Sloppy belt tensioner arm.

Rrueda · 2025-10-04T13:17:47-0400

Hello everybody,

my baler was chewing through belts and I found out the tensioning arm had considerable play in it so I ordered the inner bushing in which it rides thinking it might be worn.

Upon disassembly, I found out that the new one has a beveled edge while the old ones was horribly worn and flat on both sides as seen in the enclosed picture. I can`t find anywhere if the beveled side goes towards the baler or not. Does anyone know?

Tried to install it anyway to see if it made any sense, but the outer bushing where the grease zerk is located is also worn and it has enough wear in the inner diameter (Check picture) so that even with the new inner bushing it still has a lot of side to side play at the pulley. Should I change the arm too? Send it to a machine shop? It would help a lot if someone knows the original measurements. For some reason the inner bushing is longer than the arm`s bushing. I`m lost here.

Every bit of help highly appreciated as usual.

mike10 · 2025-10-04T18:26:22-0400

There should be taper on the frame to match the spacer. If not, you probably do not have the right part.

Rrueda · 2025-10-05T13:13:50-0400

Hi, Mike.
There is definetely no taper on the frame to match the spacer, -it is a flat surface with the threaded hole to receive the bolt that holds the whole assembly together- but just double checked using the Messick`s parts diagram and according to it is the correct part.

Part number in the packaging and in the diagram is #334712.

Seems like a dead end. What else could it be?

mike10 · 2025-10-05T15:22:06-0400

Out of curiosity, is the spacer 30mm long? What is the length of the original spacer? What is the width of the arm where the spacer goes? I thought maybe the part number had been changed when newer balers were introduced, so I dug up an old paper parts book dated 1995 and that is the part number shown for that spacer. There is no way that spacer will work. You will not be able to keep the bolt tight with so little shoulder against the frame. On top of that the spacer appears wider than the original and the idler arm will be all over the place. Believe me, this would not be the first time NH screwed up on a part. It appears the new spacer is longer than the original by the length of the taper. If it was mine, I would take the spacer to a machine shop and have the spacer machined to the same length as the original eliminating the taper.

Rrueda · 2025-10-05T15:52:43-0400

I didnt measure the dimensions, but here is the reference photo taken without permission from the Messick's website with the approximate measurement. It seems to be 30mm.

Sloppy belt tensioner arm.

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