# JD 338 Square Baler Questions



## Whistling Dixie (Jan 18, 2010)

Good Evening, I've been reading everything on this site for quite some time however this is the first post I've made. I'm slowly working toward acquiring the tools necessary to bale square bales at first with round bales a few years down the road. I have found a John Deere 338 square baler in very good condition that I believe is a very good price, several thousand dollars less than most units I've seen in classifieds. The owner, who is the original owner by the way, ran it for me today when I came to look at it and everything ran great except he showed me where the auger was not quite right where it attaches to the shaft. By that I mean it seems to wobble just a little and I noticed one of the bolts had backed out inside the auger. Has anyone seeen this condition and if so how hard is it to remove the auger? The owner stated he thought the internal bushing was either out or perhaps the backed out bolt is causing the problem. It's definetely not the bearing it appears straight and tight. I just thought I would ask if anyone had any experience with this occurrence. My second question is anyone aware of anything I should look for before I buy it? We ran it today and fed it some old hay without tightening the tension adjustments and it seemed to run fine. I watched it make three bales and all ties were tight. There's virtually no rust and the only thing out of place that I noticed was the pickup wheel was missing but I think that's a minor issue. Any informatin would be appreciated.


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## cattleman4170 (Jan 26, 2010)

How old is the baler? But if it tied ok, you are on the right track. depending on the age, I would look closely at the knotter system and be sure it's been kept clean and in good shape. You can always tell if there's been trouble if you have used a square baler before. If the auger is loose could be that bolt, but also look at the feeder fingers and the stationary and ram knife for wear. Then look at the grips on the inside of the bale chamber also for wear. Might be just was baling some heavy grass or straw and the bolt worked loose. If a baler has been kept under a shed and kept clean with regular maintenance they last a long time. But all my experience has been with JD.


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## Whistling Dixie (Jan 18, 2010)

Thanks Cattleman, that's a big help. I did look at the knives and they seem to be cutting just fine, our test bales had nice clean cuts. One thing I didn't look at were the grips in the bale chamber I'll have to look at that. The feeder fingers look good and picked up hay easily. The owner stated he thought the baler was a late 80s model, 88 or 89. I was surprised how good it looked for being 20 years old. One more question for you, I noticed the shear bolt on the fly wheel appearred to be very small, is this normal?


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## Barry Bowen (Nov 16, 2009)

338 is still one of the current production models. It is the midsize/ capacity of the three that are current. To really evaluate the baler you need to empty it of all hay or straw completely as you cannot see anything if the baler is full. Check the plunger carefully for any movement side to side and up and down. If the chamber is correct the tollerances are pretty close. For example the clearance on the knife is about .020 at the bottom and no more than .040 at the top. Check the wrist pin where the connecting rod attaches to the plunger (about 100 worth of parts to correct, but the plunger needs to come out completely) Inspect the rails that the plunger rides on for excess ware, and get under it and check the bearing on the plunger that they still turn freely. Check the knotters as loose hay will hide lots of knotter problems. The bill hooks should not really wiggle at all or just a very little. Take the carriage bolt out of the knotter hold down and raise the knotter up and see how tight the wiper is one the bill hook. It should rub and take a little force to get it across. Does it have a thrower? If so look at the hole in the wagon pulling draw bar, how out of round is it? Good indicator as to how much use it has had. Look at the resistor plates in the chamber, the ones with the half moons stamped in them. If those are not complete and full, replace them, about $100 for the two of them.

Removing the auger is not all that hard, but it takes a little time. Take the bolt out of the end close to the chamber, take the shield off on the right side, remove the drive gear on the far left end of the shaft, unbolt the brackets on the right side that hold it in place and just slide the whole thing out. You way want some one to help as the shafts are pretty long on the entire thing. Then you can replace the bushings that hold the auger if that is the problem. Until it comes apart you will not know for sure.

The guage wheel is a really nice thing to have unless your fields are completely smooth and flat. Other then that just look at the general condition, check for oil leaks gear case and thrower. Make sure you get the manual and COMPLETELY check the timing before you use it. Not hard to check if you have the manual to do with.


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## grouchy (Sep 19, 2009)

Whistling Dixie said:


> One more question for you, I noticed the shear bolt on the fly wheel appearred to be very small, is this normal?


Actually, that is a good thing...............

IGrouch


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## baledog (Jul 30, 2008)

Do replace the bushings on the auger, I did but was disappointed when the auger soon rattled anyway. The only way I found to keep it quiet and smooth was a generous application of WD about every 300 bales. Plenty good baler for me but I was glad to move on too.


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## nu24 (Jan 4, 2010)

sounds to be pretty good baler. Everything Barry said is good info. That all needs to be checked. It does sound like bushing in the auger is the play problem,and not hard to fix. If you buy the baler, one thing I might suggest is bale skis. Will make a very good baler great.


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## cattleman4170 (Jan 26, 2010)

bale Skis? i've seen them advertised but what exactly do they do? or how do they improve the baler?


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## nu24 (Jan 4, 2010)

they help the hay flow more smoothly through the bale chamber. With the 338 you will definitely get more consistant length bales. The company claims that it is easier on the knotters and I think that is probably true.


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## Whistling Dixie (Jan 18, 2010)

Thanks to everyone for their generous information. I'm heading over there again today to look at it a second time. I'll be sure to check out all the different things mentioned in this post. Thanks again.


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## Hedge tree (Jul 18, 2008)

I don't know about the 338, but I have owned several 348's and 347's and the out board end of the auger in these machines has two halves of oak....bearings if you will. They are held in place with a couple bolts tapped into inside threads for each block. If one of these blocks is gone or a chunk gone, you can have some play on that end of the auger. There is a bushing in there as well that has a single bolt holding it to the inside auger shaft.

Is that where you see the play? Maybe the 338's are different...but these are good balers and if you can buy it worth the money, everything can be rebuilt if the bale case and pickup/auger floor are not rusted out.


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## Whistling Dixie (Jan 18, 2010)

Great information Hedge Tree, that's exactly what the auger is doing. The owner did mention something about wooden bearings inside the auger, your comments bring it all together now. I looked at it carefully yesterday and I'm fairly certain I can fix the auger without too much difficulty. The floor is in great shape since it's been under cover all it's life. I took quite a bit of time looking at the bale chamber floor and the bolt heads are quite worn on the hay side indicating many many bales but the metal is still there. I also found the side tensioning wedges for lack of a better word are almost worn away on the front set but in decent shape on the second set. I also noticed they can be replaced easily. Despite the signs of long use I gave him a $1000 earnest money for it yesterday. I'll go pick it up next week when the rest of my money gets here. Everything I've seen that needs attention is easily repaired or replaced and unless I'm completely crazy I think I could go to the field with it tomorow as long as I had the auger fixed. Thank you for your comments they are very helpful.


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## geiselbreth (Feb 21, 2010)

usinf 338 jd with hoelsher acc the wooden blocks went out on mine i replaced with teflon blocks works great using 7200 plastic 55 lv bale plastic less wear on knotters baler about 12 years old cant say ever busted bale acc has other than that love it


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## geiselbreth (Feb 21, 2010)

using bale skiss no more u shape bales really like be careful whe installing make sure the bale length wheel is back in the same spot


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## geiselbreth (Feb 21, 2010)

differant moisture in the feild acts differant on the steel chambers the plastic bale skiss takes the steel out of the picture


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## Whistling Dixie (Jan 18, 2010)

Thank you to everyone for their most useful information. I should be picking up the baler this weekend. I will no doubt have more questions once I get it home and start going through it with a fine tooth comb.


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## Whistling Dixie (Jan 18, 2010)

I got it home this weekend and just started pulling the auger this evening, I've got it all apart and will remove it tomorrow evening, I ran out of daylight. One thing I noticed right away was one of the oak halves was missing. After I got the shaft out of the pulley and then out of the bearing race I noticed the bearing is intact but it is split in several places. it still rolls well but it dragging just a little. I surmise this cracks were formed when the oak half fell out and unbalanced the whole thing. Since I had gone that far I decided to pull the entire auger and relpace the other bearing as well. I can't tell if its bad but I figure I might as well do it all while I have it apart. Once again despite the work I'm still amazed at how good a shape this baler is in, almost no rust and all the bolts turn easily. I can hardly wait to bale something. Thanks for everyones help.


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## Heyhay..eh (Aug 7, 2009)

When you are done with the maintenance and ready to run the baler get yourself a few round bales of straw. You can open the rounds and feed them through the stationary baler with a fork or just roll out the straw and run the baler over it. That will give you a chance to test thing out before you hit the field. You should make 10-15 squares per round.

Take care


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## Whistling Dixie (Jan 18, 2010)

That's a cool idea I hadn't thought of that. A friend next door has a couple rolls of older hay, I think I'll have to try that. Thank you for the idea.


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