John Deere 24T Hay Baler...??

Have a chance to buy a 24T JD Baler for $600.00 its been shed kept. The owner hasn't used it for the past two years. He said that sheet metal and all is in good shape. Also said that he never had problems missing bales. Its a hour and half drive so i haven't seen it yet. But wanted to find as much info as possiable before making that drive. My question is what do you think about the baler pro's & con's? Also what size wind row will it handle, ground speed, and that sort of info? We only bale 50 to 60 acres of hay a year. Have been using a Massey Model 12 it does a far job. How does the 24T compare to it? Looking for any information I can about the 24T baler. Thanks for your help Keith

Outstanding baler and great price. Would buy it in a heartbeat if close to my loc.

John

Good baler but if you plan to pull it home be sure you grease the wheel bearing before you pull it 1 inch. Learned the hard way about what happens if you do not do so and not fun to have a wheel fall off when your in the middle of no where. Had that happen on a JD-14T once and not fun to have to fix a wheel bearing on the side of the road

I had one for years; very good baler, well constructed.

Keith,
I agree with the other guys, great baler. I've had one for over 12 years I paid the same price as you and have use it 2 to 3 times every year to bale 40 acres never misses a tie (with 170 tensile nylon) and bales are perfect. A few words of advice be sure and keep it greased (not too much on the knotters)and chains oiled. I did try nylon twine 130 tensile DON'T USE, TOO SMALL. I use 170 nylon or sisal. On our dairy farm when I was young we had a NH 270 which I was responsible to maintain, in my opinion the 24T is a better baler.

What about the field performance of the 24T what speed RPMS and such do you guys run it at? Trying to get a idea of how long it takes to bale a acre of very good coastal? Not that I want to run thru the field or anything. I believe in running my equipment easy as she goes.
Thanks for the information so far guys. Sounds like I need to make a small road trip and see it up close. What do I need to look for turning it over by hand? I have lots of experience on the MF 12 timing and repairing it. But i have never seen a JD up close.
Thanks,
Keith

We had a 14T for years and it did a good job. Mom gave it to a cousin, he tuned it up a little and has used it for years and loves it! doesn't miss a knot! Parts are still available and not too pricey. I still have a 24T that i keep for "backup" to the IH baler. 24T was a far superior machine but mines over the hill. The 14T doesn't bale real fast, but steady. The 24T could go along much faster, in my opinion. Good, consistent windrows will make a big difference with any baler. Good luck, have fun!

the 24T will handle quite a bit. I've stuffed it quite full when just baling on the ground. Had some pretty heavy oat hay double windrowed and took it in 4L with the 756 which would have killed anyone trying to keep up on a wagon...
Normally go against the grain and bale no where close to 540 RPMs and it works easy.
Never had a MF12 but did have a 3 for a while, the 24T will bale rings around that.
A 24T in decent shape for 600 is a deal.

We had one for years, would bale faster than any of our tractors could pull it, tied well and
made good bales. Unfortunately there was something wrong with it and every now and then it'd
try to tie a bale with the plunger coming back (temporarily out of time) and the needle stop
usually caught the plunger before it got to the needles but it was still a PITA. The New
Holland dealer that sold it to us couldn't figure it out and neither could our local used to be
a John Deere dealer (that probably sold it new). What ever it was was also viral 'cause the
neighbor's 24-T started doing the same thing about 3-4 years latter. Last theory I heard was
the dog that drives the knotters was loose and if you hit a bump or jerked it just right the
dog would get knocked out of the home position and initiate a tie cycle when it shouldn't.

(quoted from post at 00:52:20 08/23/12)
the dog that drives the knotters was loose and if you hit a bump or jerked it just right the
dog would get knocked out of the home position and initiate a tie cycle when it shouldn't.

Click to expand...

I can't see how a loose dog in the knotter drive gear could cause needles to RANDOMLY start up in the bale chamber especially if baler didn't require "retiming". But a needle brake that is too loose or worn out can let the needles prematurely go into chamber causing flywheel shear bolt to shear.

I had 2ea over the years. I reluctantly sold my last one because I stepped up to a 336, which is only slightly faster, uses gears to drive the knotters rather than chains and has rollers in the plungerhead rather than slides. But, here is what to look for: take out all twine and hay. Run it slow to make sure all parts move, grease before hand and oil the slide tracks and chains. Does it have a kicker? I put a #30 kicker on my last one which is hydraulic driven. They came with #2 kickers, which are shaft driven and prone to breaking constantly. That's an ok price IF COMPLETE with a kicker. If you buy it, get a manual and go over every adjustment before you try to run it. Then, it will be dependable.

Thanks Guys for the info. Trying to get ready to go look at it tomorrow. Still like to hear and thing someone may have to offer.
Keith

TX Jim- it was the darndest thing it run sometimes 1000 bales and never miss a lick then in the
next 100 we'd loose 5 shear pins and every time the plunger would be back against the chamber
stop dog and it'd be 1/2 way through the tie cycle. I don't think we ever did much more than 3-
4000 bales a year including custom work and swap backs with the neighbors. The dog theory came
from the neighbor when his started doing it. IIRC there was a dog on the knotter drive that was
pulled out of home position to cause the knotters to cycle. Neighbor put and extra spring on it
and claimed it stopped it from doing it. Consider that this particular neighbor like to put
springs on everything to take up any play or wear. The comment about the chamber stop dog is in
reference to the first field we did one year. Dad was on the road as a trucker, I pulled the
baler out of storage and started our first field of the year (I was about 17) about 250 bales
into the season it did whatever it was doing, the chamber stop wasn't free and I lost a pair of
needles, also figured out why some of the grease fittings on the service diagram weren't there,
but then that made me wonder about the quality of service the dealer that sold it to us did
before they sold it. I suspect it had been run hard, the previous owner admitted to the dealer
that's why they traded it off and bought a New Holland rather than another JD.

(quoted from post at 13:59:52 08/23/12) TX Jim- it was the darndest thing it run sometimes 1000 bales and never miss a lick then in the
next 100 we'd loose 5 shear pins and every time the plunger would be back against the chamber
stop dog and it'd be 1/2 way through the tie cycle.

Click to expand...

I still see no way if baler hadn't jumped time that a trip dog malfunction could cause shear pin to shear but a loose/worn needle brake can cause this dilemma. If the trip dog malfunctions the rest of the balers mechanism will still have to pull needles into bale chamber if the needle brake is tight and the timing will be correct or else it will have to be corrected by RE-TIMING the baler after replacing shear pin.

the 24T's have a brass shear pin in the needle drive
sprocket. Sometimes that pin shears part way only
and it gets slightly out of time. A 336 has a
similar shear pin in it's knotter drive gear, same
issue, it gets part way sheared and misses every so
often. One thing about JD knotters and balers, when
they are adjusted right, they work very well.
Lastly, always get a manual.

TX Jim It's been years since I ran this baler but when it
messed up it would attempt to tie a bale out of time. The stop
dog is there to protect the needles and it would do so by
stopping the plunger from traveling back into the chamber and
hitting the needles when they are up, this would cause a
broken shear pin on the flywheel. The chamber stop dog is
pushed out of the chamber when the needle yoke returns to the
home position. When I broke the needles we did find the needle
yoke was bent so it got replaced, the brake on the knotter was
checked during the initial service call and I think the
selling dealer replaced it once with no effect. When it did
this- break a shear pin the plunger would be up against the
stop dog and the needles would be up by the knotters. we'd
install the shear pin and rotate the fly wheel backwards one
or two revolutions and go back to baling with out retiming or
adjusting anything. Like I said in the first post the New
Holland dealer that sold it to use couldn't figure it out,
they loaned us a 14T they had on the lot and sent our 24-T
over to a JD dealer, they couldn't figure it out and the
independent repair shop that used to be a Deere dealer
couldn't either. Another post talked about a brass shear pin
in the knotter drive, that might of been it but I would sure
hope the 3 dealers that looked at it would have enough sense
to check that out. It might of been a situation that John
Deere didn't figure that brass pin would ever break and never
mentioned it in the owner's or service manuals or service
schools, this was almost 40 years ago our baler may of been
one of the early ones to develop this problem. It was a lot
nicer baler than the New Holland super 66 it replaced or the
14T loaner except for this one problem. With the number of
24Ts still out there and the good reputation they enjoy I
assume this problem it is real rare or someone figured it out.

(quoted from post at 23:24:13 08/23/12) TX Jim It's been years since I ran this baler but when it
messed up it would attempt to tie a bale out of time. The stop
dog is there to protect the needles When it did
this- break a shear pin the plunger would be up against the
stop dog and the needles would be up by the knotters. we'd
install the shear pin and rotate the fly wheel backwards one
or two revolutions and go back to baling with out retiming or
adjusting anything.

Click to expand...

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TX JIM- none of the parts you show on the diagram are timed to the plunger IIRC the #9 part engages for lack of a
better term a dog clutch on a shaft that is timed to the plunger and that's what drives the knotter assembly and
needles. I would believe a bad needle brake if the problem was occurring with the needles partially in the chamber
but when it malfunctioned the needle tips would be all the way in, up by the knotter. With the post mentioning a
brass shear/drive pin I would suspect that was broken and was driving the knotter most of the time but when it would
malfunction the driven components of the knotter and the needle yoke would stop or stall during the cycle leaving
the needles in the full up position about the same time the plunger would hit the chamber stop dog. Incidentally the
#9 part is what our neighbor put the extra spring on so maybe you are right what was supposed to hold it place was
defective but still if my memory is correct all that does is trip a clutch on the timed shaft and components driven
off the timed shaft would be were they shouldn't be.

(quoted from post at 22:45:35 08/24/12) TX JIM- none of the parts you show on the diagram are timed to the plunger IIRC the #9 part engages for lack of a
better term a dog clutch on a shaft that is timed to the plunger and that's what drives the knotter assembly and
needles. maybe you are right what was supposed to hold it place was
defective but still if my memory is correct all that does is trip a clutch on the timed shaft and components driven
off the timed shaft would be were they shouldn't be.

Click to expand...

The trip dog arm holds the trip dog roller(parts key #43) from contacting the hump inside the sprocket(parts key #47). Which BTW the trip dog roller has to be timed for baler to tie properly so the trip dog arm is very important to a hay baler tying at correct time. The only way for needles that the brake is snug can get into bale chamber is by being pulled there by the chain on sprocket in photn later model JD balers I've seen the trip dog mechanism miss the trip dog arm and the needles would cycle with every PH stroke. That creates a very nasty wire mess around twister shaft on a wire baler.

wisbaker
You mentioned the brass in(E19994) is it still brass?? JD spec's states it's steel. The price of it has sure escalated since I sold them to farmers by the bag full back in the 60' & 70's. I remember a service call I made on a 224 baler that the farmer thought he could just reinstall the shear pin and go back to baling without having to time the baler. That's not happening.

Part Number: E19994
Part Price: 13.63 USD
Description: SHEAR PIN
Specification
Diameter 0.375 IN
Overall Length 2.260 IN
Between Holes 1.941 IN

Material STEEL