lastcowboy32
Well-known Member
Had my auction find 276 ticking like a clock. 500 bales, no misses; then wtf? I look back and it's spitting out one stringed bales.
The 3/8" bolt that holds the knotter tail came out of the right hand knotter, and the billhook/wiper arm assembly fell down onto the twine fingers.
Back to the shop to turn it over by hand a few times. The needles would string the knotter, but it wouldn't make a knot.
Called my brother and my cousin. My brother said that this has happened on his NH575 (which uses pins with cotter keys) twice over the years (granted, he bales 30,000 small square per year; so his gets a lot more use). My cousin uses double-nutted 3/8" bolts, and it's happened to him. He says that he now checks the bolts every time he changes twine.
Anyway, they pointed me at a few things to look at. I also found this online guide to be handy.
http://www.spurgeoncreekangusranch.com/images/Troubleshooting%20Knotter.pdf
Luckily, we picked up all of our edible hay that was down before this happened, and we were just doing some bedding on a weedy field that our neighbor is letting us rehabilitate for next year.
Looks like my twine finger arm is bent, not loading the billhook.
When I put this back together, I'm going with the double-nutted 3/8" bolt method. I'm also thinking that it might be smart to weld up a little frame over the top of the bale chamber so that I can mount a safety chain to each side that would catch the bill hook/wiper arm assembly if the bolt pops out or breaks.
My brother says that they probably used locknuts originally, but my experience with locknuts is that they're a throwaway item. Once they've been done/undone a time or two; they're not locknuts anymore. It's also not smart to just hammer these bolts down with a lot of torque and threadlocker; because the assembly is supposed to be able to ride up and down a little.
Live and learn. Just another item to keep an eye on.
The 3/8" bolt that holds the knotter tail came out of the right hand knotter, and the billhook/wiper arm assembly fell down onto the twine fingers.
Back to the shop to turn it over by hand a few times. The needles would string the knotter, but it wouldn't make a knot.
Called my brother and my cousin. My brother said that this has happened on his NH575 (which uses pins with cotter keys) twice over the years (granted, he bales 30,000 small square per year; so his gets a lot more use). My cousin uses double-nutted 3/8" bolts, and it's happened to him. He says that he now checks the bolts every time he changes twine.
Anyway, they pointed me at a few things to look at. I also found this online guide to be handy.
http://www.spurgeoncreekangusranch.com/images/Troubleshooting%20Knotter.pdf
Luckily, we picked up all of our edible hay that was down before this happened, and we were just doing some bedding on a weedy field that our neighbor is letting us rehabilitate for next year.
Looks like my twine finger arm is bent, not loading the billhook.
When I put this back together, I'm going with the double-nutted 3/8" bolt method. I'm also thinking that it might be smart to weld up a little frame over the top of the bale chamber so that I can mount a safety chain to each side that would catch the bill hook/wiper arm assembly if the bolt pops out or breaks.
My brother says that they probably used locknuts originally, but my experience with locknuts is that they're a throwaway item. Once they've been done/undone a time or two; they're not locknuts anymore. It's also not smart to just hammer these bolts down with a lot of torque and threadlocker; because the assembly is supposed to be able to ride up and down a little.
Live and learn. Just another item to keep an eye on.