S69 baler question

[neal in PA]

Hi, My old baler actually works suprisingly well for as old as it is. I'm trying to fine tune it. The bales sometimes are ragged at one end and I was checking the knife clearance and realize that the baler must have gotten run into from behind at some point in its life. It appears that the hitch for the wagon took the shot and it actually bent the main frame on the bottom rail where it attaches. Its not somethng that you actually notice right away until you really start looking at it. The top part of the rail appears OK.Back where the stationary knife attaches,the bottom claearance appears to be perfect, while at the top it is way wider,possibly as much as a 1/4 inch. Would there be an issue if I shimmed the top of the stationary knife? What is the proper clearance? Thanks Neal

 

[GregC]

Shouldn"t be a problem, but be sure to cycle it by hand a few times to be sure. If I remember right, the manual say 1/16" clearence.

 

[Flurette Farm]

Neal, I'm not sure that the blow to the hitch is the cause of the problem. More than likely the baler was backed into something to cause the problem with the hitch.
The clearance problem is probably caused by wear. This may have also been promoted by frame distortion. You really need to read a manual to address this problem and the adjustments. Can you shim the knife out? Yes, but there are precautions that you keed to take that are discribed in the manual.
The problem is more likely caused by wear of the outside supports of the plunger. This pretty much needs to corrected before the knives are shimmed to the correct gap. I suspect the gap on your baler should be 15-55 thousands top to bottom.
Good luck....

 

[RodinNS]

IF the chamber is truly twisted I don't think there's much you're going to do to fix it, honestly...
You could look at the plunger adjustments first and if those are correct, then look at the stationary knife clearance. Personally I can't see how you're going to shim that out without having a tapered shim to go behind the knife. The knife needs to be fully supported and if you want to cant the knife you either need to add spacers at the top (which will leave the main body unsupported) or make a tapered shim. That will not be easy to do...
I'm almost inclined to suggest you leave well enough alone if it's working half decent and keep your eye open for another baler.

If you do go messing with this one make sure that you run the baler through several cycles BY HAND first to insure it's running free. Mabey try working the plunger sideways with a bar to check the knife clearance... then run the baler at idle... then run it up to speed... then run it with light crop.
I just don't quite trust that everything is going to run true for any length of time if it truly has a twist.

Rod

 

[Anonymous-0]

Check that the lefthand side rail isn't worn.The bottom of the plunger should be even spaced all the way across the bottom of the chamber.