Deere Knotter Problem

Kerwin

Member
I recently had a problem with the left knotter on my 24T. A couple of times it wouldn't tie and I end up with three strands of twine coming out of the knotter, trailing back over the bales in the chamber. I normally can pull on the two that aren't around a bale and get them out of the knotter, but of course I have a bale or two with no twine around the left side. I am thinking that the twine knife might be dull and not cutting right. I'm using 7000 sisal, and have not had this issue in the last several years I've used the baler.

Any other thoughts? (Hopefully my description makes sense).
 
Been a long time ago but spent a lot of time on a 14T. Most of the trouble was centered around proper line tension coming from ball. The tension on the line aids in pulling the tyed knot of off the knotter along with the wiper arm.
 
I'll add that what I noticed was inconsistent twine diameter thus when you thought tension was right you would encounter a section of twine with smaller diameter and missed bales.
 
First thing I'd do is sharpen the twine knives. Also check the clearance on the strippers... but with 7000 sisal that would need to be way out of whack. That is HEAVY twine. The knives will need to be sharp to keep up with that.

Rod
 
The finished knot is not being 'released' from the billhook. Tine arm is worn and not pushing the knot loose. It needs to have a good 'rub' on the hook to work.You can bend it closer with a sharp rap with a hammer. Also check the knife to make it is sharp. a dull knife can also contribute to your problem. Go buy an owners manual. In it you will find a trouble shooting guide with pictures. Then a description on how to fix. About 40 bucks.It will be the cheapest,most valuable thing you will EVER buy for your balerThen go through and adjust everything 'by the book'. You will be surprised how much better it will work..Lastly,if it were me,I would throw away that junk sisal and buy plastic 9600ft/170lb knot strength twine.
 
Inconsistent twine diameter/quality comes with sisal twine.Then if it is a few years old(and half rotten),adds to the problem. As I said,throw it away and go with plastic.For your old baler,9000/130 will plabably suffice,but I prefer the 9600/170
 

The good thing about JD knotters is "it's the tucker fingers" The tucker fingers are the problem 80% of the time. What is happening in your case is that the twine OVER THE BALE is there, held in the twine disc. The needle brings the twine up from below to join the twine over the bale, to be held in the twine disc until the billhook grabs it. The problem is that the twine does not get pushed to the twine disc by the tucker finger, so the billhook can grab only the twine over the bale. Check the measurement of the distance of the tucker finger to the twine disc against the one in your manual. It is probably a little too far, but it could also be a bent drive rod or even a bent tucker finger drive shaft.
 
Here is how I deal with knife arm rollers: replace them with new as any flats wore in them will cause knotting problems and be erratic. Then, spray wd40 on them often and make sure they roll free at each hookup time. Those rollers affect about half the knot tying, actually
 
I spent some time looking at the knotters yesterday (baling later today) and did notice that when rolling the baler over by hand that the knot hung up in the billhook. The wiper arm does sweep very close to the billhook, so I released billhook tension slightly.
 
Kerwin,the wiper arm must contact the billhook in order to push the knot off the hook.Releasing the hook tention may help the situation a bit,but then you will start having knots that will come untied.A sharp rap with a hammer will do the job.Try it,I'll bet the problem will be fixed.
 
Thanks for the help. I'll take a closer look at the wiper arm. I went through the baler using the manual when I got it running a couple of years ago, but I'll check it again. I used it today and it only missed two knots (out of 115 bales) on the right side (not the problem side that I posted about) otherwise it ran fine. It's done for the season so I'll have some time to look at it.
 
Knife arm roller is turning. Baled with it today and that side didn't miss a knot. Right side missed two in a row but was fine otherwise. Probably didn't act up because I had a tool box and the operator's manual along this time!
 

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