Huh?

So after busting a chain on the NH68 yesterday I hitch up the Hesston 5500 to finish up the hay before the rain due today. I'm going along just fine and had made 18-20 bales when all the sudden when I hit a slug of hay theres a "bang" and the baler stops working. I get looking and I have power to the gear box and I can sort of see a shaft turning out the right angle end of the GB. Get it back to the "shop" (my driveway) and take off the covers. I have the parts book and see there's a grade 5, 5/16" shear bolt that protects the gear box and drive gear that's supposed to be in that collar that' moving. Simple fix I thinks. Problem is theres mud dauber nests in the hole the shear bolt is supposed to be in! No shear bolt at all. Not only that, but running a wire into the recess I feel open space on the gear box side...something is way wrong here. Pull the gear box and find the end of the shaft coming out of that collar is busted clean off and rusted at that! I've been using this baler for 2 years now and it seems the ONLY thing keeping that shaft moving was RUST!!! :shock:

I'm going to pull a replacement shaft off my parts machine today. But I have to say, it honestly never even occurred to me that rust could keep a broken shaft turning enough to make 5x5 round bales!

Been around machinery all my life and every now and then something like this happens and you just sit down, stare at it and wonder. LOL!

By the way. You better hustle. It's 9:30 am and it just started raining here. If it ain't already there, it's coming your way shortly, Bret.

No worries Don, neighbor came over and round baled what was down for me last night.

Gotta say, that NH 630 of his with the net wrap is WAY faster than my old 5500!

Kind of an anomaly, the machinery gods were giving you a pass, but you know when you realize often times just taking it real easy, got your fingers crossed, often times it will get you through, and its only that one oddity, that maybe you could have skipped over,( the slug of hay) but did not, then it breaks ? LOL !

That happened with the right spindle on my tractor, I know better now by eye, (the lean if one is suspect to fail) but I knew there was something off, and yes that spindle was cracked, with a rust area inside of the crack, can't say for how long, and some heavy lifting I have done in all the years previous, but that darned thing should have snapped off or failed long ago, when it finally did, rough side hill facing down, deep top soil that get soft when wet, but it was dry enough, used the loader as a skid, lifted the mower and I'll be darned if I did not back out of that tough spot, all the way up the hill to a flat area, so much easier to work on it.

WOW - when it rains, it pours!

Sometimes rust can almost be like a welded joint.

FWIW - I like to run some old iron garden
tractors, got several Wheelhorse, IH Cub Cadets
and a Simplicity and for whatever reason, this
year has been the year from H#@l for repairs.
Were it not for a box store Cub Cadet and a push
mower, we'd be baling hay in the yard! So to some
extent, I feel your pain!

Good luck,
Bill

I had the shear pin break on a Baler PTO shaft when i hit a slug, before i could stop the baler the Yoke seized to the shaft and i could keep on baling. It happened at least 6-7 years ago, i never had it come loose again.
I'm afraid one day it'll bite me in the arse when something goes wrong while baling and it does not start slipping.
:wink:

Well, I was going to pull the shaft out of my parts baler which is actually a lot newer than the one I'm using, put the new belts on it and then this winter try to make one real good one out of the 2. After looking at both balers it's obvious the time to switch is now. Just means switching the gear box and one idler roll to the parts machine and changing a good tire for a flat. A couple bearings need replacing and the belt guides need to be switched, but there's no sense in doing the job twice.

BTW- figured out the problem with the NH 68. The feeder tine driven sprocket bearing is completely shot. More sheet metal to remove!