john deere 24t

rhinomax · May 8, 2009

Anyone know how to time a john deere 24t?

zzvyb6 · May 9, 2009

What is the situation:

Both chains off, replaced plunger bearings, won't tie, needle lift link replaced or adjusted, gearbox removed, etc.

I can post the procedure if you need it...

rhinomax · May 10, 2009

I bought this baler and it was said to be ready to bale, I wanted to try it out to make sure. First time it tied it broke both needles and bent an arm on the side. What do you think? I have been told its just out of time.

flusher · May 10, 2009

rhinomax said:
I bought this baler and it was said to be ready to bale, I wanted to try it out to make sure. First time it tied it broke both needles and bent an arm on the side. What do you think? I have been told its just out of time.

Sorry to hear about your trouble. My neighbor just did a similar number on his old IH 57 two-wire baler. A real mess.

You need the 24T operation manual. Here's one source

John Deere 24T Baler operators - twine

I'd advise you to get the 24T service and parts manuals also.

I have the operation manual for the 214T baler, but I don't think it will help you.

Good luck.

Willl · May 10, 2009

My Grandpa had a habit of hand turning it through a tie cycle at every season start. 2 maybe 3 times.

I'm thinking maybe at one time he experienced this 'needle destruction'.

zzvyb6 · May 10, 2009

So how did this all happen? My first impression is that the needle lift link shear pin bend first (the "arm on the side"), followed by the needle slam. The plunger stops should have kept this from happening. So what's the story? Were you baling green hay, rebaling some old broken up bales, or tripping it by hand with no hay being fed. So far, all the doctor knows is that your wallet will be hurting. Not why, yet.

rhinomax · May 10, 2009

well, I bought this baler last week and was told it had been worked on at the end of the season last year by a certified john deere dealer. So I was kind of excited to see it bale, so I took down some bales from the loft and busted them. I made sure everything was well greased, ran it behind the tractor for a little bit, everything seemed to run smooth and as it should.(relatively quiet)
I started feeding hay in everything going fine, it tied once so I kept feeding , but I noticed one side didn't tie, so I tripped it myself but it didn't tie at all that was when I noticed both needles were broken and the arm was bent. Should I not have tripped it myself? I saw it done on a video on the web.

jd110 · May 10, 2009

It sounds like you have multiple problems. First of all your plungerhead stop is not working since the needles broke. It is a safety device that prevents the plunger from going back if the needles are in the chamber. It should have sheared the flywheel shearbolt. Next, you either do have a timing issue or the needle brake is loos and left the needles drift back into the chamber. Mounted on the right side of the knotter drive shaft, is a disk with spring loaded brake pads on it. It should provide enough drag on the shaft to keep the needles in the "home" position until it is tripped again. The springs are adjustable on the brake, but if the brake pads are worn, they still won't hold. You will need to replace the needles and needle frame to check timing. With the needles in the home position, trip the knotter and turn the flywheel by hand. When the needles start to move, watch until the tips are just flush with the bottom of the bale chamber. At that point, the plunger should be moving to the rear and from 1/2" - 1 1/2" from the tip of the needles. You really should find a owners manual since it shows all this information and show very clear pictures of all these adjustments. The feeder fingers need to be retimed also if timing is off.

rhinomax · May 11, 2009

Thank you very much, and I have ordered a manual off of ebay. Again, thank you very much.

flusher · May 12, 2009

jd110 said:
It sounds like you have multiple problems. First of all your plungerhead stop is not working since the needles broke. It is a safety device that prevents the plunger from going back if the needles are in the chamber. It should have sheared the flywheel shearbolt. Next, you either do have a timing issue or the needle brake is loos and left the needles drift back into the chamber. Mounted on the right side of the knotter drive shaft, is a disk with spring loaded brake pads on it. It should provide enough drag on the shaft to keep the needles in the "home" position until it is tripped again. The springs are adjustable on the brake, but if the brake pads are worn, they still won't hold. You will need to replace the needles and needle frame to check timing. With the needles in the home position, trip the knotter and turn the flywheel by hand. When the needles start to move, watch until the tips are just flush with the bottom of the bale chamber. At that point, the plunger should be moving to the rear and from 1/2" - 1 1/2" from the tip of the needles. You really should find a owners manual since it shows all this information and show very clear pictures of all these adjustments. The feeder fingers need to be retimed also if timing is off.

jd110 speaks truly. Cycle the baler by hand before firing up the pto. You'll learn a lot about your baler doing it this way.

Just be careful when you're moving the flywheel by hand. The crank arm and connecting arm on the plunger are heavy beasts and will want to move on their own when the crank is near vertical. You don't want that plunger box moving when you're checking out other parts of the baler.