Tied Up in No Knots

READER: I have a 4570 Hesston inline small square baler that I have had for several years. It has been a wonderful baler, and I thought I knew all about it. I needed to replace the left side knotter because the knotter pinion jumped time and cracked the casting. It was my fault for not taking care of the slack between the billhook pinion gear and the big gear that turns it. Of course, I had to remove all the pieces on the left side to remove the knotter assembly. I was careful to make sure that I kept everything stacked in the same order that it came off, and I even marked the knotter drive chain, so it went back in time. Everything went back together as planned, but when I ran the baler through to thread it, the knotter twine disc would not take the twine, and it seems that the needles are out of time with the tying system, and the plunger hits the plunger stop. I can’t seem to find anyone to help me with this problem. All contacts that I have, including my owner’s manual, can’t seem to help me. Everything that I removed looks just like every picture and information that I can find on the 4570 baler. Have you got any ideas?

STEVE: You will bale with your Hesston 4570 this year, but first you need to do one little thing. This is a simple fix, and you will be surprised how quickly you can fix it. You have done what many good techs do, and that is to overlook something simple. I was once told that the best mechanics always overlook the easiest fix. Your problem can show up on other balers, too. What you did wrong is before you attached the outside plate that attaches to the needle lift rod (two cap screws with nuts) to the tying system main shaft (see photo accompanying this article), the tying system was not in home position, and it was 180 degrees off when you attached it. So, with that wrong, when you attached the needle lift rod to the lift plate, that left the tying system out of time with the needles. All you need to do is remove the two cap screws and rotate the plate down (180 degrees) while the tying system is in home position (see arrows on photo accompanying this article), which will put the needles in time with the tying system. I have made several trips to the field for this same problem on other balers like the JD 336 and 346.

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— Email Steve Thompson care of askthemechaniccolumn@gmail.com, and be sure to include your contact information and phone number.

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