Hay elevator chain problems

[Eboor1995]

Hi I have an older New Holland 132 bale elevator. When
you put a bale on it the chain catches in the tin work by
the sprocket then pops back out. Do you have any idea
what would cause that? Could it be the chain is too
loose? I have the chain tightened all the way up with the
adjustment bolts but still seems loose. I have attached a
short video its hard to tell but it catches towards the end
of the video. Thanks
Untitled URL Link

 

[Ray(MO)]

Looks like it needs to be bent down a little and maybe widened.

 

[Timmycornpicker]

Loosen the tensioner, take a link out, retension.

 

[flying belgian]

Looks like its just that one link catching. Take a look at the bottom of that link. Could be a little tighter but its not bad. Like timmy said if you want it tighter take a link out.

 

[Loosehandle]

Ive welded in some small pieces of metal in my elevator to bridge the gap between the sprocket and chain trough. It would get caught and stop entirely.

 

[paul]

Ultimately your chain is too loose.

Its possible something else is loose - framework cracked, the tightening bracket is loose, something that allows the elevator to compress itself as it gets bales on it.

My elevator I can only put 5 heavy bales on it and it starts doing that.

Take a link out so you can tighten it up more.

The tin trough can probably be manipulated to catch and guide the chain more smoothly.

But still, it comes down to the chain and the frame stretching and compressing to make the chain loose under load. You need the chain a little tighter.

Paul

 

[rrlund]

I have or have had, something here that has guides on it that are an H pattern that goes either side of the sprocket and guides the chain to the sheet metal. It's cast if I remember right, but looks like strap iron.

 

[Leroy]

Chain is way loose and also running too fast acording to video.

 

[Timmycornpicker]

That's the speed they run at, Leroy. I have the same model.

 

[Leroy]

Faster than the TSC we had.

 

[wore out]

As a chain wears the distance between it's ''pivot points'' increases and it will try to follow the tips of the sprockets around, has your chain seen a lot of use?

Even without a lot of use, when the elevator sits outside unused the links will rust, which eats up a layer of metal, when it is again used the rust quickly wears away and when it again sits unused the cycle repeats until after decades of the cycle repeating the links are ''longer'' than they once were and will ''catch'' and try to follow the sprocket tooth tips around.

 

[Leroy]

It could be speed of video but it seems to be running so fast I don't see how you can even lay a bale on it without ripping bale up.

 

[Timmycornpicker]

The one I have was originally intended to hang from the rafters in the mow to have another elevator through the door drop bales onto it. I do successfully use it like this one though without tearing the bales up.

 

[Northvale PA]

I have a NH elevator. The links wear away the steel, as they come off the sprocket and jump up onto the guide track. So they start hanging up. I made a small ramp out of a piece of brass bar, drilled and screwed it into place. I will take a photo and post it tomorrow. Use brass as it wont wear away. I tried a piece of sheet metal first, didnt last.

 

[Eboor1995]

Thank you for everyone s help! I think I will try taking a link out of the chain and tightening and also add some sort of a guide.

 

[showcrop]

What I want to know is why are you walking back and forth to the elevator with bales? The bottom of the elevator is supposed to be either on a rugged wooden support or sitting right up on the front or middle of the wagon.

 

[Northvale PA]

Not easy to see but here goes: the chain link loops were wearing through the steel at the leading edge of the track and hanging up. I made a ramp from quarter inch brass and screwed it into place. I used a grinder to shape the recessed ramp and round all edges. It allows the links to come up off the sprocket then drop back down into the track more smoothly. The screws come up thru the 1 inch angle underneath into the brass and get ground off flush. Dont use the grinder near the barn!!!

 

[dhermesc]

Fast? I actually thought it was running kind of slow compared to the Snowco hay elevator we had growing up.

I have a similar brand as the video and I put a 3450 RPM motor on it because it just seemed to crawl with the 1725 RPM motor.

If you are humping it you can get 2 bales on the elevator at a time - the 1740 motor would have 3-4 bales on the elevator all the time really making it work.

I just bought a 30' John Deere hay elevator that has the conveyor for moving it and setting the height outside the barn. It has a cheap Predator engine on it - 2500 RPM makes it run about right.

 

[Leroy]

We had the 1725 on ours and would have several bales on it at one time but it was slow enough if you did not get bale on exactly correct spot first time you had a chance to reposition the bale and get it up the elevator and gave the person in mow time to get it off before the chain tore up the bale. Slower moving but more bales on elevator gave the operators better chances of correctly handling the bale but you still got as many in the mow as faster speeds.

 

[Jim.ME]

Another thing to look at. If the sprocket has a ''hook'' worn into the teeth where the tooth pulls on the link, the hook can hold the chain link and pull it down before releasing it to the tray. If the teeth are hooked, grind the top of the hook off so the tooth has a smooth profile for better release of the chain links.