John Deere 1327 Discbine

[reid5365]

What are some things to look for? Also whats their reputation?? Pros and cons? Thanks guys!!
 

[Roger Iowa]

Old. Used the Kuhn cutterbar.
 

[phillipd]

The others are right.They are old,but are/were a very good machine so long as the cutterbar is good.That is their downfall.They don't have individual hubs,so if there is a problem,it's usually a big one.We ran one for years and hardly spent a cent on it.Than a young fella working for us hit a huge rock in a rented field and it bent the bar.It was going to be expensive enough to fix it,it just wasn't worth it.After the cost of fixing,it still would be a machine with a vounderable bar in the worng hands.
If the bar is really good,you run it yourself and know your fields,it will give you many many years of satisfaction.You can't check the oil level in the bar.You drain it on the left (side of the drawbar) with the right elevated on a ramp.It will hopefully drain off 1.6 litres of oil ,80w90 gear oil because that's how much it's supposed to hold.It has a belt driven impellor which is wonderfull.We replaced ours with a 920 which has gear driven impellors and it's very noisy,miss the 1327 in alot of ways.If the price is right,and it needs absolutely no cutterbar work,than don't be scared of it,but if it does need work,don't take it for free unless you need the parts.Five grand will easily be tied up in rebuilding a cutterbar on a 1327 if it's bad enough.pd.
 

[RodinNS]

It's a Kuhn cutterbar adapted into a Deere designed frame and an impeller conditioner.
I think they're generally a decent mower. Hearing it run would be a good idea to pinpoint any vibrations that may be in it.. but if you can't and you're still interested, take hold of each disc and rock it to check for bearing play. If the discs are tight the bar is generally OK.
They can also get play in the hub/splines for each disc which will also be evident by a wobbly disc.
Either way, loose discs equal expensive repairs.
Personally I think anything of that vintage that appears to be in operating condition is still only a 1500 buck machine. It's old. Just plain old. You don't know what tomorrow will bring...
I've paid big dollars for used discbines because I needed one at the time, but if I had it to do over I'd buy one from the weeds in the wreckers row and rebuild it from stem to stern. Then you have a mostly 'new', quite servicable machine without the cost of a new machine. That's assuming that you do the labor yourself...


Rod
 

[kyhayman]

Check the outside impeller bearing for signs of shaft wear (bearing spinning). There is a shield in there that will literally wear away to nothing, then hay wraps the shaft, eats out the grease seal, and cooks the bearing. Then the bearing starts spinning on the shaft.

I had one I bought 10 years ago for cheap. Only dropped about double what I paid for it into it in each of two years before I sent it on its way.

But, it worked well when it worked.
 

[Illinois Farmall]

I had one given to me that had a damaged cutterbar. Turned out one of the drive gears inside the cutterbar was completely stripped plus needed 3 bearings replaced. I have over $700 invested in my "free" machine thus far, including a new tire plus untold hours of labor disassembling/reassembling the cutterbar. The other posters are correct in that John Deere is very proud of the parts for this machine. I used it on about 30 acres of hay last season and was very pleased with the results. Drydown was very quick. I drained the cutterbar oil after the last cutting and altho I didn"t measure what drained out, it appeared to be what was put it. When you drain the oil, raise the one side of the machine and let it drain overnight because it does drain slowly. Good luck!
 

[RickL]

I don't know if this helps or what you are exactly looking for but i have a JD 1460 discbine with rolls that has been very good unit for me,it still is,only reason I am wanting to sell it is i don't need two of them any longer. still prefer rolls over the swing hammers here anyway.