Hi , made 1025 bales last month. Went out today and couldn't make one. Spent seven hours playing with my 575 . The blue poly twine was bunching up on the bale hook .Then it rained for 30 minutes. Watched your video at ten pm. It was very informative. Wish it was brighter. Instead of burning my baler , I am looking forward to fixing it tomorrow. Thanks. Bob,Ava,NY.
I saw you on the Weather Channel on the flood. Farmers always help others. Living on the Texas-Louisiana border, in the heart of hurricane country, I have seen it many times. Thanks for being a considerate person.
Credit where credit is due. Used your adjustment technique this year and worked like a charm. Used the ball-peen fine adjustment hammer. Saved me a lot of headache. Thanks!
Thank you for demonstrating how to adjust the wiper arm with a hammer. I have a John Deere 327 baler that was not tying consistently, I tried all adjustments the manual suggests to fix the issue without solving the problem. Thanks again for helping me through a frustrating situation, before I was getting about half of my bales not tied, last night I baled all evening without a miss!
Thanks for saving me AGAIN. I rebuilt my knitter based on a earlier video and adjusted it based on this one. We don’t make as many bales as you do, so not as familiar with all of this. However, a little refresher REALLY helps! THANK YOU!!
We had an old Case baler. We would put up between 2500 & 5000 bales per year, mostly 2nd & 3rd crop of hay. The only time we had knots not being tied was when the hay or straw was too damp. We had years which I can't remember missing any knots. But like you pointed out in the last video, we always started out with the tighteners looser and tighten as the old stuff came out and things got going. Of course we piled all the hay on wagons and then up in the barn. Great videos Wes! Keep it going.....
I remember back in the 50s when on the farm the case bailer was changed from wire tie to twine. Took me as a kid(I was 12) quite a while to understand the system/knot tier. When working its great. When malfunctioning it can be vexing. Great video on the fine points of getting the system to produce a nicely tied bail.
That's more information in one video than I've ever been taught by experts. Thanks Wes it might just reduce the stress of baling when the weather is on the turn
Great video again Wes. Small square-balers becomes a nostalgia for me. I grew-up baling hay with those in the 1970s-1980s. In the 70s, there must have been some 300 small-square-balers just in our town (compared to now at maybe a hand-full and one big-square balers) :-( Hay-season was a very very busy time for one of our best mechanics in town (Reginal Gagnon witch is now close to 90yrs old and sadly with a bit of "tourette" syndrome) His boss was a Massey-Ferguson dealer. But Reginal could fix, and teach anyone how to fix, any Massey, New-Holland, Ford (it was new-holland anyway) and IH. So many good memories ;)
Excellent video and explanation of the knotter and adjustments. My dad has a John Deere model 24 and we have knot issues up to about the first 50 bails, yes I've noticed wear and play in areas you've pointed out. I can't help but to believe the JD and New Holland knotted are similar, they sure look it. I'm the wagon hand and I see the needle brake disk is rusty when we start and as the disk starts polishing off the problems with missed knots diminish, glad you tossed that last bit in at the end. Settles my mind on that issue. Thanks for sharing Wes. Congratulations to you and Theresa on the birth of your son, William Edward. Take care, God bless!
your Krone balers look like the best ever. I enjoy your videos. I am a retired dairy farmer from Wisconsin. SO I understand what you are doing and enjoy watching. The last baler we had was a New Holland 565 and it was great for a small bale baler. Take care be safe. George
Great vid thanks Wes, when I was a lad 40 odd years ago we used to holiday with my mums folks in Gatton Queensland, they are small crop farmers and grew a lot of lucern, spent hours chasing the bailer around, also learnt long sleeves and jeans where the apropriate clothing. We lifted every bail by hand from ground to trailer and then either stacked in a shed or straight on to rail wagons. Cheers mate.
I find it amazing that such complicated machinery can even be conceived, designed and built. Wes you are an intelligent individual to be able to make repairs and maintain all these machines. Thanks for the video
+Nichols Hay Farm "... basic knotter concept ... hasn't changed ..." That amazed me as much as anything ... it's been almost 50 years since I stood on a hayrack behind a baler, and the knotter and the terminology are still the same today.
Yep! I was told that New-Holland first mass-produce that concept. But that doesn't tell me where they got from (must have been from a sticher rather than from a farmer or engineer LOL) But Ford and Heston used the New-Holland knotters. MF and IH made their own version-copy of it. As for JD, well, they trade-mark everything LOL ;)
Thanks Wes just broke about 30 bales in a row and found a broken spring going to the twine fingers from the knotters. ... hope that fixes it about lost my religion. ........thanks for great videos
Thanks wes , you just helped me fix my small baler , I was dropping a knott every 12 to 25 bales and when I bought the machine from the dealer 5 weeks ago it had a broken needle that was just replaced . I had a look I have 2 broken hay dog springs not tthat I know any thing much about balers but I bought it crop ready and paid extra for that so I could go straight to work I have been living on borrowed time since the day I got it Thanks
thankyou mr pandy you do a wonderful job posting videos and allowing us into your life last worked with small balers in about 1981 brought back memories of some of the problems we used to get. realy love your vids, first discovered you in 2013 when i was having chemo thanks it took my mind off things, i work on a large ish arable farm in linconshire england and do quite a lot of repairs and find you very intreging,and also learn things as well and enjoy seeing how you do things across the pond big well done to you and tim
Thank you very much for this video Wes. Answered a lot of my questions and its just hard to believe I caused a lot of the problems by putting to much grease . Gotta tell my old man that I was the reason that we had problems after bailing 300 bales and no problems.
I got an old john deere 325 baler that always gave me all those problems you described. They are all similar. And keep up the good videos got fans even here in South Texas
thanks for this vid, i just ordered new hay dogs. I found 1hay dog worn out and the other broken after you showing what to look for. baler was making u shaped bales and I could not figure why, I would change the windrow density when raking and it would slightly make a difference and change my ground speed and pto speeds and get better bales but still u shape. this was great training and I greatly appreciate you for passing on your experience.
I had this exact problem with my bailer (missing about every 10th one) a few years ago. Parked the bailer then. Now we're out of small bales again and I need to fix it. This video was extremely helpful to me know where to start! Thanks a million!
Very interesting-I now need to check on my knotter. I remember when I was a kid my dad got so mad at the baler that he built a silo and chopped all the hay.
Wes Thank You for the refresher course on knotters I needed it ! LOL Between my 2 Oliver balers and my cousin NH 575 I tend to work on them a lot ! Bandit
knowledge is money in the bank. Also makes life a lot better. Wes you have learned and maintained lots of knowledge over your years. I have pretty well found that you learn something every day in your life.
Hi Mr Pandy, very useful video, I have a much older model 268 NH baler. The knotters have never given me trouble, but on the day they do, (and I'm sure they will one day) its useful to know this information. There is a video of the baler working on my channel. I'm a farmers son, working in the technology field and currently living in Tokyo with my family. Tokyo is a great place, but I'm longing for home (New Zealand). Missing my tractors, baler and other old gear. . Love your videos, keep up the great work.
Two other things that I have run into in running a New Holland 66 baler other than all that Wess mentioned are 1) proper tension on twine and 2) quality of the twine you are using. My baler wont tie worth a darn if the sisal twine I am using is not consistent in diameter. Very informative video Wess.
whoever invented or designed this knotter system is a genius! Thanks for the detailed explanation. I had the knot between 2 balls of twine get caught in the knotter and bend the knife arm. What a headache!
Thanks Wes, helpful video. I greased mine before I went into the field and had problems with the knotters and I wondered if that was the problem as Ive read somewhere that could be a problem. Appreciate knotter lesson.
I always learn from your vids Wes but I learned a new term the other day. When you mentioned 'Cecil' twine I had to Google it. I learned sisal is the proper term and it's basically 'rope' twine or not nylon. Thanks for the new term.
There was entrances and I appreciate it very much all of those tips we do Hay SouthEast Georgia thank you for sharing all of those wonderful tips God bless you
Thanks for the info. I was lucky for years to have a certified JD baler tech and although he moved one state away I have another retired JD baler tech close by. I had a guy give me a JD 14t because it wouldn't work, one needle brake for $15 and I sold it for $600.
Hey Wes vary good video and vary informative up here in Canada the dealership cannot help much with not tieing...I'm lucky haven't had much problems other then first 10 to 20 bales myself but I'm sure this vid will help lots of others out
The only thing i dont like about little bales is worrying about my baler tearing up and not knowing whats wrong, thanks for this video i learned a couple new tips!!
Thank you for this video. I got my hay baled after watching this video in the field on my cell phone, and wacking my knotter. (knife arm was too far from the twine hook)
Greetings once again! Wow - I'd say this is either Product specific OR Country specific...... First impressions were - 'woddaloadawaffle' - but BUT following through, I could see WHY ... . Excellent vid for those who know a little and UNDERSTAND. YOu must have very abrasive working conditions across there, and maybe NH knotters which look like those on our old IH and Deere knotters - we refer to them as Rasspe knotters, are built to a " poorer ? " standard - that you have those broken spring issues.... I have baled many 10's of thousands of bales over the years and never experienced those issues - balers even 20 yr old ( IH B45/46/47/440 ) and the JD 214/224/ 300 Ser. . However , I was very impressed with the way you adjusted the knife arm with the hammer. - and YES that's right enough, using the hammer - just that I'd never scene it done so simply like that EXCELLENT. Thanks for taking the time to post and keeping the Craft alive, Sláinte!
Wes your farm is beautiful. Question. When adjusting the knife arm I was told to bend the arm. its cast iron. when using a hammer mine doesn't move left- right like yours what do I do?
I've got a NH268 baler Rebiult just about everything on it (plunger bearings,feeder carrage,slip clutch, ect..) But have never touched the knotters Thanks for the information incase I ever have to
My NH wore a groove under the twine tensioner where it comes out of the twine box screwed me up for awhile until I found it riveted a metal plate over it to fix it and get tension again
Adjustments on an old JD 14T, those were a pain. But, when working, couldn't beat em. Broke only 1 needle with it, would usually lose the knives before anything else. Sold it, the floor rusted out real bad, to replace, the cost wasn't worth it. Used to make bales 90lbs plus. To be honest, I do miss the little bales, gave you one hell of a work out when loading into a barn.
Hello Wes, Has your 570 been a good baler for you threw the years, I know you have had a long time! I just picked up a 570, retired the 273 but keeping it for back up. Thanks
Thanks Wes I only bale 100 small bales a year for the guy I buy straw from and last year I couldn't tie a bale so I bought him straw and baled it all round, before it got rained on again
Your video has helped alot with a NH S-69 baler. What kind of shims do you use to adjust the slack in the knife arm? Unknown bale count on my baler(Bought Used) but has some play in it and will not strip twine to make knot.
my step dad was good at getting this type of baler going this is all we used when i was growing up. he has been gone for awhile now but alot of other people would ask him to help to fix and time theres . we used to do around 3000 bales a year to feed our cows
should there be hay dogs to all sides of the bale chamber? I have an old baler that I saved from the scrapyard but it only has haydogs to the left and upper side of the chamber.
Great video, notice you did not mention the bill hook rollers and cam rollers which can get flat spots and create knotter problems , which can be a headache also. Learnt alot about the dogs here, Thanks
Thanks for that last little tidbit of info. I have searched RU-vid over and you are the only guy that mentioned it that I could find. Our baler is doing just that and causing the plunger stop to break shear bolts. There is a little pad left so do you have any recommendation on homuch to tighten those brakes? Thanks for any help.
I was having problems with my 283 watch your video did everything you you did in the video still was not working . Sharpened my knife that fixed my problem so if your missing knots also look at your knife . Thanks for the video Wes
I had an issue with an International Baler where one string would always miss a knot, tried all sorts of remedies, still it would miss a knot, then found out that being the bailing chamber was bolted together the bolts had somehow either loosened or the bolt holes elongated and let the chamber come out of square, after setting the baler on jack stands so that the entire bailer was perfectly level on all planes, and making sure the chamber was square, I welded all corners so that they would never get out of square again, after that the baler worked perfectly for me and the person that had bought it when I sold it, If I am not mistaken it was an International 46 baler it has been too long that I don't remember the model of it. The only thing I didn't like about that baler was the fact that it DID NOT like big wind rows, it would strip off one of the teeth on the pinion gear in the gear box.
how much work is it to change out the whole knotter assembly? I have a twine disc that keeps getting twine caught in it and they tell me it is probably worn out. I have another older baler with a pair of good knotters on it and would like to just change the whole assembly out but could get by with swapping out one of them or possibly just swapping out the twine disc itself?
Hey Wes Gerry here you get a chance to show them the knife blade how they wear down with plastic a lot faster than with sisal and how you get Frayed Ends instead of a clean-cut that also can be a issue of the not not getting cut clean enough and slows down the knot tying before the wiper arm wipes at off thanks for the video
4 decades & 6 years ago, when party telephone where still in use, as a teen , for a week or more I rode the back of a bailer with a small ball peen hammer 4 oz , my job was to watch how long the bail was and I think tap what you described as the brake drum till parts came in. One light tap and the knotters would cycle. Not sure don't think UPS was available then either.. Beings I was young & hired hand the 27 points that needed grease was most I was allowed to do. So for 6-8 hours a day, almost 2 weeks every 15 seconds give or take, tap, watched length mostly . Learned just to not scratch, let the chaff pile up as I rode the bailer. After first day wasn't so bad. Kind of memorizing. Left farming shortly after that for sawmill work, should stayed with farming.
MrVailtown if you left farming for sawmill work, that was a mistake. I didn't like farming, may have had something to do with the 22,000 square bales we put up. But sawmill I thought was far worse, it will make you appreciate a board a lot more.
Mt man 1949 it was a bit complicated, owners where my uncle & his brother. The brother had children running the farm. My uncle had no children . My last name wasn't the right one & at the time they couldn't afford full time year around help. If I could of hung on a few more years at summer help, I may of got full time, but dout it. Thought should find full time work & a sawmill was close& steady. It was harder work in some ways, lasted there five years then moved on. That was 5-6 days a week 45-50 hours or more depending on weather & seasons. The mill was old fashioned, once modernization came along I left, management changed & out put was all they wanted, they figured it was more important than "grade" lumber, beings set in my ways , poof I left.
