303 Baler Design Changes With Pictures

After the baler being down for a week in prime hay making weather I thought that I would share my adventure in hopes that others could learn from my misfortune.
The issue started when the slip clutch for the pickup (which I rebuilt 3 years) failed. The clutch sprocket fell off center and got wedged which caused the clutch not to slip. This clutch was a bad design and Allis fixed the issue at serial 4601. As part of the repair I replaced clutch with the newer design.
Due to the clutch issue the cam which the pickup bars ride in was over stressed and broke.

The cam has been redesigned 4 times and is no longer available. So I found 2 parts balers near me and started dismantling to get the cam. What I found out is that at serial number 2601 Allis redesigned the pickup. Allis made the pickup 3" shorter or to put it differently they moved the pickup back towards the feeding fingers.


Since my baler is serial number is 1315 and still has the longer pickup all of the redesigned cams will not work on my pickup.




Now I had 2 choices, I could fix the broken cam or switch the whole pickup assy from the parts baler to the working baler. Since the working baler has 5 bars and the both parts balers have the 4 bar pickup I decided to fix the cam and keep the 5 bar pickup. If the cam breaks again I will switch the pickup assy to the 4 bar.
So I'm replacing all the bearings to the newer style so if any fail I can replace them faster. I'm also cleaning up all the parts and repainting them just to stop the rust and the sheet metal last long.





All back together!

So here is the list of everything I did.

1)Had the original cam repaired.

2)Replaced all bearings on the pickup and pickup drive line with the new standard off the shelf bearings. The original bearings and flanges are no longer available.

3)Refinished sheet metal.

4)New 7.60 x 15 tires. Not OEM size but went bigger to accommodate field conditions.

5)General PM of greasing all bearings, bushing, etc.


Edited by DennisA (IL) - 12 Jun 2017 at 2:01pm

Tracy Martin TN wrote: Dennis, could you post pics of the slip clutch that failed? Which side of baler was it on? Thanks Tracy

The clutch that failed was located on the pickup rotor shaft which is on the right side of the pickup assy.
I can't get any good pictures of the clutch as I had to weld to together to finish the last 20 feet of hay.
Below is the illustration from the parts book.
The sprocket item #4 fell off center and got wedged between items #2 & #5. There is a lip on item #2 for the sprocket to ride on, but the lip is only about 1/16". No where near the amount needed to support the sprocket. When this happened the sprocket became bound and could no longer slip.


Below is the newer style clutch.
This clutch is located on the pickup drive shaft and on the left side of the baler.
Note that the sprocket item #2 now is designed to ride on the shaft and item #5 stays centered on #4. Everything stays aligned.


Edited by DennisA (IL) - 10 Jun 2017 at 10:37pm

Don't have cam but I think have some other parts for in there. Anything else you think you need. Ill look

I updated the original post.

BrettPhillips wrote: Nice work sir! I'm glad to see someone else who believes in keeping this equipment ready to go.

I always try. The time to fix is not in the field. One will always have break downs, but keeping the equipment maintained will keep them to a minimum.
I've been using this baler for the passed 17 years and the only issues it's had has been with the slip clutch. Once three years ago and now this passed week. So 2 break downs in 17 years is pretty good in my book.

Don't ya just hate it when everything only breaks when you need it?  Looks like you did a good job on rebuilding your machine.  I used to run MF bales and the pickup was one of several weak points on them.  My Hesstons seem to be more robust.