MF 124 baler does not tie

KEH

When you thread twine into a baler you run it through the ends of the needles and then tie it off somewhere. Then you start the baler and cycle the knotter so that the needles place the twine in the twine disc where it needs to be.

With my Ford 542 baler which uses a knotter design similar to the JD and NH balers, the twine knife is on the wiper arm so that as the knot is swept off the billhook, it also cuts the twine. With the MF124 knotter there is no wiper arm. The twine knife is stationary and the billhook swipes the twine across the blade to cut it as it twirls around making the knot.

When you first string the baler, there is nothing that cuts the twine the first time because no knot is being tied....all you're doing is placing the twine in the disc. After cycling the knotter you have to cut the twine by hand. Othewise it's still tied to a fixed point on the baler and will never come off the billhook. I learned this the hard way. My first bale would always fail and I'd have to shut everything down to pick the mass of knotted twine off the billhook. Subsequent bales would work fine.

I don't remember if I learned about cutting the twine after feeding the twine disc by reading the manual carefully or if someone here clued me in.

Just a thought.

That baler does not have a wiper arm to clean the knot off the billhook like the JD and NH balers do. Instead the knot is supposed to be pulled off the billhook as the bale is pushed down the chute.

Obviously the knot should come off before the knotter cycles again. It sounds like you're saying the knot is not sliding off the billhook, so I assume the twine is eventually breaking as the plunger continues to move the bale down the chute.

I used to have a 124 but I was never an expert on them. I'm trying to figure out what could be going wrong. Some random thoughts that come to mind:

KEH