Which is better, Hay bine or Disc mower ?

[BARNSCOOP]

I need replacement equiptment. What are the pros and cons of either and which one do you guys like best?

 

[EAT BEEF]

WELL heres my opinions :cowboy:

Haybine ------------------------- Discbine
less to purchase --------------------------- Faster
less horsepower ---------------------------- easy to change blades
better for alfalfa jmo----- better for grass hay, if you don't scalp the ground jmo,just for speed
repairs are cheaper----------------------- blades are cheaper than sections

I guess you are talking about both machines having crimping rollers if not the haybine would have a big advantage in dry down time compared to just a disc mower.I like running both types of machine,but I would rather use the haybine on my own hay as I fell the grass comes back a little better,but some folks don't agree with that.As for which is better alot will depend on the tractor you have,amount of hay your cutting,and money you want to spend.I find alot of used discbines are used up,but you can find nice used haybines for $2,500-$5,000 that have alot of years of life left.

 

[Aaron]

I agree with Eat Beef. I am partial to the haybines. Discbines are overpriced IMHO. If you can get an older, lightly used haybine you will be sitting pretty. If you can get it in good shape, you can run through the fields with it fairly quickly too. Just have to remember that when things break on it, there is always an underlying cause and a lot of times its due to something being wrong on the machine. New Holland haybines are top notch in our books. We have a NH 479 and a Hesston PT-10. The New Holland can run acres around the Hesston and is a lot more user friendly when doing repairs. The rear springs in the New Holland haybines are their key to success and allow for greater travel speeds.

 

[c farmer]

I prefer a discbine, every year i have hay that gets blown down because of heavy rain and the discbine will pick up almost all of it. Our haybine would just cut the tops off.

 

[grannysoo]

Never used a haybine, but am very pleased with our disc mower.

 

[BARNSCOOP]

I currently own a John Deere 1219 sickle bar haybine and the bar has broken twice on me this season. Any comments, knowledge of this machine?

 

[dyates]

Are you talking about the cutterbar or the knifeback that the sections bolt to? I've never seen a cutterbar broken on any machine. Bent, twisted, but not broken.

 

[BARNSCOOP]

The knifeback about halfway down were it rivots to cutter bar.

 

[MikeC]

Discbines are an absolute necessity when cutting hay in a field where fireants are present, especially in prairie type soil when it might be a little damp.

We got by using a sickle bar mower for many years but I don't know how.

 

[dyates]

The knifeback about halfway down were it rivots to cutter bar.

Something is out of alignment or overtightened. The knife back must have a straight edge behind it along it's entire length. It may also be that the hold downs are overtightened. If you don't have an owner's manual/service manual, go to the dealer and get one.

 

[BARNSCOOP]

It didnt break untill i got into thich grass & the dew fell ,will wet grass cause in to clog up put to much pressure on it to break or poss to much speed .

 

[bigbull338]

i would go with the disc bine.because you can change the blades 5x faster.on the old haybines you have to pull the sicklebar out to replace missing or broke sections.an doing that takes an hour or more.an once you get the hang of it you can change the blades on a discbine in an hour or less.an you can cut alot more hay faster.if you run to fast you can clogg a haybine up.

 

[dyates]

It didnt break untill i got into thich grass & the dew fell ,will wet grass cause in to clog up put to much pressure on it to break or poss to much speed .

Wet or thick grass is a problem, but if everything is adjusted right, you shouldn't be breaking knifebacks. It surely has a slip clutch that is frozen. I would start there.

 

[1982vett]

Barnscoop, are you actualy breaking the bar that slides in the guard and holddown clips or are you just losing a knife (sickle tooth)?

 

[BARNSCOOP]

Iam breaking the piece that drives the bar it rivets to the knife bar

 

[novatech]

The haybine for cane type or stemmy type hay. The disc for leafier grass like bermuda or Bahia.

 

[1982vett]

Ok, I've heard you several times already and pretty sure you are talking about this piece.



I am trying to understand exactly where it is breaking.
1. Are the rivets holding the circled part to the bar holding the knifes shearing
2. Is the bar (number 11) pulling in two kind of like the cutaway of the picture shows.

Either way their is a lot of friction at work. If you are shearing the rivets and repairing by re-riveting, is it possible the holes have become slightly slotted. Would't take much slack to cause a lot of excessive hammering on the rivets causing them to fail. If you have been repairing the old one, it might be time for a whole new blade.

I'm with dyates on the other bar breaking. Cutting in damp and wet conditions can pack the holddown clips and guides with a lot of dirt and grass. Things can get get pretty tight. Forage doesn't cut as well when it is damp. The dryer grass and matter are tougher and the dirt doesn't fall away as fast. Gets pretty gummy down on the cutter bar.

I have a New Holland with stub guards (John Deere calls them non-clogging). It does a good job depending on how wet the ant hills are (blackland prarie). Neighbor has a John Deere disc cutter and has about the same amount of trouble with anthill dirt building up on the underside when the hills are to wet.

Hope this helps some.

 

[BARNSCOOP]

Yes the bar you have circled is the piece that keeps breaking. Not at the rivets but right after the fifth rivet from the end that drives the blade. That's a great picture. I have a manual that I have looked through several times with no luck as to the problem.

 

[somn]

Here where I live in the land of high summer winds and those darn gophers a discbine wins everytime. Nothing worse than having to mow one way with a sicklebar mower except mowing one way while digging gopher mound dirt out of the bar.

 

[1982vett]

Yes the bar you have circled is the piece that keeps breaking. Not at the rivets but right after the fifth rivet from the end that drives the blade. That's a great picture. I have a manual that I have looked through several times with no luck as to the problem.

Bummer BARNSCOOP, without being able to look at the machine, I'm not sure what would cause it to break like that other than something that is really out of line or adjustment.

What kind of guards are you running? The regular rock guards or the non-clogging stub guards. Just wondering, don't think either one would cause your problem.

Just another thought and something to look at. Somn thinks the stroke on the blade might not be correct, so I will point you in this direction.

View attachment 1



Hope I am interpreting the diagrams properly. Note the splines. If they are worn, the stroke might not be sufficient to run the knife all the way thru the guard to make a clean cut. Also if looking at the diagram and understanding it properly, (don't know if it can be done, not familiar with your machine) it looks like you could put the piece on one spline off could causing the knifes on the bar not to mesh properly with the guards. I'm thinking (without going out and looking at my own) that the knife should be centered on a guard on the back stroke and pass thru to the center of the adjacent guard on the push stroke.