QuestionQUESTION: Hello
I am in the process of bringing back to life the 276 baler, when we got it it had been stood outside a long time and i am not sure of its previous history, although chains, timing etc.didnt seem to have been adjusted properly for some time. The flywheel has no cover on it and the slip clutch has been exposed to the weather. It would be wise to dismantle it and clean it up, but i am not sure how to set the tension on the springs, the manual says to slip at 407nm, how do i set this? Likewise the pick up clutch will need sorting but the manual dosnt mention a setting. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I managed to sort the needle timing to the plunger, rather than the marks (which wasnt working)after reading one of your previous answers, so you have helped already! I re-baled some straw the other day and got some not quite right knots,so there is hope!
Thanks
Simon
ANSWER: If it stood outside for a long time, the slip clutch is probably siezed up and won't slip at all which could damage the driveline if the baler is overloaded. If the plunger hits something, it should still shear the flywheel shear bolt and stop the baler, but it would still be best to fix it. I think New Holland used to have a spring length measurement for the slip clutch adjustment, but they found that it was not very consistent and did not always cause it to slip at the proper torque because of variations in spring tension and clutch plate friction. So they devised a torque measurement instead that actually measures the torque required to make it slip. New Holland dealers have a tool that is used with a spring scale to check the torque. It is a steel bar or pipe with jaws welded onto one end that clamp over the universal joint of the drive shaft in front of the slip clutch. A block of wood is placed into the bale chamber so that when the flywheel is turned until the plunger is against the wood block, it locks the baler from turning. The tool is placed onto the driveshaft and the spring scale is hooked onto the bar, and by pulling on the scale the amount of force required to make the clutch slip can be measured. It is not real critical that the adjustment be exact, just so that it does not slip too easily which will cause the clutch to overheat or wear out quickly during normal operation, or that it does not take too much effort to slip which could break something in the driveline. I don't remember ever seeing a pickup clutch setting. Some models had a belt tension that could be adjusted to allow it to slip if the pickup became jammed.
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QUESTION: Hello
Thanks for the answer, it all makes sense. Have had a look at spring scales/ torque wrenches and they seem pretty expensive for the 400 plus NM size.
I think its beyond breaking for a 1/2 drive socket, so it seems like a lot of force. I know its a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string question', but say i used a 1m bar how hard do you think i would need to push to get roughly 407nm. Not sure you will be able to answer this but its worth a try!
Many thanks
simon
Answer Wow, this is quite a challenge. Especially because I don't work with newton meters, I work with foot pounds. At a distance of one meter, it would require a force of 407 newtons, hence the name newton meters. Obviously this means nothing to me because I don't know what a newton is or how to measure it. To me it would be easier for you to work with kilograms, so 407 newton meters converts to 41.5 kilograms of force at a distance of one meter. If you don't have a scale that will measure that much, just use a longer bar. A 2 meter bar will only require half as much force, or 20.75 kilograms. For me, it converts to 300 foot pounds. Since I don't have a scale that goes that high and I probably would give myself a hernia pulling that much, I could use a 3 foot bar and pull 100 pounds. If I remember correctly, I had a 4 foot bar when I worked at a New Holland dealership and pulled about 65 pounds with a 100 pound scale. Of course, some baler models require different settings, they're not all the same. Anyway, hope this helps and I have not gotten you totally confused. The important thing to remember is don't break the universal joint of the driveshaft with your bar when measuring. This is too much torque for a socket, it requires a bar with jaws that fit over the yoke of the universal joint. Or if you have any driveshaft shields removed, you could put a large pipe wrench on the shaft and put a long pipe on the handle of the pipe wrench.
