IH 430 baler problem

My IH 430 all twine baler is dropping about one out of every ten bales.

The fingers on one side seem to not want to let go of the knot from time to time. The knot will stay on the fingers and the twine will break over the bale just past the knot.

The owner's manual says there are two conditions which may cause this: (1) fingers are tensioned too tightly or (2) the collar has a rough spot that is cutting the twine. I've tinkered with the finger tension to no avail and don't see any place where the twine could be getting cut. I also tried loosening up the bales by lowering the tension in the chute, thinking that perhaps the tightness of the bales had something to do with it. No change in symptoms.

Any ideas?
 
Do you have someone who can drive the tractor and you walk along side, and get a good visual of what its doing!!
 
you might try hitting the hooks with some PB blaster or your favorite spray,then work the hook a little opening and closing it by hand,are you using fresh twine?
 
Thanks for the thoughts so far. I'll try using some spray lube on them to see if it loosens them up. It has a new roll of sisal twine in it.

I did walk alongside and watch while someone else drove the tractor. As far as I can tell everything looks fine as it ties the knot. The knot looks perfect on the fingers, but every few bales as the plunger adds new hay that tries to push the bale down the chute (and push the knot off of the fingers) the knot doesn't come off and the twine snaps instead. This occurs both when going through pretty short, light rows and when going through a higher piled row.
 
I was asking more for the size. I have a 46 and use 9000 twine. Anything thinner doesn't work. Maybe you have something scrapping the twine as it passes through creating a weak spot. Concerning bill hook tension I have my 46 set to where I have to pull really hard by hand to remove the knot. Definitely don't want anymore tension than you have to. I've never worked with plastic so I can't comment on it.
 
(quoted from post at 05:11:33 06/27/15) It does the same thing with either sisal or poly.

Do you have a twine groove in knotter bill hooks. Does the twine slide down the slot in upper bale chamber when knot is still on hooks? Is the twine being cut by knife after knot made?
 
Is their dirt under the rollers on the bill hook.You must have good twin knifes and put on the right direction.Do you have bale shoot retarders so the bail does not bounce back after plunger leaves.
 
You need to look at the knot when it is still on the bill hook. You stop feeding material when bale is close to size, trip the bale length mechanism by hand and shut the machine off. Now look at your knot while it is on the bill hook. If it is cut nice and clean, I would say bill hook is grooved. It can be on top of hook or the under the bill. If not cut clean, knife problems. You will have to do this more than once as you say it does not miss all the time. The very best way to look at your knot ever.
 
I watched the knots get tied several times today (on both good and dropped bales). The cuts on the twine look clean to me and not frayed. I'll take a look for grooves sometime in the next few days.

On a sort of positive note, I tinkered with tensions and clearances several times today and changed back from sisal to poly to see if that would improve the situation. I noticed that my tension on the twine coming out of the twine box was actually a bit high. I got it to the point that it is dropping about one out of every twelve or fifteen instead of every five. I put up about 225 bales.
 
I'm going to have to check that. As I walked along and watched the baler work today I noticed that the bale did look like it was bouncing back quite a bit as the plunger pulled away. I thought to myself that if there is something sharp in there rubbing on the twine the back and forth motion couldn't be good for it.
 

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