Hay Equipment question

[cfpinz]

We have a MC840 that has a history pretty similar to yours. Hit something and it will break the gears in the cutterbar, if you're lucky the upper gear only, but it has broken several lowers and the whole cutterbar needs to be disassembled to repair that. I've gotten pretty quick with it, on ours I can drop one side of the cutterbar and have it slid apart in an hour or so.

What type of ground speed do you run on the 840?

We've only had this one for about 4 years now, but have been well pleased so far.

I'd like to try a NH next go round, Dad has an old 1412 and it pulls a lot easier than my yellow machines.

 

[Atimm693]

What type of ground speed do you run on the 840?

We've only had this one for about 4 years now, but have been well pleased so far.

I'd like to try a NH next go round, Dad has an old 1412 and it pulls a lot easier than my yellow machines.

9mph tops, but that's a rarity. Usually between 6 and 7 on good ground. We still have it and use it on our smaller and hilly patches.

We have a pretty big CNH dealer nearby, so it was kind of an easy choice since we didn't want to go with Vermeer again. Kubota is close by as well but they were quite a bit more expensive. Last I knew they were a Vicon with orange paint.

Those 14 series machines are good for sure. Lot of them around. I know a lot of guys prefer them over the H series and what they have now.

 

[cfpinz]

9mph tops, but that's a rarity. Usually between 6 and 7 on good ground. We still have it and use it on our smaller and hilly patches.

We have a pretty big CNH dealer nearby, so it was kind of an easy choice since we didn't want to go with Vermeer again. Kubota is close by as well but they were quite a bit more expensive. Last I knew they were a Vicon with orange paint.

Those 14 series machines are good for sure. Lot of them around. I know a lot of guys prefer them over the H series and what they have now.

Thanks.

I run about 6 with ours most of the time, our ground is too rough to go much faster than that without tearing stuff up.

I'd like to try a center pivot machine someday, but the 10-1/2' machines are kind of the sweet spot for me with portability up and down the roads - plus our tedder/rakes are already sized to that size of mowers. When I looked a year or so ago, NH had a 10 or 11 foot center pivot mower that was interesting, but the cutterbar wasn't the same as the conventional units and bothered me.

 

[Atimm693]

Thanks.

I run about 6 with ours most of the time, our ground is too rough to go much faster than that without tearing stuff up.

I'd like to try a center pivot machine someday, but the 10-1/2' machines are kind of the sweet spot for me with portability up and down the roads - plus our tedder/rakes are already sized to that size of mowers. When I looked a year or so ago, NH had a 10 or 11 foot center pivot mower that was interesting, but the cutterbar wasn't the same as the conventional units and bothered me.

We looked at those as well, were turned off by the lack of shear protection in the cutterbar. The cutterbars also aren't modular. Which is good and bad I guess. Our 313 has 13 gearboxes total and it takes a while to service them lol.

Center vs side pull really depends on how you like to mow your fields. If you just go in a circle it doesn't make a lot of difference, if you like to run back and forth it does since you don't have the split the field and end up with triangles. It's also kinda nice to be able to steer the mower around corners and stuff, can't hardly steer to the left with a side pull that's folded up.

Most center pivots also have a 2pt or drawbar swivel hitch that is way easier on the driveline and you can turn a lot sharper.

 

[cfpinz]

We looked at those as well, were turned off by the lack of shear protection in the cutterbar. The cutterbars also aren't modular. Which is good and bad I guess. Our 313 has 13 gearboxes total and it takes a while to service them lol.

Center vs side pull really depends on how you like to mow your fields. If you just go in a circle it doesn't make a lot of difference, if you like to run back and forth it does since you don't have the split the field and end up with triangles. It's also kinda nice to be able to steer the mower around corners and stuff, can't hardly steer to the left with a side pull that's folded up.

Most center pivots also have a 2pt or drawbar swivel hitch that is way easier on the driveline and you can turn a lot sharper.

Thanks.

That's exactly what I didn't like about the cutterbar on the one that was at the Louisville Farm Show, it wasn't modular. I looked at NH's website yesterday and it looks like they're coming out with a new 10' and 12' center pivot with modular cutterbar, Discbine Plus 310 and 312. I'd be interested to demo a 312 just to see if my old 7710 Ford could handle it once they're out and about.

Do you have any preference between drawbar or 2pt swivels? Looks like the drawbar would be easier to adapt to a pickup for road travel, but I've never used either.

 

[Ned Jr.]

I bought this Krone mower this year and absolutely love it! My wife ran it while I ran a self propelled Case WD 1903 with a 13 foot disc on front. Biggest difference is when I filled up the tractor used half the fuel. I was a bit worried the 95C would be too small but it handled it very well. I believe I've turned into a Krone guy! I thought I give one a try after reading all the good reviews here on CT. I'm going after a Krone rake later this week.

 

[cfpinz]

I see a few Krone mowers in this area, but I've never looked under the curtain on one. I'm just not a fan of a gear driven cutterbar, but folks that have them seem to love them.

 

[dvcochran]

the trail mower has been excellent when it works, super easy to hook up and use, cuts great, but again that's if it works. When it was new we had one old t post on the whole damn place and it hit it on it's second use, not the mowers fault and we had been cutting that patch for 5 years ut since I bought it at the same time as the kubota tractor it came with Kubota insurance so they fixed it for free, we only cut about 25 acres usually 3 cuttings a year so that was about 7 years ago, that's not much hay and it went out on it's own, it hit nothing but grass so we had it rebuilt and after 10 acres of grass it went out again so now I'm kind of shy with it so like I said I'm worried. I'd just like it to be as dependable as the old Kuhn cutters which gave us almost no problems although were not as fast so when it's time to cut we just check the grease in the blade bar and gear box and go because we do all our other maintenance when we get done cutting

Was it the exact same failure the 2nd time?

 

[dvcochran]

We have a MC840 that has a history pretty similar to yours. Hit something and it will break the gears in the cutterbar, if you're lucky the upper gear only, but it has broken several lowers and the whole cutterbar needs to be disassembled to repair that. I've gotten pretty quick with it, on ours I can drop one side of the cutterbar and have it slid apart in an hour or so.

CFpinz is correct with how that cutterbar is driven. On a 10' mower I believe there are three hex rods that connect each group of pods. It's very possible that the impact partially sheared the corners off of one end and the dealer missed it during reassembly.

Last year we upgraded to a NH DB313R. There are things I don't like about it's cutterbar, but at least it has a shock hub that isn't too bad to swap out if you hit something.

Krone has the best shear protection IMO, they use a threaded spindle and a roll pin. If you hit something the pin will shear and that turtle will unscrew out of the way so the adjacent ones don't beat it to death.

I believe Kuhn's setup breaks the whole turtle off and throws it out the back, which works I guess but doesn't seem like the best way to me.

Agree. I have had three Krone's over the years (one 8' & two 9') and they were great machines. They definitely take more horsepower than the 10' Kuhn I run now but they were super reliable.

 

[Atimm693]

Thanks.

That's exactly what I didn't like about the cutterbar on the one that was at the Louisville Farm Show, it wasn't modular. I looked at NH's website yesterday and it looks like they're coming out with a new 10' and 12' center pivot with modular cutterbar, Discbine Plus 310 and 312. I'd be interested to demo a 312 just to see if my old 7710 Ford could handle it once they're out and about.

Do you have any preference between drawbar or 2pt swivels? Looks like the drawbar would be easier to adapt to a pickup for road travel, but I've never used either.

Not a whole lot of difference functionally. Drawbar swivel is easier to hook up I'd say once it's set up and shimmed right for the tractor. Some adjustments will need to be made for different drawbar heights and widths if you run the mower on different tractors. We demo'ed a Vermeer with that setup, it was kinda like backing into a fifth wheel, back into the tongue and slam it a little, the pin was spring loaded.

With a 2pt you don't have a jack to mess with, just a drop leg. The 3pt on your tractor needs to be able to hold a set position that's repeatable. We have one tractor that won't. Not bad to hook up if you have a tractor with adjustable sway bars on the 3pt arms, but it can be tricky if it doesn't since you have to be backed up perfectly straight. For road travel you spin the 2pt hitch 180* and NH sells a fixture for hooking to a drawbar. You can also just set the whole tongue on a flatbed and chain it down real good.

We opted for the 2pt since we have one tractor with a wide Euro style drawbar.

 

[cfpinz]

Not a whole lot of difference functionally. Drawbar swivel is easier to hook up I'd say once it's set up and shimmed right for the tractor. Some adjustments will need to be made for different drawbar heights and widths if you run the mower on different tractors. We demo'ed a Vermeer with that setup, it was kinda like backing into a fifth wheel, back into the tongue and slam it a little, the pin was spring loaded.

With a 2pt you don't have a jack to mess with, just a drop leg. The 3pt on your tractor needs to be able to hold a set position that's repeatable. We have one tractor that won't. Not bad to hook up if you have a tractor with adjustable sway bars on the 3pt arms, but it can be tricky if it doesn't since you have to be backed up perfectly straight. For road travel you spin the 2pt hitch 180* and NH sells a fixture for hooking to a drawbar. You can also just set the whole tongue on a flatbed and chain it down real good.

We opted for the 2pt since we have one tractor with a wide Euro style drawbar.

Thank you, Sir. I appreciate the information.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I like the 2pt swivel over the drawbar swivel as I dont need to unbolt anything off the drawbar. Also no tongue jack.

I had a 7710 with my 12' center pivot and it was not a pleasant experience. Power was really lacking. But worse than that was the lack of weight. On any sort of side slope when making the 180 degree turn to go back and forth the mower would push the tractor around like a toy. Even ballasted up past the max recommended weight the tractor got tossed around. More than once I ended up with the tractor and mower jack knifed with the tractor tire wedged under the mower tongue.

 

[cfpinz]

I like the 2pt swivel over the drawbar swivel as I dont need to unbolt anything off the drawbar. Also no tongue jack.

I had a 7710 with my 12' center pivot and it was not a pleasant experience. Power was really lacking. But worse than that was the lack of weight. On any sort of side slope when making the 180 degree turn to go back and forth the mower would push the tractor around like a toy. Even ballasted up past the max recommended weight the tractor got tossed around. More than once I ended up with the tractor and mower jack knifed with the tractor tire wedged under the mower tongue.

That's no good. Most of my fields are fairly flat, so that would help. I just prefer to cut with the 4 cyl tractors, my 6 cyl uses almost twice the fuel.

Was your 12' a sickle or disc machine? I usually run 6th gear rabbit with the 10' class machines. Would your 7710 do that with the 12'?

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Hesston 1340 12' disc machine gear driven cutter bed with steel rolls. With my 7710 in a good hay crop I was really limited to 4th gear and then use the dual power to drop to turtle in the thick spots. I used to burn right at 5.5 gallons of fuel per hour and mow about 5-6 acres per hour.

I now pull the mower with a TW15 or 8830 and the only speed limitation is field smoothness. I burn about 7 gallons per hour in either of those tractors and mow anywhere from 9-13 acres an hours depending on smoothness.
I ended up selling the 7710 because it became underpowered for everything but the hay rake. A lot of smaller operations love that size tractor so I got good money for it and went all 6cyl Ford after that.

 

[Atimm693]

Yep I'd say that 7710 is best on a 10' mower.

Our mowing tractor is a JD 4430. Handles the DB313 pretty well. It will push at times if you're turning around fast. Our bigger fields are pretty flat so that helps. Horsepower is no problem, I don't believe that tractor has been turned up, so probably still around 120 horse or so. It has a loader and wheel weights but no fluid.