Bale Short, Dry, Slick Crops

TS679-UN-28SEP89

Do not attempt to feed crop or twine into baler or unplug feed area while the baler is running. The baler feeds material faster than you can release it.

Disengage PTO and shut off the engine.

To reduce plugging try one or more of the following techniques:

1. Regular Pickup: Check pickup belt tension and condition. (See Adjust Pickup Drive Belt Idler—Regular Pickup (450M and 550M) in Service—Baler section.)

   MegaWide™ Plus Pickup: Check pickup slip clutch. (See Check Pickup Slip Clutch Torque in Service—Baler section.)

2. Check for missing or broken pickup teeth.

3. Raise pickup as high as practical.

4. To maintain ground speed, reduce the engine speed to 1500 rpm or below (reduces chaffing) and shift transmission to a higher gear.

5. If equipped with the variable core valve, reduce bale density as necessary.

   See Operate Variable Core Valve in one of the following sections:

   • Operating Baler with BaleTrak™ Pro or Plus System
   
   

6. Regular Pickup Only: Remove individual compressor rods, leaving one center rod and one rod on each end of the cross-tube. If material still accumulates, remove compressor rack. Always replace the compressor rack under normal conditions. (See Remove or Install Compressor Rack in Service— Baler section.)

7. Make larger windrows (rake together as necessary), but keep windrows narrower than bale chamber width.

8. Disengage PTO anytime crop is not being fed into baler, such as turns and field borders.

9. Regular Pickup Only: In short, dry conditions, it can be necessary to lower the baler. (See Wheel Spindle Positions in Preparing the Baler section.)

10. Adjust pickup float springs to provide more force (float). (See Adjust Pickup Float Springs in Service—Baler section.)

11. When baling dry straw, it can be necessary to place twine across the full width of the bale. Or use net wrap (if equipped) to prevent straw from coming out of the feed opening while binding. (See Dry Straw Twine Wrap Program [Advanced Operation Information] [Channel 002] in this section.)

    For the HC2 pickup: When precutting is not required, disengage the knives reduces crop buildup and crop from coming out of the feed opening while applying twine or net.

12. Recommended Wraps

    Bales stored with fewer than two wraps of net can be damaged by handling or weather conditions.

    Different crops require a different number of wraps for effective baling.

    Minimum recommendations are:

    • 2 Wraps for Hay
    • 3 Wraps for Straw, Wheat Hay, and Cereal Grains
    • 4 Wraps for Corn Stalks, Sudex, Hay Grazer, and Milo Stalks
    
    

    If the baler is equipped with the slip clutch alert and it is turned on, the net and twine application is automatically adjusted as rpm is changed. Thus, no change is needed on the monitor.

    If machine rpm is less than rated PTO speed, use the following charts as a guideline for desired wraps.

    NET WRAP CHART
    Engine rpm	Desired No. Of Wraps	Approximate Monitor Setting Needed
    Rated PTO	2	2
    	3	3
    1800 rpm	2	2.4
    	3	3.6
    1500 rpm	2	2.9
    	3	4.3
    1300 rpm	2	3.3
    	3	5.0

    TWINE WRAP CHART
    Engine rpm	Mechanical Setting	Monitor-Controller Setting
    Rated Speed	10 cm (4.0 in)	10 cm (4.0 in)
    1800 rpm	10 cm (4.0 in)	9 cm (3.5 in)
    1500 rpm	10 cm (4.0 in)	8 cm (3.0 in)
    1300 rpm	10 cm (4.0 in)	6 cm (2.5 in)

If bales fail to start rotating due to one or both sides of the windrow extending outside width of the bale chamber, try the following suggestions:

1. Make windrows narrower than the bale chamber width, even with the MegaWide™ Plus or HC2 pickup.
2. To avoid getting the crop under the crop dividers, center the baler over the windrow while starting.