# NH 269 baler needle adjustment



## bjr (Jan 24, 2013)

I have the operators book. I needed to make a course adjustment to the needles when timing.The needle were down maybe 1-3/4" from entering the chamber so I adjusted the yoke on the side to bring the up closer to the chamber. I know the fine adjustments are with the positioning bolts on the bottom of the needles. Is it okay to adjust the yoKe? The timing marks are all in line. bjr


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## mike10 (May 29, 2011)

bjr said:


> Is it okay to adjust the yoKe? The timing marks are all in line. bjr


 Not the way you did it. The yoke is not for timing and by the way the needle mounting bolts are not used for timing either. You adjust the yoke for needle penetration. Turn the flywheel until the needles are all the way up. Then check under the bale case and see how much clearance you have between the needle mounting brackets and the bottom of the bale case. You should have about 1/4" clearance. I would manually push the needle mounting yoke up to take up the wear in the linkage when you check this clearance. The needle mounting bolts are for adjusting the needles to the knotters.


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## bjr (Jan 24, 2013)

I appreciate the reply. I reread the manual and did like you said on the needle adjustment and timing. The little knotter trip latch under the knotters is kinda giving me fits in I'm not getting when it's suppose to trip and how the stop on the end of the trip lever is mounted. It can be made to hit the trip lever when facing forward or backwards and then if I have it adjusted further up (vertically 1/4" clearance ) it doesn't catch the lever or if adjusted with less clearance it won't releaser the trip lever when it's supposed to. And, some how this mechanism operates the lockout bar that moves the lockout up under the big flywheel arm. It all just seems to operate intermittantly when I turn the flywheel counterclock wise by hand. I have more bale chamber hay stops, feed fingers and feed finger springs and operating arm bearings and side play shims and hay dog springs coming in at the local NH dealer tonite and maybe with all the new parts insalled things will start functioning with a little more consistancy. I know I've got a bit more going on here than the Internet can help me with, but, I really do appreciate the help. bjr


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## mike10 (May 29, 2011)

When checking your adjustments you need to make sure you are turning the flywheel in the correct direction. If you are standing behind the baler and facing the tractor, the flywheel is turned clockwise. You should hear the overrunning clutch click as you turn the flywheel. If you make any adjustments turning the wrong direction you will not get the baler to work right.

With the trip lever down, the oval lever stop is against the round plates on metering wheel. Check to see if there is spring tension pulling the trip lever to the front? There is a spring at the front of the lever linkage. If that is all right then go to the right side of the baler by the twine box. Grab the rod which goes down to the needle yoke and give it a good pull back so the needle yoke is in it's home position. Now run a string from the center of the knotter shaft, theres a 3/8 bolt head there, to the center of the attaching pin at the needle yoke.
You are checking that the link between the knotter shaft and the needle yoke is going over center. You either have a 5/8 bolt attaching the lower rod to the arm on the end of the knotter shaft or the rod is bent in a 90 angle to fit in the arm attached to the knotter shaft. Either way the center of the 5/8 bolt or the center of the 90 should be about 1/2 to 3/4 past your string. If too far or not far enough you need to go to the left side of the baler and adjust the knotter stop plate. If I understood your post this is the plate you were adjusting to get the 1/4 clearance. It is the plate with the notches bent at a 90 and attached with a 5/16 bolt. Moving it forward or backward will get you where you need to be on the right side. Once you have the home position determined rotate the metering wheel until the little notched plate releases the knotter stop pawl. Now pull back and push down on the trip lever so it can go back down against the round plates. Once the lever is back down then push the knotter stop pawl forward so it is over the little latch plate with the notches. Now adjust this latch plate up and down until you get the 1/4 clearance. Try not to move it forward or backward or it will change the home position of the needles.

Turn the baler over by hand until the knotter stop pawl contacts the latch plate. Turn the metering wheel until the latch releases. If the knotter stop pawl hangs then lower the latch plate slightly.

The knotter stop pawl also has a spring attached to it, be sure it is still there and also so it is not stretched out or this will give you problems similar to what you describe. The spring is clearly visible since is below the round part of the knotter clutch with the stop pawl.


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## bjr (Jan 24, 2013)

I thought update was in order. I appreciate the effort you gave in the detail reply, I needed that. I mowed, let dry and then started the old baler down a wind row. Well being new to baling, I' learning the importance of the right size windrows. Needless to say they were to large and the first thing, I sheared the the safety bolt and the twine kept cutting and not feeding. The manual isn't real clear on the route the twine gets run a the needle pivot frame (I call it the bellypan). I found two more thimbles (white ceramic circles) up by the tips. I routed the twine under the belly pan thru the new found thimbles. Now the twine is at least getting to the notters and being fed around the bale.
The manual said to keep a tight timiing chain, but, it also says to not tighten the knotter frame mounting bolts, just use self locking nuts to allow the frame to maintain alignment. Well when first got the baler I had notice a fair amount of slack in the chain with a added customized alignment sheave. So, I had taken a link out of the chain to be able to tighten it with the slide adjuster. I made a fatal mistake there. When the knotter tripped and the arm started to feed the needles the knotter frame rolled a little and the chain just exploded. So, tonited I'll add a couple links and allow the original slack in the chain. I hope I can rolled the plunger flywheel by hand when the chamber is full of hay to realign the timing. Sorry for the long post but felt like I should explain. bjr


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## mike10 (May 29, 2011)

Originally the chain had a half link installed along with the connector link. If the half link was already removed before you got the baler and you removed other links then it is time to replace the chain. It probably failed then because it is simply worn out. If you remove links on the bottom strand you generally do not have to retime the baler as long as it was in time to start with.


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## bjr (Jan 24, 2013)

Okay, I got the chain back on WITH some slack. Now, I'm blowin' shear pins (even two NH factory bolts) every ten feet. I'd clean out the chamber to where I could roll the flywheel over and get the timing set again. The twine appears to be feeding up to the knotters but no knot, just cut striings on top of the bale. I've several, probably, seperate issues going on here. Could the needles be applying to much pressure on the flywheel to snap the shear bolts? I've tried NOT to over feed the pickup. Maybe, the Hydroformatic still too much pressure (I've back the valve all the way off, I think). Anymore suggestions on Shear Bolt problems? I'm at a loss. I've read the manual for No knot trouble shooting and back off the knotter plate tension spring (the two flat steel bars). Any help is definitely appreciated. bjr


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## bjr (Jan 24, 2013)

This weekend, I finally made some progress, well sort of. After tightening the knotter mounting bolts so the knotter assembly was statinary, I retimed and remove most all the slack out of the chain. Then kept diddling with the twine holders the get the 1/8" setting and adjusting bill hook tension ( guess that's what it's called, it's the little spring clamp on the side of the bill hook). Also kept adjusting twine holder tension springs and Twine box feed tension AND bale Hydroformatic tension (Whew). I got six bales in a row to tie. THEN made a corner and started back down the row and the rear driveline fell off. Apparently the over running clutch assembly was wore out. The two pins and spring are out in the hay field somewhere and the disc with the dogs is broken and worn beyound use. But, what keeps the assembly on the shaft? There appears to only be a snap ring holding the bearing in place nothing else? I'm goin' to call New Holland this morning and what they have in stock. bjr


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## mike10 (May 29, 2011)

As you have probably found out by now the clutch assy is held on by a 3/8 bolt with two hardened flat washers.


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## bjr (Jan 24, 2013)

Yes, you're right. The NH dealer set met straight and I'll have a new over running clutch disk, pins and springs here Tomorrow. Thanks. bjr


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