JD 336 needle not staying in home

Hello,

 

I'm new to the forum, but not new to farming   .  I upgraded my old John Deere 14T baler to a used 336 baler with a kicker.  Overall, I'm very pleased with the baler, as it was rebuilt with many new parts, including knotter, pump, and several other items.  I baled about 300 bales without a single problem, and filled 2 1/2 wagons.  But all of a sudden, the plunger safety stop would set, and sheer my flywheel sheer pin.  WHen I look to see what's going on, I noticed that the needles are not in home position.  

 

I manually pulled the needles up into home and placed a new sheer pin.  Ran about 3 more bales and it did it again.

 

I tested the pull of the break, which states 60 lb's of pull.   I used a digital scale and i'm pulling a little more on the break.

I then lengthened the needle arm a bit to ensure the needles are out of the bale chamber when the stop was retracted.

 

I baled about 25 more bales and thought I fixed it.

 

Nope, it started doing it again and again.

 

I checked the dog spring and the timing.  Everything appears okay, and everything works just fine when I manually trip the knotter.

 

I'm stumped.   Maybe I need more tension on the break to hold the needles in home?   Any John Deere experts out there?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

--Bill

JD 336 needle not staying in home