John Deere 336 Baler

Baled for 40 years with a Vermeer Baler so notter issues are new to me. Got a 336 2 years ago and aside from a occasional missed bale, had had no problems with it. Last fall I had some straw to bale with rain due and I found that I was almost out of the 9000 twins. Rushed to TSC to get more. After paying noticed the box was damaged, so grabed a another box off the stack without seeing that they had mixed round and square twine. Found it out when I got home and decided to give the round baler wine a try. Mistake. Would not work. Next day I got 9000 twine, but the baler would only bale about 4 to 6 bales and it would stop tieing and I would find it hung on the billhooks or the wiper pads. Cleaned it out. 4 to 6, same story. After several times and not being sure how to correct, I parked and round baled. After talking to several online, I went back in to adjust the knotters. Note the misses were only on the right side and it was plastic twins. I found that one of the 2 clips for the wiper plates had broken off, Replaced that. Adjusted everything to what I thought was the correct settings and reset as best I could alone, Tried to bale some busted bales. Heard a bang and I che4cked to find the tucker plates were now at a 90 degree angle across the keedle openings. Released the pressure against the trip on the knotter frame and the plates poped back. Went thru resetting the knotters again. Tried again but this time the safety stop kicked in with the flywheel pin sheared and the lift arm pin shearing. I could not see any damage to the needles Obviously I'm over my head, any serrios suggestions n would be appreciated.

336 was originally equipped with sisal twine billhooks. Don't know what it has now, but if using plastic it needs multi-twine billhooks.

Go thru the OM settings. Correct why the tucker fingers are hanging up, broken spring, corrosion, etc!

Tucker finger problems are the most common problem with JDs. I had to replace the tucker drive shaft on mine. After having an intermittent problem for two seasons I found that the problem was that the surface that the finger plates attach to was weakened by rust, and when the baler tried to knot with a heavy charge in the chamber the bulging of the top of the chamber would interfere with the fingers. I solved it by cutting out thin metal and welding angle stock in on each side of the needle openings.

Went thru and adjusted the settings on the knotters, adjusted the settings on the left knife as it had to be pulled in quite a bit to meet the wiper plates, adjusted the tucker plates to get as close as possible after changing the knife angle. But when I attempt to hand turn it thru the cycle now the plunger safety stop is stopping the plunger. I don't see anything in the manual regarding the settings for the stop. Any suggestions?

Sounds as if you need to check timing of needles to plungerhead. Is front chain snug?

(quoted from post at 21:00:52 07/07/19) Went thru and adjusted the settings on the knotters, adjusted the settings on the left knife as it had to be pulled in quite a bit to meet the wiper plates, adjusted the tucker plates to get as close as possible after changing the knife angle. But when I attempt to hand turn it thru the cycle now the plunger safety stop is stopping the plunger. I don't see anything in the manual regarding the settings for the stop. Any suggestions?

Click to expand...

The stop is driven by the needle frame, and is adjusted from the link to the frame. It is in the manual.

You need a manual and you need to go thru ALL the steps to time the needles to the plunger head as well as adjust the needles and knotters. There are a number of parts that can get worn or even bent or broke to be out of adjustment drastically. The best way to start is loosen the bale chamber tension springs and get all the hay out. Then clean all the loose hay off the moving parts so they are completely visible. Then follow the manual steps. Here?s the most difficult thing: if a part is worn too much, how will you know? You basically need a new part to compare or be an expert.

This is a photo of mine completely cleaned out to replace the billhooks. I broke a bill hook last year and stuck a used one in. It was too worn and would only work about 50 bales then miss 2. Had flat spots on the roller. Now it misses zero.

(quoted from post at 06:35:13 07/08/19)

The stop is driven by the needle frame, and is adjusted from the link to the frame. It is in the manual.

Click to expand...

PH stop isn't driven by needle frame. The stop is pulled in to block PH crank arm by a "spring" & pulled(held) out of way of PH crank arm by needle frame.

(quoted from post at 03:36:16 07/12/19)

(quoted from post at 06:35:13 07/08/19)

The stop is driven by the needle frame, and is adjusted from the link to the frame. It is in the manual.

Click to expand...

PH stop isn't driven by needle frame. The stop is pulled in to block PH crank arm by a "spring" & pulled(held) out of way of PH crank arm by needle frame.

Click to expand...

Tx Jim, same thing different wording.

(quoted from post at 07:47:27 07/12/19)

Tx Jim, same thing different wording.

Click to expand...

Contrary to what you state if spring is broken/missing PH stop will not operate as designed so therefore it's not driven by needle frame.

Granted needle frame pulls PH stop out of path of crankshaft travel after spring has pulled it in the way but without operating spring it won't be in the way of crank arm. I've witnessed that spring broken/missing on several JD sq balers over the many yrs of repairing JD balers.

(quoted from post at 05:45:48 07/12/19)

(quoted from post at 07:47:27 07/12/19)

Tx Jim, same thing different wording.

Click to expand...

Contrary to what you state if spring is broken/missing PH stop will not operate as designed so therefore it's not driven by needle frame.

Granted needle frame pulls PH stop out of path of crankshaft travel after spring has pulled it in the way but without operating spring it won't be in the way of crank arm. I've witnessed that spring broken/missing on several JD sq balers over the many yrs of repairing JD balers.

Click to expand...

Yup, checking and adjusting the stop was annual maintenance on the 336 that I used for probably 12 years.