Ford 542 sq baler

got every thing going okay except that when rolling the machine over by hand, cannot get the knotter clutch arm to trip past the needle rebound dog to hold the needles in home position. Have adjusted everything according to the book, but cannot get it to latch by hand.

Does anyone know if this is ordinary for this baler? Have not hooked up to tractor pto yet, and I know the speed of actual running might carry the clutch arm on across the rebound dog, but seems it should latch even by hand....maybe the sprocket that the clutch roller travels in is just too worn to carry it across the tension of the rebound dog??

Thanks

Garry

I am sure you have gone through these things but I need to start somewhere. LOL I have been bitten so many times by "Did You Plug It In?"

Let me know and I will help what I can...

1.Baler has been baling, got it in package deal with cutter, rake, tedder, and baler. Neighbor was retiring from baling and I needed the tedder, but only way to get it was buy it all, and his price seemed fair. Have a NH 273 already, figured it wouldn't hurt to have a backup baler for incase of..esp. when I knew that it would bale!!

2.Ran about 35 bales through it last year..just enough to know that it needed some adjusting and some new bearings. Started on the repairs this year as money came available.

3.Eveything is well greased and slick....

4.Undid the needle carriage linkage from the knotter assembly as I had the knotters completely apart to install new half moon keys in the cam gears and clutch arm and file the grooves off the bill hooks, and adjust the clearances to specs..

5.Got it all back together and before reattaching the needle linkage....rolling by hand the clutch arm will not trip past the rebound dog (which I loosened to measurement per manual, and adjusted the bolt head clearance on the bellcrank/trip arm to clutch pawl per manual).

6.Just seemed odd that it would not trip and lock as my NH will, when turned by hand. Sort of made me think that the lobe on the drive sprocket may be worn too far to hold the roller of the clutch pawl past the rebound without the momentum of pto speed??

7.Will definitely time the needles/plunger before affixing chain master link permanent...

Thanks

Garry

Thanks for all the suggestions and checking the operation of your balers.. Without having a 'new' one to compare it against, and it worked on what few bales I put through it last year, am going to assume it needs that extra momentum to carry it across the latch!!

Have "cleaned" all the old grease and grime, checked all the pins & springs (pin that held the clutch pawl on 'was' broke - Ford/New Holland IS PROUD of that little special item....sure thought about cutting the head off of a 5/16 bolt for a substitute -- but didn't, figured it would be 1/64 too big or little and etc...etc.. but then the 'new' one had the little cross hatches on one end that snugged it up real good to keep it from sliding in & out!)

Sounds as if you like the Ford line of balers! Have been told several times by the 'older' hands that the 542 would be hard to beat when it was running right. I know the man I bought it off of, put a lot of trouble free bales through it for close to 10 years, started having trouble with the knotters the year before he quit. Only mechanically visible problems was just a lot of things out of adjustment, and bearings on the plunger locked up and sliding rather than rolling. New bearings, bushings, pins, & adjustments made -- she will roll quite smoothly by hand now....just that the clutch arm wouldn't go ahead and trip & lock. Will get her all back together tomorrow, got a small pasture (8 acres) of bahia grass that I plan on pulling into, the end of next week with it, might yield somewhere around 3 - 400 bales (First cut at that! Might be more as the area has had some rain within the last 3 weeks, & I havn't had time to get down and look/see) with the weather we've had this summer. Will know by the time I get it baled if the old Ford is as good as my little NH 273. Will post back and let ya know!!

Thanks

Garry