MF 120 baler HELP!

John S-B

Well-known Member
So I just got a MF 120 baler which I thought to be in good condition, little wear and not beat up. I started going over it and I noticed that the PTO shaft can be turned by hand and it just spins on the clutch without moving the flywheel at all. The clutch is not moving either. There's just a bolt that goes through the yoke into the clutch. There's no teeth or anything that engages the yoke shaft at all. It's just smooth and there's even bearings inside of the clutch where the smooth end of the yoke goes into the clutch housing. I replaced the bolt with a new one with a lock washer and flat washer like what was on there before. I tightened it down as much as I could, and it still just spins easily by hand. I don't think this would be any different if I hooked it up to the PTO on the tractor. I've not seen anything like this. Am I nuts, or is this supposed to be like this??? Before I go back to the place I bought it from, I want to know what I'm talking about...
I can't see any way that engaging a PTO would make a difference it it spinning.
mvphoto36543.jpg
 
Are there any pins with springs behind them. On my New Holland 68 I had two pins with springs behind stuck in retracted position.
Had to wd 40 them and beat on clutch to get them to come unstuck.
 
There are no pins anywhere that I can see. That yoke fits into the clutch mechanism, and there's just a bolt that goes into that shaft you see in the middle of the hole. There are no splines or any type of dogs or ratchets that I can see.
 

There is a one way clutch inside that housing. It allows the PTO shaft to power the baler, but the flywheel to free wheel when you shut the PTO off.

If you are turning the PTO counter clockwise (facing the flywheel) it should grab, clockwise if should just spin in that housing.

I had that go bad on an older MF #9, did as you described, PTO would spin in housing and not turn slip clutch/flywheel.

I found one from a junked machine and it's still going. It presses in like a bearing.
 
I was looking through the parts manual and just saw that that what I thought was a bearing is actually a sprag. I'm going to take it off and clean it out and see if that helps.
 
****WARNING: RANT AHEAD****

So I got it taken apart, and it is indeed a sprag clutch. It's got a little bit of corrosion in it, so the sprags aren't moving. I didn't have the right puller to get it out, so I called the closest MF Dealer to see if part are available. They are, but get this...

THEY WANT AROUND $350 FOR THE %$&@ SPRAG!!!! It's only about 2 1/2" in diameter! I asked him about the shoulder bolts for the slip clutch (3 are not the original type bolts) AND THEY WANTED $122 A PIECE FOR THEM!!!!

I saw the entire NEW assembly on a dealer's website from the UK for around $450. It had a splined shaft so I'd have to change that end of the PTO. I ended up taking the part back to the dealer that I bought it from used. I asked if they could pull the sprag out of the housing, but he thought it would destroy it. So one of the guys used some "Evapo-rust" on it and it freed it up a little. So now I'm headed to the store to buy some to see if I can free it up completely. Hopefully I'll be able to save the sprag and get it working right.
It really ticks me off that MF would gouge people for parts like that. Is it any wonder the Chinese are making knockoff parts for way less and stealing business from US companies?? Those parts are just going to continue to sit on the shelf at
that price.

I should've had them run it before I bought it, but the rest of the baler looked to be in really good condition, so I let my guard down on this one. Never again.
I'll let you guys know what the end result is, hopefully I can get this working right.
 
I was putting a new beater in my new idea spreader, well i made the beater. Any who i was going to put a new shaft in the gear box and priced it out at agco 400 bucks. I thought the heck with the went to the iron shop and asked him to make me one and i told him how much the dealer wanted. To my surprise he said it will cost me that from him to make it. Lesson learned from complaining about cost. The bolts are over priced fer sure.
 
(quoted from post at 09:52:09 05/24/19) ****WARNING: RANT AHEAD****

So I got it taken apart, and it is indeed a sprag clutch. It's got a little bit of corrosion in it, so the sprags aren't moving. I didn't have the right puller to get it out, so I called the closest MF Dealer to see if part are available. They are, but get this...

THEY WANT AROUND $350 FOR THE %$&@ SPRAG!!!! It's only about 2 1/2" in diameter! I asked him about the shoulder bolts for the slip clutch (3 are not the original type bolts) AND THEY WANTED $122 A PIECE FOR THEM!!!!

I saw the entire NEW assembly on a dealer's website from the UK for around $450. It had a splined shaft so I'd have to change that end of the PTO. I ended up taking the part back to the dealer that I bought it from used. I asked if they could pull the sprag out of the housing, but he thought it would destroy it. So one of the guys used some "Evapo-rust" on it and it freed it up a little. So now I'm headed to the store to buy some to see if I can free it up completely. Hopefully I'll be able to save the sprag and get it working right.
It really ticks me off that MF would gouge people for parts like that. Is it any wonder the Chinese are making knockoff parts for way less and stealing business from US companies?? Those parts are just going to continue to sit on the shelf at
that price.

I should've had them run it before I bought it, but the rest of the baler looked to be in really good condition, so I let my guard down on this one. Never again.
I'll let you guys know what the end result is, hopefully I can get this working right.

You can free it up fine and save it with penetrating oil. Mine had "blown up" and the one I put on I pulled off a junked baler that already had the PTO shaft removed and the sprag open to the elements and laying in old water.

I got it pulled out, lubed everything good and put it in the working baler and away I went. It's been in there several years now.
 

I managed to do this with hay on the ground!

Broken one:

mvphoto36576.jpg


Used one after removing from junked baler (still some rust but it moves free)

mvphoto36578.jpg


Installed

mvphoto36577.jpg


Brass ring back in place


mvphoto36579.jpg
 
How did you get that brass spacer out?? My sprag is still intact, so I don't have much space to work with.
 
(quoted from post at 10:18:39 05/26/19) How did you get that brass spacer out?? My sprag is still intact, so I don't have much space to work with.

Very carefully with a small, sharp angled pry.

You can get the tip in between the brass ring and intact sprag at "3 o clock" and then press handle of the pry down on top of the brass ring at "9 o clock"

It will take many time alternating the pry between 3 and 9 as you slow lift the brass ring out 1/16" at a time. If you have two small pry you can kind of "walk" it out by using a rocking motion.

Easier to remove it when on machine, easier to install flat like shown in my pic.

I had to do this on the junked machine since I didn't want to ruin the sprag.
 

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