JD 346 Baler

[ddivinia]

Here are some pics.

D.

 

[ddivinia]

The pick up has all kinds of twine wrapped up in it.

The gauge wheel is there but had been patched.

The paint job is ugly. I don't think anybody would try to steal it. I kinda wish it has original paint.

D.

 

[flusher]

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.

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]

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.

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]

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

 

[ddivinia]

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.

Heck i knew it would not be perfect. I paid $2700 for it and I figure if I have to drop $1000 - $1500 into it to get it right that is probably a deal considering new balers are $20K.

They will have a quote for me early this week.

D.

 

[ddivinia]

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

What kind of twine should I be using?

I know nothing about square baling.

D.

 

[ddivinia]

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

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]

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

 

[JasG]

Couple dozen shear bolts? Really? How often to they break? Maybe that is why there is a grade 8 bolt on mine...



D.

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.