc.
A new tire, too.
As flusher noted - gotta expect it with those old ones...
Waitin' to hear how everything goes with the "Kachung, click and clank" as it trips and drops the bale!
AKfish
I bought $450 of spare part "consumables" at the local JD dealer for the 336 near my Dad before I headed back north. Set of needles. Box of pickup teeth. Couple dozen shear bolts. New teflon bushings for the feeder arm, etc.
A new tire, too.
As flusher noted - gotta expect it with those old ones...
Waitin' to hear how everything goes with the "Kachung, click and clank" as it trips and drops the bale!
AKfish
Are the needles the whole piece? Or are the ends replaceable?
Do you have a pickup guide wheel? I figure that should save the pick up teeth.
Couple dozen shear bolts? Really? How often to they break? Maybe that is why there is a grade 8 bolt on mine...
Teflon busings where?
Man - sounds like I need an ammo box full of parts.
D.
AKfish
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- 5,420
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- Alaska
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- JD 5115M; JD 110 TLB; JD 4720; Ford 9N; JD X300R
I brought 8-two roll bundles of twine back with me, too. A couple of those bundles are sisal. Might try both if one is more of a problem; but the baler has plastic in it right now.
The needles are single piece and bolt up to the baler (needle frame) with a couple of bolts.
Yup, the 336 has a pickup wheel. That does help with the teeth and also keeps some of the trash and dirt from ending up in the bales, too.
The feeder arm that picks the hay up from the auger at the top of the pickup reel and stuffs the hay into the plunger/bale chamber has hard, teflon-type bushings on the end of the rotating shaft. They wear out (frequently) and the arm gets pretty loose and sloppy. There were probably 4 sets of old ones in the tool box along with 10-15 shear bolts (broken).
It's a whole 'nother dimension up here in Alaska as far as prices and availability of equipment and parts. So, I just tried to head off the most likely problems that might present themselves with the baler. You shouldn't need anything more than the telephone number for your local dealer...
It's a bit different story for me! I'd betcha that you could count on one hand the number of JD 336 balers up here and you might have a finger or so left..
AKfish
The needles are single piece and bolt up to the baler (needle frame) with a couple of bolts.
Yup, the 336 has a pickup wheel. That does help with the teeth and also keeps some of the trash and dirt from ending up in the bales, too.
The feeder arm that picks the hay up from the auger at the top of the pickup reel and stuffs the hay into the plunger/bale chamber has hard, teflon-type bushings on the end of the rotating shaft. They wear out (frequently) and the arm gets pretty loose and sloppy. There were probably 4 sets of old ones in the tool box along with 10-15 shear bolts (broken).
It's a whole 'nother dimension up here in Alaska as far as prices and availability of equipment and parts. So, I just tried to head off the most likely problems that might present themselves with the baler. You shouldn't need anything more than the telephone number for your local dealer...
It's a bit different story for me! I'd betcha that you could count on one hand the number of JD 336 balers up here and you might have a finger or so left..
AKfish
The shear bolts are there for a reason. If it doesn't shear things can break that are very costly to replace. The bolts do beak every now and again just from starting and stopping the fly wheel. Or if you pick up an chunk of wood, a large stone, try to start the baler with a large slug of hay in it, if the timing gets too far off, etc.
If you search this forum for 336, and 346 you should come up with a lot of information. These balers have been discussed many times over the years here.
