JD 328 sisal OK, plastic bad

Paul in MN

Well-known Member
We have 2 balers, 327 and 328. We have always used sisal 7200 (heavy) twine and both have made excellent bales. Now with the sisal shortage (and many dealers not even carrying sisal) we had to go to the plastic twine. The 327 baler works OK with plastic, but the 328 is giving us fits with broken bales. The right side knotter is working OK with the plastic, but the left knotter is messing up about 1 in every 10 bales. What should we adjust to bring it in to specs for plastic twine? We have set the wiper plate tight enough so that it kisses the bottom of the bill hook, and we are getting the knots off the bill hook. We put new twine knives on last season. The bill hooks do not show any noticeable wear or grooves. It is forming knots but one of the strings seems to loop back into the knot, but partially cut through by the twine knife. We've been getting by with using what's left of our sisal supply just in the left side, and using plastic on the right side, giving us very little breakage of bales. But we need to solve this problem.

I appreciate your advice.

Paul in MN
 
Your post reads like it has dull twine knives on the knife arms. What knot strength plastic are you using? If your baler likes 7200 sisal, it may not tie 130 lb plastic without more twine tension at the discs/holders. I would think 170 lb plastic should tie well with sharp knives if 7200 sisal stayed in the twine discs.
 
Use the trouble shooting section of your operators manual. Also, look at the twine disk setting on the good side compared to the "bad" side.

"Larger diameter" plastic may also work better as suggested in one of the other replies.
 
Don't know how important this is - but Deere has "multi twine" bill hooks for use with plastic and sisal.

From the online Deere manual:

"Multi-Twine and Sisal Billhooks

The multi-twine billhook (A) has a depression (B) in the groove of the billhook that allows the billhook tongue (C) to rest deeper in the groove than the sisal billhook (D).

The sisal billhook (D) does not have a depression in the groove of the billhook body. This means there is a larger gap between the billhook tongue and the billhook body on the sisal billhook (for larger twine) than on the multi-twine billhook.

NOTE: The multi-twine billhook will work with most grades of twine. A sisal billhook is available for use with extremely heavy sisal twine."

Good luck,
Bill
 
I'd start by removing the twine knives and sharpen them until they're razor sharp. Then try it and see how it works. I use 7200 poly in my 327 and have no problems... but it does need to be adjusted paying particular attention to holder tension and twine tension...

Rod
 
Thanks for all the good ideas. I think we bought the 170 lb plastic, but I need to check to be sure. The plastic sure looks thinner than I expected. We make somewhere in the area of 25,000 bales per year and have always done our own repair work. It might be possible that some shaft or bushing has enough wear to cause or add to this problem. It is awful hard to know what the wear tolerance is on the parts of the knotter. But we have replaced obviously worn bushings and the small gear that turns the bill hook a year or so ago. I'll dig out the owner's manual and read the fine print. I do suspect the tension settings are the main problem.

Thanks for all your replies!


Paul in MN
 
Odds are very high that the twine knives are the problem. They may require several filings per year as poly twine will dull them quicker than sisal. Take them off, put them in a vise and file them with a flat ba$tard until it will cut the twine with minimal pressure while you draw the twine across the knife. If you still have problems after that, then start digging into it more. I can't over emphasize the importance of keeping those knives SHARP.

Rod
 
Paul - thanks for the feed-back.

I was able to get sisal for $40 a bale from the JD dealer over the winter, but unless something changes, I can see us going plastic next year.

Whatever your fix is - please share it as many of us are probably going to be in the same boat as a twine switch seems inevitable. It would be great to know what fixed your baler.

Thanks,
Bill
 
Bill,

We are in another threatened rain cycle, so no hay is cut now, but we will be in the field again next week. I plan to follow the good advice given here, but probably won't take the time to try only one thing at a time. So my results will probably have a group of suggestions. Yes, I will follow up and share what I find out.

Thanks for your support.

Paul in MN
 
Once you sharpen the knives, clean the baler out and try a few ties with the baler empty. The safety narzi's are going to start jumping up and down... but what I generally do is run the baler at idle, then reach in and grab the strings one at a time and pull a length out so you have about a bale length worth of string in your hand and you're well clear of the chamber... hold it flat across your palms (not wrapped) then trip the metering wheel and keep modest tension on the strings but be prepared to give a bit when the needles pull... If the baler will successfully tie like that it will probably tie in the field. If it doesn't tie, then you can evaluate what's wrong with the knot and fix it before you go to the field. There's nothing worse than trying to fix a baler that won't tie with a thunder cloud on the horizon...

Rod
 
you should also check the wiper arm rollers that are at the top of the wiper arm and roll around the inside of the large knotter gears. If these have flats worn on them, they slide rather than roll and will cause erratic knotting.
 
Both Agri Supply (ASC) and Tractor Supply (TSC) advertise Sisal square baler twine on the www, as are other listings...just Google Sisal square baler twine.

ASC is p/n 21771 at $64 for $10k ft. and TSC is p/n 142914299 for $59 for 9k ft. Pricey as compared to plastic, but what does loosing 1 in 10 cost you......bet a lot more in time, trouble, and frustration, especially if you are shooting them into a hay wagon.
 

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