Help! Needles for 224T Baler (long)

The long short story is this baler was left to rot under some trees. It was in pretty rough shape, but it has the 30 kicker on it and I was determined to get it working. Paid more than I should have at $500 but the old man insisted they used it 2 years ago (2 meaning 12 probably). A lot of parts, fabrication and 3 months later I baled my first 5 acres. I used the owner"s manual and went over every part to be sure it was in spec.

I had only 6 rows left when the needles broke and I"m almost certain the plungerhead didn"t hit them as I checked the timing again and the head stop and they were fine. The hay wasn"t too tough either.

I believe the problem was in the needle to knotter clearance. Turning by hand the needles did bind slightly at one point in the knotters. Clearances seemed fine so I let it go. One of the needles showed a fracture on the top side just down from the breaking point, I believe this shows that the needles broke forward rather than rearward by the plunger. The plunger would have just broke them clean off too and there would be no other fracture line. After so many cycles they couldn"t take the binding and they broke. Also, walking the field I only found one piece, so I think one need failed before the other as they weren"t together. I also noticed some major rub markes on them.

The baler did work very well. I borrowed my friends much larger late model NH to finish and I could only go 1 gear faster with that. With the 224 I"m running a 4010 in 2nd gear baling doubled up rolls.

Also, I"m looking for an electric thrower adjuster since the manual setup is in poor shape.

Thanks in advance for any leads!

Let me know if you are interested, make hay while the sun shines!

bent

Can you check what the number is on the 214T's needle?

Thank you.

I think you have your right and left backwards. The baler's pickup is on the right side. Move hitch towards pickup for transport. For baling move hitch all the way left and pto will be straight.