JD Square Baler Issues

Mentioned this in my 3 day hay thread, but wanted to post a thread of it's own here...

 

Made a few square bales the past few days to run-in our equipment before the mother load goes down - IF the rain ever stops....

 

From time to time the knotters would not cycle. The star wheel would rotate, move the trip arm such that the knotters would normally cycle, but the trip dog wouldn't always spring/rotate forward and initiate cycling of the knotters. It would stick at it's home position after the trip arm moved out of the way. Makes me wonder if there is some rust on the shaft the trip dog rotates on causing it to bind. Once "tapped" out of position, it moves freely. Checked the spring that moves it - it's OK and verified by looking at two other 348 balers. Anyone had the trip dog on a JD baler stick causing the knotters not to cycle? What was the fix? 

 

2nd problem was the pan kicker. When it worked, it worked great. I believe the pump or actuator valve might be going south. There are no air leaks. There is a noise at the hydraulic reservoir, heat and given it is an open center system, I'm thinking there is a restriction - maybe at the kicker valve. The trip mechanism that actuates the kicker becomes more stiff (for the lack of a better word) as the system heats-up and the force to actuate it became to great for the bale pushing against to actuate. After some manual tripping, it essentially seized causing us to drop the last 15ish bales on the ground. Later after everything cooled, the kicker would cycle again. Most frustrating. Any suggestions? 

 

Thanks!

Bill

JD Square Baler Issues