Wobble in Hesston PT1070 haybine steel conditioning rolls

lastcowboy32

Well-known Member
I wasn't planning on this, but the opportunity came up this weekend to look at a PT1070 that was for sale.

I'm interested; because I have the exact same thing, and the last time I needed scrap parts for it, my wife had to call scrap yards in Pennsylvania, Kansas, Michigan...among others. We did find the part at Fry's in Pennsylvania after he searched for a couple of days.

That got me thinking that this seven foot haybine may be somewhat rare, and I should start thinking about the future. Either get another for parts, or start just milking the one I have with as little repair as possible; until I can get something else.

The question at hand is:

When I looked at the one that was for sale, everything seemed to be in working order, except the bottom conditioning roll had a wobble to it.

If I looked at the end near the hydraulic lift ram, I could definitely notice that it behaved like it was off center. I could see the circular outline of the roll move with respect to its mounting point as it went around.

Now, the bearing ran cool, there were no squeals or anything like that.

But, there was a noticeable motion to the whole haybine, where all of it moved up and down in rhythm with the off center nature of the roll; and I could see that the shaft was making the bearing move around as its center changed. (but again...no play, no squeals, no heat)

I've seen rubber rolls get out of shape and make a haybine rock, but their shafts ran true through the end bearings and they ran like that for years. With these steel rolls, I just wonder if this is more of an issue. That steel ain't gonna give. Isn't it just going to keep trying to wallow out that bearing...and won't it succeed after a short while?

Or, has anybody seen these steel conditioning rolls run like this for a long time with no issues?
 
(quoted from post at 19:38:33 07/09/17) Is it possible the rolls are out of time and touching causing the apparent imbalance?

Maybe. It only looks imbalanced at one mounting point, though. The top roll runs true in its bearing at both ends. The bottom roll runs true in its far side (relative to the PTO) bearing, but has a wander, wobble, un-true-ness...whatever in the near side bearing.

Really, I wouldn't care, except the asking price is $2000, and the seller said that he's absolutely not taking any less.

I'd feel pretty stupid paying two grand and then having a major repair.
 
If the whole machine is jumping up and down, run and don't walk away from it. It will soon destroy anything and
everything.
 
If the rollers are the same as what was in our Hesstons, the end shaft going through the bearing is just a short shaft welded to 2 disc pieces inside of the roller tube. IIRC, the end disc is welded and the one which is about 8" inside of the roller tube is not welded. The tube is thin enough that the bearing shaft can be fairly easily bent out of alignment. The bearing has a bit of curvature to the outside of the race, and that can float in the mating flanges. So it may be running without putting undue strain on the bearing (no heat or noise), but the mounting flanges will not last very long. Unless you can get a new or different roller, this is predicting the end of life for this machine. Changing out rollers is a big project.

BTW, the rollers on the Hesston machines do not mesh, but just come close to each other at slightly different speeds to give a scuffing action to the stems going through the rollers.

When we sold our very well used Hesston machines in running condition, we got $500 to $1000 for them. I bought "parts" machines for $250. I think your seller's price is way out of line.

Paul in MN
 
(quoted from post at 13:09:42 07/11/17) If the rollers are the same as what was in our Hesstons, the end shaft going through the bearing is just a short shaft welded to 2 disc pieces inside of the roller tube. IIRC, the end disc is welded and the one which is about 8" inside of the roller tube is not welded. The tube is thin enough that the bearing shaft can be fairly easily bent out of alignment. The bearing has a bit of curvature to the outside of the race, and that can float in the mating flanges. So it may be running without putting undue strain on the bearing (no heat or noise), but the mounting flanges will not last very long. Unless you can get a new or different roller, this is predicting the end of life for this machine. Changing out rollers is a big project.

BTW, the rollers on the Hesston machines do not mesh, but just come close to each other at slightly different speeds to give a scuffing action to the stems going through the rollers.

When we sold our very well used Hesston machines in running condition, we got $500 to $1000 for them. I bought "parts" machines for $250. I think your seller's price is way out of line.

Paul in MN

Thanks for the response.

The haybine isn't sold yet; so I had a chat with the guy at the Agco dealer; when I stopped in for parts for my haybine.

He said that he's never seen a haybine with one end of a conditioning roll running out of round. He verified, as others have commented, that the bearing is eccentric; and that it will allow some wobble.

But, he also verified that the wobble would probably wear on the flange, and I would probably be looking at replacing flanges and or bearings at some point.

He also said that he thought that the price should be around 1,000 -1,200 dollars; not in the 2 grand range.

So, the haybine still sits. I'm not going to pay two grand for it.
 

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