International 435 knotters

I'm having a problem with the pickup side knotter (these are the all-twine IH knotters, not the NH style). It will tie the knot, but before the knot can be striped off the bill hook by the bale being pressed back, the twine on the top of the bale is bocken about 3 to 4 inches back from the knot.

It looks like the twine is being cut cleanly at the knot, so I don't think it is being caused by a dull knife. Also, I am running 9000 sisal twine.

Any insight would be helpful,

Josh in WNY

Country Nate, when I say the twine is broken 3 or 4 inches behind the knot, I mean that the twine has broken about 3 to 4 inches to the rear of the baler from where the knot is. When you pull on the string on the top of the bale in the bale chamber, it comes back but leaves the knot on the bill hook.

I did get the manuals for the baler from CaseIH (owners, service, and the knotter manual). It says to set the spring length on the bill hooks to 1 1/4 to 1 5/16 inches. The workin knotter has its spring set to 1 1/2 inches and is working fine.

I'm going to check the tension in the twine disk spring tonight to see if that needs adjusting. Other than that, I'll take your advice johns48jdb and clean the area around the knotters really good.

Thanks again for your help,

Josh

Not sure what you mean by "Bocken 3 or 4 inches behind the knot."

I can however tell you what I learned about these.

I have an IH 440 that I got cheap about three years ago (Pretty sure the 435's are similar). At first it would not tie. The guy I purchased it from said "the hook was bent" and he had a new one he gave me. I learned that he ment that the hook was WORN. Well a long story short mine would not tie on eather side until I replaced the hooks with new ones. These hooks are about $200 each from Case/IH. I also purchased a manual ($10 at Case/IH) and adjusted the baler accordingly. Also I pirchased new knives for it. Well so far this year at 930 bales it has missed only when I ran out of string.

It's hard to tell by looking at the hooks if they are worn or not, but you'll know because they won't tie or release the twine or whatever. I talked to another old timer about these and he said every 6 to 8 thousand bales the hooks get worn and need replaced. I have not baled that many with mine yet so I don't know.

I see you are up in West NY. I live near Mercer, PA. If you were a little closer I would come up and help you with it.

Hope I said something that helps you.

Nate