The purpose of this page is to share information about knotter problems on a vintage McCormick International Harvester 46 Square Baler. The serial number plate lists this machine as: International Harvester, Model 46 Baler, Serial # H. The 46 series was built 1957-1963.

Problem/Symptom~ One side of the knotter mechanism will not knot and makes a mess, other side knots but does not cut clean.

Solution~ Replace and adjust knives, adjust knotter tension springs.

We had hay down in the field, our regular baler failed (again), and we brought out Old Faithful, the IH 46. It made bales that were a little wonky, but it always worked. Until now. It would not knot on one side, and I had to finish tying all the bales by hand and was running out of time. In hindsight it was all pretty simple and straightforward, so maybe I can save someone else some time.

Screenshots from the Manual~

Workflow~

First, remove the bolts that are holding the knotters and swing them up. Penetrating oil the night before helps for removal. Some short blocks of wood help for holding it up and working on it as shown below.

Above~ What a mess!

Clearing the mechanism~

Above~ Removing what I believe is called the keeper blade helps in clearing some of the tangles if they are a particularly bad mess. It is easy to remove and reinstall.

Servicing the knives~

Above~ Front and back view of knife. Not knowing if I could get parts, I tried to sharpen them according to the manual with a tiny file.

Below~ Installed shims according to specs and ran the baler again. Same thing, big mess.

Plan B~

The part number for the knife blades is 668 962 R1. With hay still on the ground and the window closing fast, as a long shot I went to our local dealer, Hall Bros. in Norton, NB, just to see. They had these in stock! $7 each, should have done this in the first place.

Above~ The washers/shims on the left control the distance between the knife edge and corner of the “C disc,” the shims to the right keep the distance to the disc which is supposed to be 5/16.” Manual said to bend the part to get the 5/16 spread but I felt safer opting for shims at this point. For the blade, I sprayed penetrating beforehand and the setscrew budged.

Above~ Now with the new knife blades installed, the distance is too great and some shims must be removed and distance reset to 13.49mm to 15.08mm (17/32″-19/32″). Above is a bit over 16mm–the new blade makes the gap too wide.

Above~ With new knife blades and clearance set, it was time to tackle the tension springs.

Adjusting Knotter Tension~

The troubleshooting section of the manual lists all kinds of things that can happen from improper tension adjustment. I noticed that the one on the right (that was working properly) had more threads showing than the one on the left. Since twine was getting wrapped all inside the left discs, I wondered if there wasn’t enough tension. Despite spraying with penetrating oil the night before, the bolt was pretty much seized, but managed to get it unfrozen a bit and gave it about 1/2 turn.

Finally~

Between the new knives and the tension adjustment it tied great, clean knots. We never even lost a single bale and were able to finish the job and get hay in the barn ahead of the storm.

Notes~

It would have been far, far easier to just get new knives, adjust clearance and do a tension adjustment in the first place. You can do that in the field.

This baler was our backup baler when ours failed, and it failed a lot. It was loaned to us by a friend, as people will do in these parts to help somebody out. He had dragged it out of the woods, greased it up and showed me how to use it. My wife called it Old Faithful and even wrote an article about it. It was like the Energizer Bunny, and had never failed to work until this year. This got it going again.

Photography and Life in Rural New Brunswick