New Holland 68 baler

MRCapps

New User
Been using this baler for about a year now. Baled my main hay field last week and was only miss tying every 20 to 40 bales and still pulled about 260 bales out of the field. Went to bale my second field and busted four shear bolts in the first 30 minutes. Now, when I rake, I generally go counter clockwise 3 times, jump over my row and rake one time clockwise to make my windrows. I think that maybe the windrows were too big. My question is, is there anything that I should be looking at inside the baler or do I just need to stick with smaller windrows?
 
What was your ground speed, you may have been choking the baler!! Was the hay "tough" maybe needed a little more dry/cure time. Are you using true sheer bolts, not just any soft bolt. Is the sheer bolt hole out of round, allowing for not a true sheer. Check clearance and sharpness of the stationary and plunger knives. Clearance is supposed to be like 1/32 of an inch, blades sharp so they cut not wad-up and fold hay. I suspect you were pushing the baler, let the baler set the pace. wish you the best gobble
 
I was in 1st gear as slow as I could go and was still feathering the clutch to go slower. How do I get to the knives and how do I sharpen them?
 
Way to many windrows raked into one. I don't know what your tractor is, but you probably should only be double raking at the most. Didn't it give you a hint when low gear was too fast?
 
I do not have a 68, I have a 269 and last year had the same problem as you. 1st I slowed down, obviously not your problem, 2nd. I got some real shear bolts. 3rd. I shimmed my stationary knife to a closer fit to the plunger knife. I only rake two windrows together. three seems a little much. The stationary knife bolts thru the side of the bale chamber just behind the pick up chute. I had to use the hot wrench heat up before I took it apart, as I did not want to go looking for those. I then cut coil stock metal to match the knife. Coil stock is what is used to cover facia, its alumium.I am not at 1/32 but alot closer than I was. Roll the plunger back til you can see the knife thru the pickup chute. It is not easy but put a good edge on it. Of course you can sharpen the stationary on the bench. Also if you don't have a manuel get one. It will tell you how many strokes per min that machine was designed for. gobble
 

Had a 67 which is the cheaper version of a 68 with a non swinging tongue, other working parts the same AFIK.

Obviously you are raking too many windrows together. Within limits, you can bale hay faster by raking smaller windrows and having a faster ground speed. You will have to experiment to find the best combination to fit your hay crop and your equipment.

I found on my baler that it was necessary to have fairly large windrows to keep the baler from making banana bales. I doubt if the cross feed aluminum tines need adjusting after all these years of the baler being used. I found that I couldn't go fast enough to crowd enough hay in to avoid banana bales if I had small windrows. The banana bales problems is a NH problem solved in later NH balers. The picture you posted earlier showed well made bales, so it is just a matter of you finding a happy medium of speed, windrow size, and tightness of the bales. There is a limit as to how tight those balers will pack hay and obviously you have been exceeding it.

The shear bolt problem has been addressed above, particularly the matter of getting NH shear bolts. What I would do was to change the shear bolt periodically just to avoid breakage problems and retiming the baler problems.

The baler is working fine as I see it, just needs a little fine tuning.

KEH
 

Sorry, I was confusing you with BillVA and his pictures. Same comments about operation of baler, however.

KEH
 
Last year i raked too much together. Won't make that mistake this year. Had a 68 baler behind an Oliver 88 and low wasn't slow enough so i put my 630 Deere, with a slower low gear on the baler and it worked OK but the baler was really pumping them out. What a difference in tractors. The peppy Oliver's governor was opening and closing on every baler stroke where the Deere with it's heavy Flywheel and long stroke engine held a steady RPM. Just an observation, no favoritism.
 
For square baling I do one single windrow NEVER bigger and use a NH271 and run 1st gear. Now with my round baler I do side by side windrows . Big windrows cause problem in square balers
 
Tom

At last a fellow NH269 owner. Have you had any problems keep that bearing shield in place on the plunger. I put a new on and adjusted per manual and used it all last season (1-1/4 acres is all) and it scrunged up into a mashed beer can shape and sheared the bolts. Can I run the baler without that shield? bjr
 
Prior to my refurb, I would shear a few flywheel pins.

I feel. There were several reasons for this.

1 - gap between the plunger knife and stationary knife (and dull too)

2 - a big wad of green hay

3 - wobbley flywheel dur to warn bushing

4 - running the baler less than 540 rpms

Any of the above can shear a flywheel bolt.
 


Bill brings up a good point on PTO speed. I used to "go easy" on is a my 68 by having my rpms real low. Mistake! You want that baler running about 540 at the PTO. It smooths out the compression strokes and lets the flywheel help the stroke. If you had to throttle down you might have been running it too slow altogether.

The 68 is a good baler, but you have to work with it, not against it.
 
Check that your knotter brake is set tight enough. It should tak a good hard jerk to move. Too loose and you'll bust shear pins all day long.
 
(quoted from post at 12:32:28 05/28/15) Where is the knotter brake how do I check it/tighten it?

GET AN OWNERS MANUAL!!! I don't mean to shout, but you really need one to adjust and maintain your baler, or most an equipment really.
 
The knotter brake is the round disk that looks like a brake disk to the right of the knotters as you are looking standing behind the baler. Give the shaft attached to the arm that goes to the needle bale a good tug. If it moves fairly easy, it needs to be tightened. There are two 7/16" nuts that you tighten to adjust the pressure of the pads on the brake disk. Look close, you'll see how it works. It shouldn't move unless you give it a good stiff jerk.
 

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