# JD 336 Knotter problems



## yppkiya

Hello everyone. This is my first post on here and want to tell you that I have really learned a lot from this forum, and really appreciate everyone sharing their hard earned knowledge and expertise. Thank you.

I have a JD 336 twine tie baler. At the end of last season I began having trouble with the left side knotter. It is making a knot, but is is cutting the twine too close and the knot is pulling apart when the bale pressure is released on it. Can someone guide me to the parts I should look at which would cause this? I dont mind replacing parts, just need to where to start. Thanks for the help.


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## slowzuki

I'm not an expert by far, but my 336 did a similar thing. If I recall, the book said the issue was in the twine disc timing. I went through it and adjusted everything, polished the hooks, sharpened knives, adjusted the needles etc. One needle was way out, but didn't solve problem. Temp solution was to run sissal twine. Turned out my twine tension was too low with plastic and there was crud that looked like melted plastic preventing the knotter jaws from closing tight enough to grip the skinny plastic twine tightly. EDIT Oh the one other thing I remember was the wiper had to be bent to be closer to wipe the plastic tine. It could get the sissal but not the plastic.

If I remember, it would tie, and the knot looked fine, but as it expanded moving out of the bale chamber the knot would start to tighten then slip. Its been 7 years since I messed with it though, about 35,000 bales ago and no problems since.


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## yppkiya

Thanks for the information. I forgot to include that I am using sisal twine. I will look into that.


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## slowzuki

Looking in the book, wasn't twine disc timing, rather twine disc pressure is likely the problem. If it doesn't hold tight enough, the twine slips before the knot tightens. There is a spring in there that can go bad, also dirt can plug it up holding the spring back from putting pressure on the twine disc.


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## yppkiya

Thank you very much. I will take a look at it.


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## Barry Bowen

Let's start with this video so you can see how a knotter is supposed to work. This is on New Holland knotters, but they all work the same.

Small Square Baler Knotter - YouTube

First off you need to give the baler a good going over before you try to figure this out. You can spend hundreds in parts and still never find the problem. You need to grab your manual and go through timing, and all the various adjustments. Just as maintenance also check the plunger clearances and play, needles, ceramic guides, check all the springs in the knotter including the flat springs that make the twine disc hold. These flat springs which are adjusted with a 3/8's bolt and lock nut can be big trouble causers. You should NOT have the bolts adjusted so that the end of the spring where the bolt goes through has been flattened to match the knotter. Twine disc will be WAY TO TIGHT like that. It is difficult, but it is a little time consuming. What you learn about your baler and how it works though will be invaluable.

Before you get too far into the knotters make sure your 3 hay dogs are in good working order and that the hay resistor plates on the side of the bale chamber (plates with the half moon shaped pertrussions are in good shape, if they do not look close to new replace them.) Make sure the needles clear the twine disc by no more than 1/32 of an inch, and that they just slightly rub the right side of the knotter frame. From what you have described, I would check that the twine knife is GOOD and sharp, and that the wiper firmly drags across the bill hook. (Sisal is more forgiving in knotters than plastic is) Cutting the twine too close is a sign that the twine disc is adjusted too tight. The twine needs to be able to pull back out of the twine disc some during the knotting cycle. Let me know what you find with these adjustments and we can go from there.


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## davang

If you are new to all this as I was 3 years ago expect that there will be a VERY steep learning curve. I would recommend getting the videos from bestbalerparts.com aka "the baler man" on knotter repair and timing. It is one thing to have people tell you in writing what to do but quite another when you see it explained step by step especially on your baler. By all means view the New Holland video. If you study all this it will begin to make sense. For what it's worth I also had problems with my left knotter but never the right side on my 346. More than likely it is a combination of things contributing to the problem. Hope this helps.


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## yppkiya

I have been working on the baler this weekend, and have made some progress. The bill hook had a bad groove wore into it. I got a new one and changed it out. I also found that my twine knife arm assembly was loose in the pivot. I took it apart and found that the bushings are wore and have new bushings ordered to replace the old ones. One thing I noticed when taking it apart is that the bushings were not tight in the casting. I could push them out with my fingers. I hope that the new ones are tight, or else it looks like I am going to need a new frame or bore and sleeve the old one. The new bushings should be in today. Thank you all for your guidance on this. The learning curve on these things is tremendous! A really good friend of mine is a former John Deere technician and he has been working on it with me. Problem is, we only farm row crops around here so square balers are very scarce, as well as experience to work on them. I just got a service manual on disk from John Deere. Hopefully that will help me. I am going to look at the video posted now.


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## davang

Again, that manual is very confusing. Get that knotter repair video. You will not be sorry. I had a John Deere mechanic work on mine and after big $$$ was disappointed. You are right experience on the particular machine is scarce.


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## davang

Now my right side is out after a thorough adjustment and testing it just crapped out on me again. I think Im looking at replacing the intermittent gears.


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