John Deere 30 bale thrower problems

I have been having a rough day. Went to bale straw and my 24t that just came back from being in the shop crashed the plunger knife into the stationary knife. Took it back to the shop and he worked on it right away. He had to many shims in the knife. We installed new knives and now it is baling good. My 30 thrower kicked the first 4-5 bales perfect on setting 5. After that they barely go in the wagon even on 8. My pump had a fairly bad leak so earlier this week we swapped it with a pump I got from the Amish when they removed a thrower. It is full of oil. Where do I start looking for the problem? I have 40 acres of straw laying and so far today makes me want to light a match to it. Tom

I just found the operators manual and it tells you nothing. I remember reading something about doing something in the valve every few years but not sure what. Thanks Tom

The something every few years is clean and lube under the cap (held on with two screws I think). Detent cap is on the valve.

Give me some more symptoms of what is doing or not doing...

Sounds like some debris is in the relief valve. It is the adjustable valve with the disk having the numbers on it. Maybe something stuck in it not allowing pressure. Might try turning from 1 to 8 several times and see if it clears. If not remove the valve and see if you can find something stuck in it.

If corrosion gets bad in the detent mechanism the kicker will not trip correctly. So that would not explain the weak throw. Yes, sounds like low hydraulic pressure. Maybe check the main screen isn’t clogged. I tried screwing my screen out once to clean it but it wouldn’t budge. So I brushed it off in place.

Wow just like deja view all over again. Had similar problem with my #40 ejector this week. Changed all the pressure hoses and oil and filter. Started it up and all it would do is move the pan a bit with not enough pressure to open the latch cylinder. See the JD forum "#40 Ejector Mystery". So with the kind help of Roger and Mike decided relief pressure too low. I had bled the air from both the latch cylinder hose and the pan cylinder hose a couple times and still nothing. So figured Roger's thought of hose debris in the relief valve. Took off electric control and dial from relief valve with a 1 1/8" wrench loosened the valve and heard air escaping and then oil. Thought, what the heck, and tried it. Noticed the pan movement had more force. Kept tripping the valve and after 20 or so cycles the pan released and threw normally. Also with the dial off, the relief valve can be rotated about 900 degrees instead of 345 degrees when on the baler. When tripping the valve I rotated the valve the full range. Seems to work normally now but I haven't tried it in the field. I pulled the old 336 and 30 ejector out and used it. Banged out 500 bales without a miss. Go figure. And yes Mike there is an orifice in the valve body to cushion the pan when it returns home but it is before the pan cylinder hose, not in the hose. Hope this helps some and good luck......Ron

Roger would the later operators manual give and more info than the early one? My book is for below sn 115020. There does not appear to be a service manual for them that I could find with a Google search. It might be awhile before I get much more info as we are having other problems. A few years ago the track in my bale case broke where the slot for the plunger safety stop is. I took it to an Amish shop and told him to replace the track and sharpen my plunger knives as well as reshim the plunger. I got the baler back and he had set the knife clearance wrong causing the knives to hit. Put in a different set of knives but the baler is very noisy. When he replaced the track he did not replace the wear pads on the plunger. So the baler is going back to his shop and getting new pads and reshimming the plunger again. He told me he does not know why he did not put all new parts on the first time but he works on 5 NH balers to every one Deere. So it might be awhile before I get the baler working to be able to trouble shoot the thrower. Thanks you and the others that posted. Tom

Tom, see what 4020 wrote above. Could be your problem??

As for manuals, I down loaded a service manual for a #40. Doesn't give much info on the relief valve other than a cut-away diagram. Said it regulates dumping pressure from 900psi to 2250psi and to not let the control close too tightly when re-installing the distance control. That and how to remove the valve with the three 3/8 x 3 hex bolts and removing the link to the spool......Ron