# 535 belt tracking problem



## Tyork_tex (Apr 19, 2011)

Dad and I bought our first round baler a john deere 535. It had brand new belts on it when we bought it and it worked fine the first year we had it. A few of the belts would track sideways rubbing the rivets against the dividers in the back of the baler. The second season this wore the belts near the rivets and after re-riveting them several times the belts were out of spec. The crazy thing is some of the belts track to the left and some to the right. I have got to get this figured out before we start bailing hay this year. I want to buy new belts but there is no point if they won't track straight. Please help.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

I'm not that familiar with JD round balers, but belt tracking tricks should hold true regardless of color.

Do the left side belts track to the left and the right side to the right? Are your bales good and square when made or do the have a barrel appearance? If so you're getting too much hay in the center of the bale and not enough at the shoulders. My NH BR740A and my old NH644 both had the wide pickup so I would rake double and try to make the rows five foot wide for a 4 foot bale.

Are all the rollers clean? Even a little hay wrapped around one can greatly effect tracking.

Who installed the new belts? Could be the ends weren't cut square and the splices installed a little crooked.

Sometimes moving the belts around in order can take care of a tracking problem. For example my NH has six belts and it might be required to move the second from the left over to the 4th position from the left and move the 4th belt to the 2nd position.

I've never done it, but I've heard of some folks placing one or two wraps of duct tape around the drive roller on a problem belt to keep it from moving to one side.


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## Toyes Hill Angus (Dec 21, 2010)

I'm guessing that Marty is on the right track here, another suggestion that I could offer would be to "bob and weave" on the windrow if it is narrow and light this will evenly feed the bale across it's entire face in the chamber and prevent orerloading the middle of the bale. or either side as far as that goes.


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## Nitram (Apr 2, 2011)

If they were brand new belts they should have been cut straight but it sounds like they weren't. If they were running constantly to one side or the other then it's probably from the cut/splice if they were moving back and forth then the forming of the bale... weaving etc. IMHO This year I was able to purchase a 12 wheel rotatory rake and am looking forward to having a new learning experience with wide rows ;-}


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## downtownjr (Apr 8, 2008)

Talked to the factory on belts...possibilities track with what others are saying...

- Check idlers in front front of the trouble point if you can pinpoint it. Frozen and sticking idlers or material stuck in them. 
- Ensure the belts are squared up. Sometimes cheap belts are laced in a shop that sells them online or elsewhere. This could cause a problem. That is why we sell belts delivered straight from a US factory at BaleSupply.
So check for crooked splices or fasteners not joined squarely.


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## Tyork_tex (Apr 19, 2011)

Okay, the belts track crooked even when idling the baler which tells me it is not a feeding issue. I thought that they may not have been cut square as well so when I pulled them all out and spliced them I made double sure they were square, that still didn't solve the problem. I haven't checked for sticking idlers, I will this year before I start out. Also there is definately not any material built up on the roles.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

If they don't track properly even when empty then you might need to adjust an idler roller. Off the top of my head I'd say New Hollands have one roller that has slotted holes on each end. This was in the tailgate at the rear of the baler. Might need to look closely at yours or ask a JD serviceman.

Word of advice, a very small amount of movement can make a huge difference in tracking. Use a ratchet handle to loosen up the bolt/nut on the adjustable one, then I'd use a long tapered prybar to move the roller. Sometimes a 1/16th of a inch can almost be too much. A little trick I figured out on my 644, take a sharpie marker and mark the current position then move the roller. On the NH they had a rather large washer on the outside that the roller bolt went thru, I drew around the entire outside of that before adjusting rollers.

The OEM really should add drawbolts to em somehow as the adjustment can be that fine.

I helped the neighbor with his and when empty it would track bad, but once the belts had tension it drastically improved and we fine tuned it when it had hay in it with tension on the belts and ignored what they did when empty.

One last thing comes to mind, you never said who installed the new belts, if all all else fails and you bought it privately, the previous owner could have totally trashed the original belts and installed the absolute cheapest belts he could lay his hands on and they are already stretching unevenly.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Tyork, do you have a baler manual? If so, it will tell you what length the belts should be. Take a couple off and measure. Also, in the manual it tells you how to adjust the gate roller. On my JD baler the factory paint was not under the washer so it was readily apparent on how much movement I made when I did my gate roller adjustment. Marty had a excellent suggestion about encircling the washer with a marker. You also will need to check ALL of the roller bearings as I remember they were listed in the trouble shooting section in the manual. Good luck. Regards, Mike


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## mulberrygrovefamilyfarm (Feb 11, 2009)

Looks like the 535 is similar to other 5XX balers but I'm not sure how similar. I noticed that both the Op manual and the tech manual for that baler is for sale only and are not online. Here is the process for the 45X and 56X balers *without* coveredge. If it is with coveredge it's a different process and since you didn't say net wrap I didn't include that one:
Without COVEREDGE net wrap:
• If belts track to the left: a. Loosen cap screw (







at right side. b. Raise RIGHT end of lower rear gate roll. c. Tighten cap screw (







.
OR
a. Loosen cap screw at left side. b. Lower LEFT end of lower rear gate roll. c. Tighten cap screw.
• If belts track to the right: a. Loosen cap screw (







at left side. b. Raise LEFT end of lower rear gate roll. c. Tighten cap screw.
OR
a. Loosen caps screw at right side. b. Lower RIGHT end of lower rear gate roll. c. Tighten cap screw.
Edit
Oh yeah, without the pictures I guess you don't know what (A) and (







are. (A) is the tab(s) between your belts when looking up at the rear of the baler. If the belts are moving away from (A) and to the left your belts are tracking left. (







is the bolt/cap screw that holds the rear gate roller. By moving (







up or down slightly the belts track left or right.


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## man of steel (Feb 1, 2010)

Turn your belts around to see if a right tracking belt will now track left. If so you can get them to track all one direction and adjust from there.

Are you rollers worn? I had 30,000 through my 466 and you could definitively see the wear on the rollers. Heck! I think that's the only reason that 466 still tracked good is because the belts couldn't get out of the groove they wore into the rollers


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