Obvious and Easy Health Check for a Small Square Baler

lastcowboy32

Well-known Member
I'm writing this, because I had a "Duh!" moment last night.

Our daughter has been baling with our NH269 baler, and has had a slew of problems over the last two days.

A universal joint yoke broke on the PTO stub shaft. She replaced that and kept baling. The 2040 chain that drives the pickup came off its sprocket and jammed. She needed some "dad help" for that one. Then... at the end of baling last night, the telescoping part of the PTO driveline broke at the overrunning clutch. Only three bales left in the field, which I picked up loose with a pitchfork... I'm not wasting clover second cut to today's rain :)

When I fixed the pickup drive chain last night, I turned the pickup with a pipewrench... it turned HARD. I knew that it needs bearings, but we had rain coming, so I just put it back together.

After we got done with hay, we were having a late night supper. She was discouraged. She said that she was always careful with the PTO... never cornered hard... turned it off when turning on the headlands.

I said... "Meh, it's a 50 year old baler. Things break."

BUT... We had warning. An easy one.

That is... I should have been noticing how long the overrunning clutch freewheels, when you shut off the baler PTO!

Once she and I got talking about it... we realized that every time we stopped and started the PTO... the baler had been coming to a dead stop quickly.

There was the warning that I missed! If I had paid attention to that, over the last month or so... I would have had warning that something was running hard... which has turned out to be the pickup.

Rain today and for a while. New bearings for the pickup are in order, and I have to get the PTO put back together.

Probably could have avoided all of the hassles over the last couple days by noticing the lack of flywheel coasting after PTO shutdown over the last few baling sessions. The baler has been trying to tell me to check something, and I wasn't listening.

So... when your baler is running right... take note of how long the flywherl coasts at shutdown.

And... take notice if that coasting time shortens significantly.
 
I replaced the main bearings on my 273 pickup last winter. They were a bear and it involved the plasma
cutter. I had to remove all tine bars as well to get in there to shift the main shaft back and forth.
Replace tine bar bearings while you are in there. Aftermarket was a lot cheaper and in my case still came
in a New Holland bag FWIW.
 
X2 to Farmallboy. Similarly, I replaced the pickup head main bearing and the twine bar (cam track followers) bearings in my NH baler a few years ago. Can now turn
the pickup with my little finger.
 
There is a notch in the end of the cam follower bearings. The notch is for a very big straight screw driver. Hold the bearing with the
screw driver while you tighten the nut. If you try to hold the bearing by the inside nut you will break the pinned part and the bearing
will fail very soon. Also check the cam itself. It is very hard to see, but if the bearings have been bad for a long time it may be very
worn or broken. I learned both of these things the hard way.
 
(quoted from post at 08:23:10 09/22/21) There is a notch in the end of the cam follower bearings. The notch is for a very big straight screw driver. Hold the bearing with the
screw driver while you tighten the nut. If you try to hold the bearing by the inside nut you will break the pinned part and the bearing
will fail very soon. Also check the cam itself. It is very hard to see, but if the bearings have been bad for a long time it may be very
worn or broken. I learned both of these things the hard way.

Thank you, and others for a few tips.

I talked with my brother, who rebuilt our old NH273 pickup many years ago... who also confirms that... it's a bear of a job.
 
(quoted from post at 02:55:41 09/25/21)

OK if I call your daughter for help next time I need to replace a U-joint?

Sure.

All three of our girls are farm girls. They took their driver's test with a standard shift car and will dig in and help fix things as much as they can. They aren't fond of using the torch, though... they usually let the old man do that. :)
 

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