# Hesston Inline - Setting Ideal Stuffer Timing



## paoutdoorsman (Apr 23, 2016)

The stuffer timing sequence and specs on a Hesston 4590 leave some room for interpretation. I realize that chain wear will cause some variance in where things line up. I'm using the process outlined on the machine and in the service manual.

Step 1: Rotate the flywheel to move the crank arm against the plunger stop. Easy.

Step 2: The stuffer shaft grease fitting must visible in, or no more than 2 inches left of the lubrication hole. Hmm. Does visible mean centered or up to 2" left?

Step 3: Rotate the flywheel until the plunger knives are the closest to the stuffer fingers. Measure distance. Stuffer fingers must clear plunger knives with 1/4 inch minimum clearance.

On the particular unit I'm working on at the moment, if I center the stuffer shaft grease fitting in the lube hole, my knife/finger clearance is 7/8 inch. If I jump a few links, I can easily set my knife/finger clearance to 1/4 inch, however when I do that, the grease fitting is now to the right of the lubrication hole. Mind you I can still see it if I look in at a slight angle, but it is not visible if looking straight in the hole.

What provides the most ideal stuffer timing - having the grease fitting visible or left of the lube hole, or getting as close to 1/4" knife/finger as possible?


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

It says 1/4" minimum clearance Dana....it does not say what is too much. I would center grease fitting to the hole and go with the 7/8" clearance and see how it performed.

Or, maybe advance only 1 link and not try to get exactly a 1/4" clearance, but maybe 1/2" clearance or so.

I read about advancing the stuffer by one tooth before....it supposedly allows for more intake/performance.

Regards, Mike


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## sethd11 (Jan 1, 2012)

I really don't know much about them, but my friends run them inline communist balers;. Supposedly the close the clearance the better the performance @ high speed and nicer bales... One running a 4590s, the other running 1840s. The mechanic up at the dealer says that you want the knives to cut as little as possible, so timing has to be very tight..


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## paoutdoorsman (Apr 23, 2016)

Agree and understand the 1/4" minimum spec. I understand why a minimum clearance is critical. It would be nice to see a real measurable setting or range rather than just a minimum. Something like 1/4" min - 3/4" max.

In my mind, reducing clearance to the minimum spec would provide the highest intake performance since the plunger would capture the greatest portion of crop being lifted by the stuffer fingers. It would be interesting to see where that grease fitting lines up with a brand new stuffer drive chain.


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## paoutdoorsman (Apr 23, 2016)

sethd11 said:


> I really don't know much about them, but my friends run them inline communist balers;. Supposedly the close the clearance the better the performance @ high speed and nicer bales... One running a 4590s, the other running 1840s. The mechanic up at the dealer says that you want the knives to cut as little as possible, so timing has to be very tight..


So are all round balers and big square balers communist too?


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## Wethay (Jul 17, 2015)

Then an offset baler is *******? democratic? Does the flywheel need to be on the front, or on the side? Can it have an auger? I'm all confused.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

paoutdoorsman said:


> Agree and understand the 1/4" minimum spec. I understand why a minimum clearance is critical. It would be nice to see a real measurable setting or range rather than just a minimum. Something like 1/4" min - 3/4" max.
> 
> In my mind, reducing clearance to the minimum spec would provide the highest intake performance since the plunger would capture the greatest portion of crop being lifted by the stuffer fingers. It would be interesting to see where that grease fitting lines up with a brand new stuffer drive chain.


If there's enough wear in your chain that you wonder what it would be like with a new chain, I'm thinking it's time for a new chain.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

paoutdoorsman said:


> It would be interesting to see where that grease fitting lines up with a brand new stuffer drive chain.


Next time I am by the the MF dealer I will stop in and check and see for myself.

Regards, Mike


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

At the risk of repeating my self, the easiest way to quantify chain stretch is to measure 12 inches of chain pins under tension. 50 chain is a bugger and is best measured at 10 inches. Every 16th of an inch over 12 inches is very close to 1% stretch. 2% is considered the limit.

The NH D800/1000 use a vaguely similar system of feeding as the Heston inline small square. There are several different chains that can be jumped to affect timing. Sometimes the best result is to jump a combination of chains to get the plunger/stuffer/knotter timing spot on.


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## paoutdoorsman (Apr 23, 2016)

8350HiTech said:


> If there's enough wear in your chain that you wonder what it would be like with a new chain, I'm thinking it's time for a new chain.


The chain doesn't have enough wear to warrant replacement, but I know it's not new...



Gearclash said:


> Sometimes the best result is to jump a combination of chains to get the plunger/stuffer/knotter timing spot on.


That is precisely what I would like to do. Problem is the timing instructions do not provide enough detail to know where 'spot on' timing is - and that is what I'm hoping to learn here. There are 4 or 5 links that I could be in, and still meet the specs as outlined, but all result in a much larger knife/finger clearance than the minimum spec.

My suspicion is that the further you move from the minimum knife/finger clearance spec, the more performance you give up simply because the crop has time to return to the pre-compression chamber before being captured by the plunger.


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## Maxzillian (Sep 11, 2014)

In all honesty we're talking about a 5/8" difference here between what you get when you set timing to nominal (aligned with the grease hole) and the minimum of 1/4". In some regards I feel like you're splitting hairs at that point.

That said, you indicate you get 1/4" clearance when the zerk is to the right of the grease hole; which means the stuffer timing has been retarded. My personal preference is to either run timing at nominal or slightly advanced. This also happens to be what the decal is instructing you to do (aligned with grease hole or to the left). The risk you run if you have it retarded too far is that you'll still be trying to stuff hay into the chamber past the point the plunger has caught it. Keep in mind that when you reach 1/4" clearance, the plunger face is already pretty close to the tips of the stuffer fingers; there's not much more additional feeding they can do at that point.

Edit: Another thing to check into is that if you pull up on the fingers, to take out any backlash, they don't hit the plunger knives. Otherwise you'll find that when not feeding the baler you'll get a knocking sound with each stroke.


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## paoutdoorsman (Apr 23, 2016)

Thanks Max, good info. I will make sure to check for backlash.

Could be splitting hairs. This baler has a thrower on it, so a bit of extra work to get into it for sharpening knives and adjusting clearances. Just want to have it set up the best possible way before remounting the thrower.

I have to wonder why the stuffer timing was retarded on it when I acquired it.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

paoutdoorsman said:


> Thanks Max, good info. I will make sure to check for backlash.
> 
> Could be splitting hairs. This baler has a thrower on it, so a bit of extra work to get into it for sharpening knives and adjusting clearances. Just want to have it set up the best possible way before remounting the thrower.
> 
> I have to wonder why the stuffer timing was retarded on it when I acquired it.


Red plunger, broken needle arm mount, ... just add it to your list of baler mysteries.


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## Maxzillian (Sep 11, 2014)

paoutdoorsman said:


> Thanks Max, good info. I will make sure to check for backlash.
> 
> Could be splitting hairs. This baler has a thrower on it, so a bit of extra work to get into it for sharpening knives and adjusting clearances. Just want to have it set up the best possible way before remounting the thrower.
> 
> I have to wonder why the stuffer timing was retarded on it when I acquired it.


You should be able to remove a couple bolts and pull the back cover off the stuffer chute to get to the knives; no need to shimmy your way up the bale chamber (although I have been known to do that when inspecting a baler).


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## paoutdoorsman (Apr 23, 2016)

Maxzillian said:


> You should be able to remove a couple bolts and pull the back cover off the stuffer chute to get to the knives; no need to shimmy your way up the bale chamber (although I have been known to do that when inspecting a baler).


I've gone that route too. I actually prefer the chamber shimmy.


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## Trillium Farm (Dec 18, 2014)

paoutdoorsman said:


> So are all round balers and big square balers communist too?


Only balers where the flywheel runs left to right, if right to left it's OK


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