Years of experience dismantling and rebuilding Deere balers have proven to Nelson Horning that Tucker Fingers in the knotters are nearly always worn and have a lot of play. Horning builds replacement Tucker Shafts for use on Deere 8 series balers and for many other models, including the 24T.

“Deere’s current Tucker Shaft has ball joint ends that tend to wear and result in poor knots,” says Horning. “Our updated shaft with ball joints sells for $150. The price includes a new spring and a new angle bracket, which is typically worn as well.” Horning says his price is usually 40 to 50 percent less than replacement parts through a Deere dealer.
Horning also manufactures new Tucker Fingers made with stainless steel bushings that he sells for $44 each. “We’ve been working on Deere balers for almost 20 years and have customers in 40 states,” Horning says. At last count he says nearly a thousand farmers have sent him baler parts for repair and refurbishing.

“I started this business back in the early 90’s almost by accident,” Horning says. “I needed new parts for an old Deere chopper and they wanted $600 for them at the dealership. I bought salvage parts for $200, made some improvements, and they worked just perfect. I did the same with baler parts the next year and things just mushroomed from there,” says Horning.

Horning’s experience with balers has also shown him that ejector pans have a lot of play and usually break where the pan is attached with a 7/16-in. pin. He drills new holes and secures the pan with 3/4-in. pins, which makes it a lot tighter. If parts are worn out, Horning has a large supply of replacements. Those he doesn’t have can be made in his shop. His current inventory includes more than 100 different aftermarket parts and thousands of used parts. Most are for Deere balers, although he will work on New Holland machines and plans to expand into discbines soon.

Horning also has a knotter rebuilding service where turnaround is 1 to 2 days. He replaces pinion gears, the billhook, the wipershaft, bushing and knife.

“On all our repair jobs we rebuild the parts, clean them and paint them so they’re like new. We’re proud of the service we provide and our customers tell us they’re very satisfied,” Horning says.