Baler Belt Smoking

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ClinchValley

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Got a Massey 143. Was making heavy/tight (Yay!!) bales all day. Working great.

Baled roughly 25 acres yesterday evening. Everything went fine. Went to a new field, it plugged up on me. I mean really plugged up, with fine/not stemmy grass. Cleared the plug. Went back to baling. Well, it kept plugging. Even in 1st low.

Opened it up, grass was everywhere it shouldnt be. In belts, between belts and rollers, literally everywhere. Cleared it all out(i think), went to try it again. Picked up fine. Started stuffing the chamber as usual. About halfway into the roll, i noticed smoke coming from the front top roller area. Smelled like rubber.

Any thoughts? Could i have missed some grass in the belt/roller area?

Whats the usual culprits? Rollers did not feel hot. Pretty sure i felt them all.
 
ClinchValley":2eofth47 said:
Got a Massey 143. Was making heavy/tight (Yay!!) bales all day. Working great.

Baled roughly 25 acres yesterday evening. Everything went fine. Went to a new field, it plugged up on me. I mean really plugged up, with fine/not stemmy grass. Cleared the plug. Went back to baling. Well, it kept plugging. Even in 1st low.

Opened it up, grass was everywhere it shouldnt be. In belts, between belts and rollers, literally everywhere. Cleared it all out(i think), went to try it again. Picked up fine. Started stuffing the chamber as usual. About halfway into the roll, i noticed smoke coming from the front top roller area. Smelled like rubber.

Any thoughts? Could i have missed some grass in the belt/roller area?

Whats the usual culprits? Rollers did not feel hot. Pretty sure i felt them all.

I literally spent days pulling grass out of a clogged up close throated bailer. Another reason to hate coastal.
I have also had it overload smoke bearings.
I would check the bearing on the pickup reel. I ran a Heston 745 for years nothing but a Massey bailer.
That bearing gave me more trouble than any of the others.
 
I've had a short piece of hedge wood a few inches long get caught and cause an alarm like that.

I carry an infrared thermometer in the tractor when I'm cutting or baling. I stop every once in a while just to stretch my legs and check the bearing temperatures. For $25 it's good peace of mind!
 
Well, the pickup is working fine now. And it is entering the chamber correctly. I was able to finish the bale i had started.

The baler was making a belt squeal sound before i cleared the grass from between the belts and rollers. It sounds and looks to be running fine. After a few minutes at operating speed it smells like burnt rubber. When i stop i can see a little black smoke rising from the top. From around top set of belts.

Dun, if it were a bearing would it not be making some sort of racket?

Im no mechanic. But have learned to keep stuff going and keep stuff greased to death. Im going to go looking for grass. Are those bearing a big pita to replave if that is the culprit?
 
D2Cat":yd5pgdeu said:
I've had a short piece of hedge wood a few inches long get caught and cause an alarm like that.

I carry an infrared thermometer in the tractor when I'm cutting or baling. I stop every once in a while just to stretch my legs and check the bearing temperatures. For $25 it's good peace of mind!

Am going to borrrow your idea.
 
ClinchValley":1azp6ick said:
Dun, if it were a bearing would it not be making some sort of racket?
You would think so but not always sometimes any sound is muffled by just normal baler noise. I had a baler that a bearing froze on and it ground all the way through the roller. First sight or sound of a problem was when the roller dropped into the baler. I hate the permanently sealed bearings
 
dun":1d22u684 said:
ClinchValley":1d22u684 said:
Dun, if it were a bearing would it not be making some sort of racket?
You would think so but not always sometimes any sound is muffled by just normal baler noise. I had a baler that a bearing froze on and it ground all the way through the roller. First sight or sound of a problem was when the roller dropped into the baler. I hate the permanently sealed bearings

Secondly that bearing might be able to function until it is placed under a load.
 
I always learn so much on CT!

Thanks all for the input.

Ended up being dust, dirt, and grass had turned to concrete damn near it. In between the roller and belt. Must have made it too tight. Roll on!
 
On closed throat clogs, I had a Hesston 5560 or something like that with 4" belts and I think it was closed throat. A real PIA. Sold it and bought a JD 530 and it gulped the hay down.

On hot bearings, I had a fire as a result even though I pay a lot of attention to them and have changed out half a dozen that didn't feel right when rolled by hand on my 1991 JD 375. I had a fire 2 years ago and just happened to be close to my shop where I have a water hose. Got it all fixed before any problems. Seems I missed a dry one. I don't have an extinguisher mounted on the front of the baler so I carry a 2 gallon pump up in the cab with me for emergencies.
 
Our Kubota has an extinguisher mounted by the steering wheel. Just inside the door. I'm assuming its a factory thing. I think every tractor needs one. Matter of fact, i need to put one on our Long tractor. We just never know.
 

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