Ned to replace broken billhook on 273 baler

[Tom in TN]

I had a catastrophic failure when I was baling grass hay. Long story but where I am now is, the bill hook broke off the knotter. I think it is held in place by a pin through the pinion gear that drives the billhook. Is it possible to drop the billhook out of the frame if I can find the end of the pin that I think I need to remove to get the billhook shaft, they call it a tongue in the parts manual, out of the pinion gear.

What do you think?

Tom in TN

 

[DeltaRed]

You can do that. A punch is needed. And you can rotate the knotter frame up put of the way.

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

Rotate the gear and clean between the teeth till you can see both ends of the pin. Get it to a position where you can drive it with a GOOD drift punch and once the pin is part way out have an assistant hold on to it with pliers till you knock it the rest of the way out. It's a groove pin and if you loose it I don't think a common roll pin would hold up in use. I was careful knowing what could happen and it still popped out and it took a couple of hours to find it.

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

It was 4-5 years ago and was around $115. At least two or three hooks are listed, make sure you get the right one.

 

[lastcowboy32]

(quoted from post at 15:08:30 06/06/23) Rotate the gear and clean between the teeth till you can see both ends of the pin. Get it to a position where you can drive it with a GOOD drift punch and once the pin is part way out have an assistant hold on to it with pliers till you knock it the rest of the way out. It's a groove pin and if you loose it I don't think a common roll pin would hold up in use. I was careful knowing what could happen and it still popped out and it took a couple of hours to find it.

The groove pins are inexpensive. Use this as an excuse to get a few of them to throw in your parts bin. They are used in at least four places on the knotter assembly, twine disc pinion (x2), billhook pinion (x2)... possibly other places.

I've replaced broken ones on my twine disc pinions twice in nine years, and used a couple of new ones to replace old (they can smear a little and become hard to drive out) when I put new twine discs and a new billhook on our knotters.

I'm not the greatest at preventative maintenance... but I try to keep my stock of these pins at no less than two in my "baler run kit"... which is a ten dollar ammo box from TSC filled with.

flywheel shear pins

knotter shear pins

a hook knife and a pic (if I ever need to cut knots off the billhook)

ratcheting box end wrenches...
3/8"
7/16"
1/2"
9/16"

a couple of these groove pins

Back in the shop, I always keep a couple of hay dog springs and a set of belts

What I just described costs less than one load of hay lost to the rain and maybe a little more than the time/gas to drive to the dealership.

 

[Tom in TN]

Thanks to all of you guys that gave me information about replacing that billhook. I got it out of the baler today and ordered a new one from the New Holland dealer. It's supposed to be here on Friday.

The pin came out very easily from the pinion gear. A light tap and it started out. A couple more light taps and it was completely out. I had my wife hold onto the end of the pin with a pair of pliers as it was coming out. It appears to me that the holes in the pinion and in the billhook are very slightly wallowed out. The billhook that I ordered is supposed to have a new pin with it so maybe it will be tighter when I put it in than the old one was that I took out.

In any event, thanks for the help. I made some progress today.

Tom in TN