Update to "Guess what I was trying to do "..........Fire

[Fred Werring]

This was the mowed hay that got an inch of rain dumped on it Thursday night.
After tedding yesterday (Sat), the hay was thin enough it dried out quick, was gonna do to bale.

I started to rake, neighbor volunteered to rake, trying to beat the rain that was due to roll in around 7.

His 6 year old son was riding with me baling, I'm looking back, said 'hey, that looks more like smoke than dust', then saw the flames.
Pulled out of the windrow while ejecting the bale, got in the clear, got out and told Axel to get away.
Luckily it wasn't a big fire, my 2 gallon garden sprayer and I put it out.

It was a bearing, of course. And when I had checked them with the infrared/laser thermometer after the last I baled this spring,
it did not show hot.

Oh well. Axel thought it was exciting.
He rode back with me, and told me the heifers looked hungry, so they got extra feed.
Axel really enjoys my tractors and cows, can you tell?

And we got another 1/2" rain on that hay last night. Think it's done, time to head out with the tedder and just scatter it out.

 

[Texasmark]

This was the mowed hay that got an inch of rain dumped on it Thursday night.
After tedding yesterday (Sat), the hay was thin enough it dried out quick, was gonna do to bale.

I started to rake, neighbor volunteered to rake, trying to beat the rain that was due to roll in around 7.

His 6 year old son was riding with me baling, I'm looking back, said 'hey, that looks more like smoke than dust', then saw the flames.
Pulled out of the windrow while ejecting the bale, got in the clear, got out and told Axel to get away.
Luckily it wasn't a big fire, my 2 gallon garden sprayer and I put it out.

It was a bearing, of course. And when I had checked them with the infrared/laser thermometer after the last I baled this spring,
it did not show hot.

Oh well. Axel thought it was exciting.
He rode back with me, and told me the heifers looked hungry, so they got extra feed.
Axel really enjoys my tractors and cows, can you tell?

And we got another 1/2" rain on that hay last night. Think it's done, time to head out with the tedder and just scatter it out.

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Over the years I had one round baler fire. I responded on here about it and the fact that it too was caused by a bearing failure. I keep my baler in a shed, keep the chains oiled, and check the bearings. I do not wash it.

 

[Roger in Iowa]

Have you been high pressure washing the Baler?
Blowing off with air is better on bearings.

 

[MARK ROBKE]

My neighbor called me one evening recently, and, asked if I could finish rolling his hay. His baler caught fire-a main drive bearing went out- and luckily, he got the fire out. And also luckily, got the parts in a day after they told him, it was hard to find part. Mark.

 

[Fred Werring]

Have you been high pressure washing the Baler?
Blowing off with air is better on bearings.

No pressure washer, just leaf blower.
They are 40ish year old bearings...

 

[Fred Werring]

Over the years I had one round baler fire. I responded on here about it and the fact that it too was caused by a bearing failure. I keep my baler in a shed, keep the chains oiled, and check the bearings. I do not wash it.

Same

Except I did leave the baler outside last night just in case

EDIT: Actually, I tend to leave the baler parked outside every night when I get done baling for the day. Just in case. Seems like a good policy.

 

[urbancase]

That’s a bummer, I had one start years ago on top bearing saw the smoke start from cab. Ejected bale and pulled off never a flame cooled bearing with water. Pulled home and hooked square baler out and finished. Good luck as in my case rain kept me from getting anything done on time this year.

 

[old]

This was the mowed hay that got an inch of rain dumped on it Thursday night.
After tedding yesterday (Sat), the hay was thin enough it dried out quick, was gonna do to bale.

I started to rake, neighbor volunteered to rake, trying to beat the rain that was due to roll in around 7.

His 6 year old son was riding with me baling, I'm looking back, said 'hey, that looks more like smoke than dust', then saw the flames.
Pulled out of the windrow while ejecting the bale, got in the clear, got out and told Axel to get away.
Luckily it wasn't a big fire, my 2 gallon garden sprayer and I put it out.

It was a bearing, of course. And when I had checked them with the infrared/laser thermometer after the last I baled this spring,
it did not show hot.

Oh well. Axel thought it was exciting.
He rode back with me, and told me the heifers looked hungry, so they got extra feed.
Axel really enjoys my tractors and cows, can you tell?

And we got another 1/2" rain on that hay last night. Think it's done, time to head out with the tedder and just scatter it out.

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That right there is why I have yet to even think about doing my hay. Been way to dry and doing the hay is a fire waiting to happen

 

[Texasmark]

My neighbor called me one evening recently, and, asked if I could finish rolling his hay. His baler caught fire-a main drive bearing went out- and luckily, he got the fire out. And also luckily, got the parts in a day after they told him, it was hard to find part. Mark.

I had 2 roller bearings go out over the years on my 1991 JD 375 that rolls a 5x4 bale. I'm glad they weren't connected to anything other than mounting positions. Don't know how I would handle a roller bearing failure on a main bearing....I work alone and hauling it to a repair facility is totally out of the question.

 

[Fred Werring]

That right there is why I have yet to even think about doing my hay. Been way to dry and doing the hay is a fire waiting to happen

Yeah, I was pushing to bale before the rain, so the hay wasn't that dry. Could've been a lot worse

 

[old]

Yeah, I was pushing to bale before the rain, so the hay wasn't that dry. Could've been a lot worse

In my area right now if a fire got started good chance it would burn many acres of land before they could stop it. Last fire I heard of burned 10 plus acres before they got it under control

 

[37chief]

Fires scare me. Is it possible the bearings that failed, were they sealed bearings? I was using my chipper, the chaff built around the muffler, which real close to the ground. The ford V8 was running wide open, the muffler must have been red hot. I just about lost a tire before I got the fire out. Stan

 

[casecollectorsc]

Several years ago a neighbor quit baling for the night and put the 1206 and baler in the machine shed. Bearing out on the baler he did not know about burnt the 1206 and baler and machine shed.

 

[paul]

Combine had a mat of stuff under the engine smoldering one rare very very dry air fall. That was scary, out in the field I had nothing really to work on it, I feared poking with a stick/ bar would flare it up faster than I could poke it out. Drove it home across the field to the shed with the hose hanging by it. Wife saw me racing past the house with a smoke trail, she was handing me the hose as I came down from the cab and back up to the engine bay. All ended well.

Many years ago I had smoke smell follow me through the field combining. Talked myself into just someone burning leaves in the neighborhood, couldn’t find anything. 2 rounds later a light breeze came up and could see the smoke trail. Main cross shaft inside the combine was rubbing on chaff, smoldering. No access, 1 inch crevasse to poke through to get to it. Got it all pulled out, took a long time. Wasn’t much charred just friction on the shaft.

Worst was when a neighbor was burning a brush pile upwind of me. Smelled smoke but - well the neighbor, can’t be mine, circled the combine a lot, couldn’t find snything, asked the wife said yea she smelled the neighbor burning brush all afternoon too.

Parked the combine for the evening. Had a heavy dew over night. Came to the combine 10:00 am, and smoke was curling up past the cab. Was a live coal smoldering by the hydro drive motor, pile of chaff that had gathered there and fused itself into a briquette of coal. Drove the combine up to the water hose and flushed it out, took a lot of water it was a big mass, hard lump. I have no idea how I didn’t lose the combine over night on that one.

Had a straw bale burn up round baling, used a crowbar to beat out the bit of straw in the corner after ejecting the bale and driving away.

Scary stuff.

Paul

 

[Texasmark]

Fires scare me. Is it possible the bearings that failed, were they sealed bearings? I was using my chipper, the chaff built around the muffler, which real close to the ground. The ford V8 was running wide open, the muffler must have been red hot. I just about lost a tire before I got the fire out. Stan

Yes. Those baler bearings are sealed and some have several thicknesses of rubber to seal the grease in and water out.

 

[Fred Werring]

Fires scare me. Is it possible the bearings that failed, were they sealed bearings? I was using my chipper, the chaff built around the muffler, which real close to the ground. The ford V8 was running wide open, the muffler must have been red hot. I just about lost a tire before I got the fire out. Stan

Yes, they're sealed bearings.

This is a NH 855 chain baler, one of the last NH made. It's got 14 or so of those bearings on the idlers.
I replaced 1 5-6 years ago. Wrestling that chain is no fun. Really thinking I should pull it in the shop this winter, and just go ahead and replace all the idler bearings. Probably easier to pull the chains if I do them all. About $50 each for Timkens.

 

[old]

Yes, they're sealed bearings.

This is a NH 855 chain baler, one of the last NH made. It's got 14 or so of those bearings on the idlers.
I replaced 1 5-6 years ago. Wrestling that chain is no fun. Really thinking I should pull it in the shop this winter, and just go ahead and replace all the idler bearings. Probably easier to pull the chains if I do them all. About $50 each for Timkens.

I had to replace the top bearing on my NH850s a number of years ago and I used a chain hoist and the loader on my Ford 841S made it pretty easy to do

 

[SweetFeet]

This was the mowed hay that got an inch of rain dumped on it Thursday night.
After tedding yesterday (Sat), the hay was thin enough it dried out quick, was gonna do to bale.

I started to rake, neighbor volunteered to rake, trying to beat the rain that was due to roll in around 7.

His 6 year old son was riding with me baling, I'm looking back, said 'hey, that looks more like smoke than dust', then saw the flames.
Pulled out of the windrow while ejecting the bale, got in the clear, got out and told Axel to get away.
Luckily it wasn't a big fire, my 2 gallon garden sprayer and I put it out.

It was a bearing, of course. And when I had checked them with the infrared/laser thermometer after the last I baled this spring,
it did not show hot.

Oh well. Axel thought it was exciting.
He rode back with me, and told me the heifers looked hungry, so they got extra feed.
Axel really enjoys my tractors and cows, can you tell?

And we got another 1/2" rain on that hay last night. Think it's done, time to head out with the tedder and just scatter it out.

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Glad you safely got the fire out... bummer on the hay lost to rain.

That is the quintessential pic of a little country boy. Great photo!

 

[Texasmark]

Yes, they're sealed bearings.

This is a NH 855 chain baler, one of the last NH made. It's got 14 or so of those bearings on the idlers.
I replaced 1 5-6 years ago. Wrestling that chain is no fun. Really thinking I should pull it in the shop this winter, and just go ahead and replace all the idler bearings. Probably easier to pull the chains if I do them all. About $50 each for Timkens.

I replaced with Seiko....the watch company makes bearings too......premium quality at a very attractive price.

 

[Bruce from Can.]

And that’s why I keep insurance on the baler and the tractor that runs the baler. I figure if the baler takes fire I would probably just pull the draw pin and drive away. Several guys I know have had balers catch fire. And try to put the fire out but couldn’t. And by that point the ground underneath the baler was on fire and it had gotten so hot that they couldn’t unhook the tractor and watched the whole thing go up in smoke