John Deere 336 Baler

[ernied]

Hello everyone, we have a JD 336 and are having an issue I hope someone can help with. When going forward with tractor the baler won't tie a knot on the left side, however if the tractor is not moving and you feed the hay into the baler manually, it works just fine. Any suggestions? Thanks for your help in advance.

Ernie

 

[Niji]

I used an old 336 first cutting this year for about 1250 bales. It only missed about 20 knots, but they were always on one side and always when under the load of a heavy windrow. I wondered, when I read your post, if perhaps the difference between manually throwing hay into the baler and driving the tractor is simply the rate at which the hay feeds into the machine--much heavier when driving along picking up a fat windrow, thus the bum knotter shows only then?

Which then makes me wonder if it is either some worn knotter parts on that side that can't handle the heavy work load, or else a dull knife at the edges of the plunger that puts a bind on the whole machine and makes the knotter malfunction when plunging a heavier load than when throwing in armloads of hay?

There was a strange accordion affect in the bales from the 336 I used. Now that I'm feeding those bales, often I am unable to easily pick up flecks of hay out of a bale to go and feed them. The hay wasn't cut well, so if, for example, I cut open a bale, then try to grab a third of it and walk off, the hay is still connected to the remaining hay in the bale and doesn't want to pull loose. It is a pain when feeding, but I wondered if it was related to dull knives and that in turn was related to my one knotter side issue?

There are other guys on the forum here with much better engineering minds than mind, so I will look forward to their thoughts on this.

 

[zzvyb6]

Your accordian effect is related to the stationary and plunger knife alignment. They need to be shimmed out to put them closer together. Be careful though, if they hit, your gonna have some expense. So many writers say their baler "missed a knot", but never describe the "missed knot" end conditions. Did the knot break post tie? Did it never get thru the knotter intact?

Most common missed knots are due to the tucker fingers not bringing the closing twine end back to the billhook. Because of wear, this linkage has lots of adjustment room. If the charge is very heavy, the plunger can yank the beginning twine end out of the twine disk. That's a simple adjustment, too. (as in tighten up the spring). Also check the twine box tension because it may be too tight on one side. While you are at it, roll it thru by hand without twine o hay in it and check to make sure that the wiper arms (which hold the twine cutoff knives) are in full contact with the billhooks.

I've seen a few balers having trouble because they are threaded improperly, too. There's usually a diagram in the twine box that shows the proper twine path up thru the needles.

One more thing, I notice a lot of comments about plastic twine not knotting in the knotter. Not true. Plastic or sisal can be run in a non-wire tie knotter drive. BUT: There are some friction adjustments in the bale box and the twine disk holders if you want to switch. Plastic takes more friction/tension because it is more 'slippery'.

 

[ernied]

Thanks for the replies guys! I'm in Kansas and my dad in Texas, so I relayed the suggestions to him. I'll be down visiting next week, so we're going to see what will do the fix. I will say that the bales are coming out the way they should when tied (no accordion affect) and pull apart just fine.

About the "missed knot"...I asked for clarification and my dad said it never got thru the knotter intact or as he said "doesn't complete the tie for the knot". We'll take a look at those things you suggested.

Again, thanks for writing. My dad had a lot of frustrating moments trying to figure this out with no success. He seemed optimistic after hearing what might be the problem. Seems like easy fixes or finding replacement parts, right? If anything else comes to mind, please let me know. We really appreciate it.

Ernie

 

[Orland Greenhorn]

What HP size are you using? Is 35 Hp enough to run the 336 baler?

 

[Niji]

I pulled the 336 with a jd850 diesel, and it had no problem whatever--so a small tractor can easily handle that baler with excellent results. I think the 850 is rated around 27hp...maybe 30 at the most.

 

[slowzuki]

I have 42 pto hp in front of my 336 and its not enough on the hills. On the flat its perfect.

 

[ns_in_tex]

What HP size are you using? Is 35 Hp enough to run the 336 baler?

We purchased a new JD 336 in 1973. We did most of our baling with a 40 HP tractor that had power steering, but when the windrows were so big we had to ride the clutch in order to go slow enough for the baler, we would change to a David Brown 770 12 speed. I think it may have been only 30 HP, but would travel slower. We would count the baler strokes between ties. We could put a bale through in 8 baler strokes, but that was the limit. Any more would take out a shear bolt. We baled about 15M bales per year & loved that baler, but finally went to round bales.

By the way, we found if you put the shear bolt in from one direction ( I forget which way it was) it would stay in till it sheared. Not necessary to put the nut on it.

 

[fgross335_2210]

Reading this post about the 336 brought back some memories. My dad bought one new with the hydraulic "kicker" back in the mid 70's. We pulled it behind a 'gas' JD 2520 (55-60PTO HP) and if you cranked up the tension to make 60-70 pound bales and had a heavy windrow it worked the 2520 pretty hard. After getting a 4230 (100HP) we used the bigger tractor most of the time, but only around 3/4 throttle, and with 100HP to play with you didn't know it was back there.

I suppose without the kicker 30-40 HP would suffice, but I'd be concerned about having enough weight to control both the baler and a loaded hay wagon. So wow, if you're running a 336 with 30HP that's pretty impressive (but a pretty good load for the tractor).

Ahhh...farming memories. Wish I had a picture of out baler in action. That kicker was really something.

 

[Niji]

On the HP subject--I should add that while I had great success bailing with the 336 with the little JD 850 last year, that was not pulling a wagon, which would certainly have been too much for the 30hp range. I was just spitting them out onto the ground.

The little diesel, however, ran the baler just fine, even up and down hills. I will say, however, that I've got the 4 wheel drive model, and I think having that footprint is necessary for the small tractor to control the baler on any considerable incline. I had no troubles in this regard, but used 4 wheel drive on my steeper fields. I think a smaller tractor like mine with only 2 wheel drive would be a sketchy proposition on anything but a level playing field as it might be apt to slide or otherwise be manhandled by the weight and motion of the baler.