IH 430 Baler issues

Last winter I picked up an old IH 430 small square baler. Yesterday I baled a very small field and it made 35 nice heavy tight bales. This evening I started baling a 40 acre field, hit went through the first 15 bales and then it started messing up on the knots on the left side. I had to flip the knotter up and dig a Birdsnest out of baler twine off of the bill hook. I was able to make another five or seven more bales and after that it did the same thing again. Any ideas on what I need to do to fix it?

Dull twine knife;rough/grooved bill hook..... You need to order an owners manual.ASAP. A baler knotter is too complicated to just 'wing it',especially for a 'newby.Order from Binder Books. Less than 40 bucks.

Yes, I ordered a manual for it I couple days ago so hopefully I should get that next week. Im definitely not new to Hay. I just have never used a baler this old Im used to the newer New Holland balers and knotters. This model has the original IH knotters before the redesign and they seem to be in pretty good shape however they are a completely different design from what I am used to.

If these are the same knotters as on the McCormick IH #45

I had some similar problems. My observations were:

-- "even if it is threaded right, pull out the twine and rethread it." "When you do, don't just reach in there like I did the first time, get a good light and crawl under there where you can see what you're doing. The fingers have several different 'ins and outs' for the twine to follow and they have to be right." My experience in going from the 45 to a New Holland was that the 45 had a much more complicated twine path so I'd say if you're used to the New Holland pay extra attention to this.

-- Twine knives need to be sharp, like razor sharp if possible. Mine were pretty much worn out.

-- Twine knives have little shims to hold them at the right angle. If they get loose or the bolts come out the knotter will not work.

Again, if it is like the 45 the knotters are very dependent on the previous bale pulling the knot off the knotter.

Having said that, I share the general consensus low opinion of that old knotter design and have upgraded to a New Holland which is much less troublesome. I think my record on the 45 was something like 35 consecutive bales without a miss, but usually 8 was about the limit.

Hope that helps a little.

You have one of the best balers ever made... as suggested try string knife for edge also check eye in needle for wear , what is really needed is empty baler then trip knotters while someone is pulling string and observing

Try sisal.

Completely different knotter from the originals on the 47 we had. Ran this knotter style last few years on the 47 and the same ones are on the 440.

Check twine tension, the complete twine routing system - did the spring holding twine between twine box and needles break? Very little tension when using plastic (3lb., 6lb. somewhere in there I'd have to look again for certain).
Check the little razor blade knife, maybe even flip it over helps sometimes.
Check the needle dimensions, laying twine in the disc correctly, correct height when raised, etc.
Check keeper blade tension, is a measured spring dimension.
Keeper helper spring broken or missing?
And of course check billhook over.
I'd bet it's a twine tension issue or the twine knife. Hope this helps some, Paul.

I have a 440 all twine . I love it . Id looosen the bill hook tongue tension off About one nut flat maybe two . Make sure no grooves or spots on the bill hook

I was able to look at the knotters this afternoon and I cant see any wear or grooves on anything. The paint is still on everything looks like baler hasnt had many bales through it. Unfortunately the bill hook tensioner bolt was already backed off so the nut was flush. I did loosen it couple of turns and that helped enough that I was able to get about 30 or 40 bales before it got all bound up again. It has just the plain cheap orange twine that everyone sells in it and Im sure the twine has been sitting in the baler for at least a year or two. I was thinking about going down to the New Holland dealer and getting some of the nice softer yellow twine to see if that helps. I would try sisal if I knew it would work but I know its also not the greatest thing if youre storing bales outside

Though it's not the best picture, it looks like your knife needs a good sharpening. They need to be darned near sharp enough to shave with. You should be able to order replacement blades through CaseIH, but if memory serves.... they want a lot of money for a dinky little replacement blade.

Saw in another one of your posts that you have a manual on order. They are quite helpful when it comes to knotter issue diagnoses & remedies. When it comes, repair what you need to get done. Then, if you have the time, go over the knotters & make sure everything is as it should be. Staying ahead of any issues with IH knotters is best as they are finicky contraptions.

Mike

First thing I would do is switch the ball of twine with the side that is working and compare the tension that is required to pull the twine from the ball to the knotter on each side.
Do a manual bale tie cycle by turning the flywheel on the PTO by hand and carefully compare everything against the inside knotter, specifically compare the needle placement of the twine in the bill hook and how far the needle goes past the twine disk, compare with the other knotter the timing of the twine disk and the bill hook open/close and rotation.
From your photos it would appear that the bill hook is not grabbing both twines or the twine knife is not cutting the twine.

I worked a lot on the old IH knotters on the IH #45 and 46 but when my Dad and brother bought an IH 430 and then 435 with All Twine Knotters, I never had to work on them.

I use the orange twine with no problem in mine . My baler was parked under a hay shed for 30 years and still had the twine in it finally ran it out and our new orange twine in it . I hate to walk through fiats door unless its an absolute emergency

It could be the billhook roller is froze up or has flat spots on it. Sometimes you can soak them and get freed up, but probably flat spotted if stuck, which will require new parts. Got the 440 book out, twine tension coming out of the box is 4to 10 lbs. for sisal; 1 to 2 lbs. for plastic. I was just a little off in my previous post! I know twine tension will make that knotter do some strange things at times, been there and done that.

Thanks for all the info everyone!!! I tried sharpening the knife and that did help a bit, I was able to get about 20 bales at a time before I had to stop and unbolt the knotter to clean it out. I went down to my local dealer and got some of the nice yellow HW brand twine to put in it. Once I did that I didnt have any more problems on the last hundred or so bales I did for the day.