Poor Man's Automatic Tie System

Poor Man's Automatic Tie System BALERS Balers 23-1-39 Fred Lewton, Valley Grove, W. Va.: "I had rotator cuff surgery on my right shoulder in 1988, which made it even more troublesome than usual to reach behind me to operate the manual tie arm on my Massey Ferguson 560 round baler. "So I came up with a æpoor man's' automatic tie system from a variety of old parts I had around the shop. It cost nothing to make yet works as well as comparable after-market or optional factory-built systems that cost hundreds of dollars. "I used a 12-volt rear window motor out of a 1978 GMC Suburban. I used two U-bolts to mount the electric motor on the 1 1/2-in. dia. bar which runs from one side of the baler to the other and on which the manual tie arm pivots. I welded a piece of 1-in. dia. rebar, which I bent into a 90 degree angle, into the eyelet that originally held the rope that engages and disengages the tie arm. The rebar extends the arm so that travel is exactly 70 in., enough to tie my 60 in. long bales. "I next ran electric wires back inside the tractor cab along the hydraulic lines and connected them to the window motor switch which I mounted inside a 2 by 4-in. metal electric box. I simply mount the box wherever it's handy in the cab with a magnet. "Now, the only manual operation in baling remains cutting the twine. Saves a lot of time and aggravation, and a lot of strain on my shoulder."

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