New holland Baler adjustment

fixerupper · Jul 16, 2014

A friend of my son bought a used New Holland baler that is making banana bales. He was told the knives have to be shimmed properly to get straight bales. Is that right or is there something else to look for? I might be using this baler in a couple of days but I don't know enough about a New Holland to feel confident in finding the problem. I wish I knew the model so I could help you out a little with the diagnosis. In my younger days I spent many hundreds of hours on the rack behind a Deere 14T and 24T but I was just the grunt man on the rack and I wasn't involved with maintenance. Can anybody set me in right direction with this thing? Jim

IaGary · Jul 16, 2014

If the knifes aren't sharp and tight one bale will be attached to the next.

IF NH balers are kept full for the rpm you run the bale will be square.

The hay needs to be pushed all the way across the chamber. A light windrow or driving to slow at high rpms and you get banana bales.

We always tried to pound the bales out of the baler. Not tap them out.

Gary

ertl collector · Jul 16, 2014

Baler man I use to work with at new Holland also
says that the feeder teeth need to be adjusted
properly as well either towards the bale chamber
to put more hay into the right side of the bale or
farther away from the bale chamber to put more hay
in the left side of the bale

Tom in TN · Jul 16, 2014

fixerupper,

I agree with IaGary concerning banana bales. I have a New Holland 273 baler that I put about 2500 bales through each year.

I make substantial windrows and drive at a pace that keeps the pickup full of grass. I try to make symmetrical bales. Since the width of the chamber is 18 inches, I try for 36 inch length bales. I set the tension adjusters so that the twine is tight, but not like a violin string.

Usually, the best bales require about 15 to 20 plunger strokes per bale.

My windrows vary and I don't have hydrostatic drive on my tractor, so I end up baling in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd gear depending on the size of the windrow.

Good luck. Experiment a little bit. You'll find the "sweet spot".

Tom in TN

Tom in TN · Jul 16, 2014

fixerupper,

One last thing, my Ford 2000's engine RPMs are supposed to be around 1800 RPM to get the PTO at 540 RPM.

Keep your tractor's engine speed up and adjust your ground speed to match the windrow.

Tom in TN

showcrop · Jul 16, 2014

Any baler of any model will make banana bales if the cross feeder forks are out of adjustment. They just need to be adjusted to push more hay to the short side.

cshess · Jul 16, 2014

Check forks for placement. I bet they have moved to
far to right an are not pushing hay far enough to
left side of chamber. Might even have one
missing.You will see where they were by unpainted
area on bar.

Dick L · Jul 16, 2014

I bale with a NH 277 baler. I don't drive fast. I don't have large windrows some times almost no windrow and I make square bales. Look at the hay dogs bottom and top. If they are rusted fast they can cause a banana bale. What also can cause banana bales is if the restrictor baffles at the end of the bale chamber are gone or rusted so bad the one side does not restrict the hay on one side as much as it does on the other. With a piece of angle iron, a band saw and a welder I made new baffles.

HEY DOGS
<img src-"http://images60.fotki.com/v370/photos/6/34676/12250911/Valvespringtesting055-vi.jpg">

Restrictor Baffles

This is to show if your balers parts are all there and working correctly how you drive and the size of windrow makes little difference. I never run the big balers and can not speak the how to run one.
short video

big jt · Jul 16, 2014

Jim

If you still need some help ask the guy who chases
me around the straw stack on a Massey in August. I
think you know who I am talking about.

He is pretty knowledgeable on square balers.

jt

fixerupper · Jul 16, 2014

Thanks for the suggestions. You guys are so darned helpful. When he brings the baler I'll check those ideas out. Jim

Tx Jim · Jul 17, 2014

(quoted from post at 21:45:47 07/16/14) I bale with a NH 277 baler. I don't drive fast. I don't have large windrows some times almost no windrow and I make square bales. Look at the hay dogs bottom and top. If they are rusted fast they can cause a banana bale.
HEY DOGS

IMHO hay dogs hold hay so twine or wire won't be pulled out of knotters during tying process but don't have anything to do with bale shape. Windrow size,ground speed & feeder finger adjustment affect bale shape.

Dick L · Jul 17, 2014

I didn't have a twine or knotter problem when my hay dogs had broken springs and were rusted fast as in my pictures. I did have tapered ends top to bottom. A coupla years ago I started to get banana bales and pulled the hay out of the chamber and found the baffles rusted bad and one side gone except for the bolts on one side. A half day later I had made new baffles and was getting square bales. If you watched the hay dogs as hay is fed back into the chamber you can see the hay follow the plunger back with it when the dogs are hung up in the up position. When the freeze fast down you don't notice it as much. The bottoms will freeze down and give a tapered end top to bottom.

jhilyer · Jul 17, 2014

Yes he is right! I had an old NH Super 68 making banana bales and sharpening & shimming the stationary knife was the ONLY THING THAT CORRECTED THE PROBLEM!

I had adjusted everything else - bale tensioners, feeder fork placement, had all the hay dogs - these are good things to check, but the only thing that fixed it for me was fixing the knives!

I assume what was happening was that the hay was not 'cutting off', and therefore loading up on that side.

keh · Jul 17, 2014

I had a 67 NH baler that made banana bales in small windrows. Raked bigger windrows and the problem mostly went away.

KEH

Lazy WP · Jul 17, 2014

Amazes me how many of you guys that have baled
with little square balers forever, think that the
size and speed of a windrow is the only way to
correct a bale shape.
I am a rookie when it comes to the square baler.
Probably only done 6000 in my life. I have a 271
that I drug out of the fence row. Wouldn't make a
decant bale, to start out with, for anything. Dug
the book out, and replace all the hay dog springs,
adjusted the hay fingers, and other then when my
drag accumulator piles up a bale, I have about as
perfect of bale as I have ever seen.
I bale with a 830 Case, Case-o-Matic, so I do have
1 "gear" I can jump or drop. My windrows vary from
MASSIVE, to not being able to see them.
Big windrows just mask the problem with your
baler.

RayP(MI) · Jul 17, 2014

I changed mowers last season. Now running a 7 foot
DRUM mower. This allows me to rake two swaths into
one windrow. Slowed baler ground speed due to
greater windrow size, but still keep speed up to
keep baler chamber a little fuller. Banana bales
don't seem to be a problem anymore. So fuller
windrows and fuller feeding chamber seem to have
worked for me.

fixerupper · Jul 17, 2014

Back when I worked behind the Deere balers windrow size had no affect on the shape or density of the bale. Sometimes when a big slug went through we'd get a longer bale though. These balers were owned by a farmer who was very picky about his machinery and kept everything in top shape. I never saw rust on or in his balers anywhere. The balers never saw rain except for the few times when we were caught out in the rain baling. Anyway, when he brings I the NH over I'll check out your suggested remedies. First to be baled will be some oat hay that matured too much before the weather dried out enough to cut so it will be like baling straw. The only time those Deere balers had tying problems was in slick straw. I don't know how a New Holland acts in straw. Guess I'll find out. Jim

JT I know who you are talking about. Good baler man. Jim

GordoSD · Jul 19, 2014

With a 275 you adjust the size of the bale chamber from the back of the baler.

New holland Baler adjustment

fixerupper

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IaGary

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ertl collector

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Tom in TN

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Tom in TN

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showcrop

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cshess

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Dick L

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big jt

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fixerupper

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Tx Jim

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Dick L

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jhilyer

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keh

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Lazy WP

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RayP(MI)

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fixerupper

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