14T baler

[Anonymous-0]

One knotter is not making a complete tie. The back twine (over the bale) has the knot but is not using the front twine to make it complete.

 

[TimS in Mo]

Check that the tucker fingers are holding the twine close enough that the billhook can grab it when its rotating to tie the knot....
Check that the needles are bringing the twine up and laying them at the right location on the knotters
Check that you have proper twine tension to both knotters
Check that twine from the right twine box is feeding the right knotter and twine from the left twine box is feeding the left knotter....

I don't have my 14 T manual any more, getting a manual will help you a lot, it has pictures of all sorts of knot failures and the recomended fixes.

You can get a manual from JD.

 

[wardpop]

Thanks

 

[Hey Seed]

Further to TimS' suggestions, the manual mentions the hay dogs not entering the bale chamber rite - check for a broken spring. HTH.

 

[Dave H (MI)]

My 224T baler is a mile away in the middle of a field right now, so forgive the cryptic reply, but there is/should be a spring attached to the frame behind the knotters which (memory failing) positions the tucker fingers. They rust and vanish without notice and next thing you know the bale is only tied on one side. Knot trails over top of bale but is not tied if memory serves. Might be an easy fix.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Please forgive my ignorance. I'm kind of new to this whole hay-baling thing. I have an old 14t baler but don't have a manual for it.

I didn't know it mattered which side the twine came from to each needle. Mine started missing ties one one side every once in awhile. It started doing this right after the new twine was put in. I'll check that!

I have another 14t question.
I'd like to set it to make miniature straw bales, maybe 24 inches long. How do I go about making that setting?

 

[Dave H (MI)]

I have never tried to make a bale that short but there is a measuring wheel and a trip arm on the bale chute that adjusts bales. Go to JD dealer and get a manual. You need to have one to do this properly and safely.

 

[John S-B]

What size twine are you using? I use a 214t and a 24t and I use 7200 sisal twine in both. A few times I have had problems with new bales of twine, it seems the curly twine at the beginning of the new bales is the culprit. Once I've used the first hundred feet I have no problems, but this is only on occaision that this happens.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I ventured out into the dark, with tape measure in hand. The ones I just baled up in the last few weeks measure 36 inches long. Common sense is telling me not to mess with any settings, but after seeing some small hay bales it kicked out while messing with the knotter, my wife decided she wants mini straw bales for decoration. I have a barn loft full of broken straw bales that can be easily re-baled.

I think that moving the spikes inward on the measuring wheel may shorten the bale a little bit and should be relatively risk free. It will reduce the diameter of the measuring wheel by 1 inch. If the math in my head is any good, I believe it'll produce 30" bales. I will try it on my straw to see what I get.

BY THE WAY...My twine IS crossed. Left twine going to the right knotter and vise versa. I'm going to switch that around when I start with the straw and see if that eliminates the missed knots.

 

[Dave H (MI)]

I have no idea what the issue is with twine crossing. We have a 224T which I thought was pretty similar to the 14 series and there is one bale box. Once the twine makes it out of the hole in the box we grab whichever one is handy and thread it without regard to which side of the box it came from. Never heard of crossed twine. Does your baler have two twine boxes?

 

[Anonymous-0]

I only checked the twine because of the TimS post above. I had been having occasional missed knots, just like the person that started this thread.

My neighbor had borrowed my baler, and he put new twine in it. It was working well before that. All of the knotter problems started then. He gave up on it and got another neighbor to bale his field. I then used my own baler to do my grass hay, and I had maybe one in 7 bales fail to tie.

Today I switched the twine around and I'll see if that reduces the missed knots.

I DID try to re-adjust the stars on the measuring wheel. I've popped out 3 or 4 straw bales and by golly, they still appear to be exactly 36 inches. There's got to be another adjustment. I'm going to get a manual before proceeding...

 

[Dave H (MI)]

Good plan. I'm too lazy to go up and get the manual but I am pretty sure the adjustment is on the trip arm....just can't remember for sure. Good luck with it!