# Pressuer wash a sq baler or not?



## newfarmer (Aug 26, 2011)

I got my grandads baler out of the barn. It hasnt been ran in 5 years. I was going to wash it. The knotters are caked with old oil and greese. My grandad says I will ruin the baler if I get water on it. Do you guys clean your balers or just blow them off with air? This is a 24T JD


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## hay hauler (Feb 6, 2010)

Little to no water, some cases might be nessicary. Just do it on a hot dry day in the morning so the sun will dry it out before dark, grease it right after you wash it. Other wise jus use air, for one it is faster and cleaner.


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## Hogleg (Dec 20, 2009)

I used a leaf blower to clean out the 68 baler using a dry putty knife to scrape the crud that would not blow away, then used diesel fuel and a large parts cleaning brush (stiff bristles) to clean up the greasy parts. Worked good and no water necessary. Small amounts of rust on the knotters and related will cause you fits.

John


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Just blow it off for the most part. Once a year we do wash all the equipment and wax it, we try to wait for a good dry spell, wash in the mornings then blow everything off with compressed air and leave all the shields and side covers up for the rest of the day so it drys as completely as possible. Never wash it at the end of the season, any water that is trapped in bushings, bearings or other nooks and crannies will cause serious corrosion before it's used again.

If you really want to wash it now, go ahead and do what I suggested, then spray any shiny parts with WD40 or something similar.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

newfarmer said:


> I got my grandads baler out of the barn. It hasnt been ran in 5 years. I was going to wash it. The knotters are caked with old oil and greese. My grandad says I will ruin the baler if I get water on it. Do you guys clean your balers or just blow them off with air? This is a 24T JD


Pressure washing just once to get years of grease crud off will not hurt your 24T. Be cautious to not remove paint. I wash my 24T every year at the end of the haying season. After washing let it sit out all day in the full sun. They really get hot and evaporate water. After it has dried thoroughly, grease every fitting until it weeps grease and that will help disperse any water in the crevices. Wipe off all excess grease so that you will not have crud to build up again. Lastly, get a wd-40 fogger(8oz. can) and cover the entire baler including the bale chamber (do not wipe off). If you use the baler all the rust will come out of the bale chamber and it will shine like new money. From then on if you keep the bale chamber oiled with the wd-40 you will have no problems with initial baling start-up at the start of each hay season. The wd-40 is just enough to keep the bale chamber from rusting in storage over the winter. The 24T is a slow baler but it makes beautiful bales surpassed only by Hesston inlines(M-F) in my opinion. Give her a good cleaning and oiling then see what ol' grandad thinks about it then.









Regards, Mike


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

I pressure wash our balers every fall with hot water. Never has caused a problem. But blow it off first with compressed air.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

mlappin said:


> Just blow it off for the most part. Once a year we do wash all the equipment and wax it, we try to wait for a good dry spell, wash in the mornings then blow everything off with compressed air and leave all the shields and side covers up for the rest of the day so it drys as completely as possible. Never wash it at the end of the season, any water that is trapped in bushings, bearings or other nooks and crannies will cause serious corrosion before it's used again.
> 
> If you really want to wash it now, go ahead and do what I suggested, then spray any shiny parts with WD40 or something similar.


Pretty much same here, except I wash it at the end of the year with a car wash containing wax, wash & wax, let it dry good. I will also apply a spray on was and towel dry it off to get a little extra protection.

I do it at the end of the year--my thinking is that the humidity here (low around 60%) will get drawn into the dust and dirt and cause more corrosion. I left it run for a while to get some heat in the bearings.

Ralph


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Teslan said:


> I pressure wash our balers every fall with hot water. Never has caused a problem. But blow it off first with compressed air.


Depending on your local climate, in our area washing stuff in the fall will cause serious problems. By time we are finished with haying, it's getting wet enough at night and cool enough that those little nooks and crannies never dry out. Also takes a long time to get moisture out of bearings as well.

Something that does help, grease everything and oil all chains _before_ washing, the fresh lube helps to repel water.

In our area I stand by don't wash hay equipment before storing it for the winter and wash combines right before harvest so they have plenty of time to dry out completely. Blow both off with compressed air before parking for the winter. We run two combines for harvest, one is picking beans and I'll start opening opening corn fields up for the hunters with the other, may spend half a day on each with the air wand before storing for the winter.


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## RockmartGA (Jun 29, 2011)

I don't think an occasional pressure washing would cause any problems. As others have mentioned, there are some steps to take to minimize any problems.

1. Fully grease the machine prior to washing to keep water infiltration to a minimum.
2. Blow off the machine to remove any loose dirt, hay, etc.
3. Wash it on a sunny day where you can leave it out to dry completely.
4. After washing, if it is not to going to be used for awhile, coat bare metal surfaces with WD-40 or wax.
5. After washing, need to lube chains and re-grease.

That said, I've never washed my square baler. I blow it off with air, keep it lubed, and at the end of season, I coat bare metal surfaces with wd-40.


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## Will 400m (Aug 1, 2011)

I wash my 565 new holland after every other set of fields mostly because we get some realy muddy patches and the pickup head kicks up alot of mud. I havnt had any problems with it but like everyone else I grease the machine after im done power wasing and if I can I try to get some hay through it even if its some hay off the floor from broken bales. When I got my baler it had been sitting for close to 5 years all I did was grease it, put new twine in it, and run some fresh green hay through it. That cleaned all the rust out of the chamber and hasnt missed a tie yet and we put up close to 10k with it so far this year.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Regrdless of the best or worst way to wash equipment, if it's your grandfather's and he says don't, then don't.


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## Nitram (Apr 2, 2011)

mlappin. Exactly! Once it becomes your baler do as you feel is best.


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