Disc mowers

[paul]

So, looking at disc mowers, the old sickle mower is getting tired, not going to totally retire it but be nice to mow a little faster.

What's a good brand out there, mostly old grass ditch hay quality is what I cut, tends to be wet ground and tougher grass, sometimes second cutting is finer and shorter, and a very few acres of alfalfa. Don't want to get into conditioners for that tiny bit of alfalfa.

Anyhow, everyone has a list of why theirs is best, some have gears, some have shafts, some have one big drive area, some have individual drive units.

Kinda looking at New Holand or Massey ferguson around here, but open to ideas.

Paul

 

[deereford]

I have a Lely (shaft drive) and a Gehl (gear drive). The gear drive is easier to chain oil on and the Lely are VERY expensive to repair. I would buy which ever dealer in your area you prefer to patronize.

 

[tbish]

new Holland sir you will love em doesent matter what it is u can mow it just as fast as u can set on the tractor keep the blades sharp and oil in gearbox and bar and go mow even if its raining lol or dew on

 

[Anonymous-0]

after you leave ni--or mf use a briar hook we sell parts and the gear drives will break you --the nh and jd are to hard to pull and too costly to fix --we run 4 and will never own a gear drive again

 

[LarryH]

after you leave ni and mf use a briar hook --we run 4 and the gear drives are too costly to fix and the jd and nh are to hard to pull ---so why run 2nd rate

 

[wolfman]

Where you from? I have a Bush-Hog 7-ft rotary disc mower for sale in s.w.Pa. It mounts easily, cuts with ease. I'd like to have a 9-ft just like it.

 

[RayP(MI)]

Before you buy, look at "DRUM MOWERS." I got one a month ago, and am very impressed.
heres one

 

[timbernt]

I've had Gehl (made by Vicon), Vicon, Kuhn, and MF. Each has their advantages and problems. The Kuhn (GMD 700II HD) has been the most trouble free. At 9 feet it cuts a good swath. PIA to get off tractor to fold the canopy before folding bar to transport. Parts are very easy to get because you can go to either Kuhn or JD dealers. A 100 hp tractor handles it better than a 75 hp. The reason you have to fold the canopy is Kuhn tried to keep the mower close to the rear of the tractor for less side-draft. Vicons cut very well with their 3 blade system. Seemed to have too much trouble with their aluminum main drive pulley and bars (gear drive) did not seem to last. Bearing problems with the pulleys as well. MF needs a good sized tractor for the side draft, but cuts over 10 feet. Tends to bunch hay at the end of the bar due to the vertical support for the canopy. If you hit something hard enough to stop a disc, the MF has a neat way for the gear that drives the disc to shear and limit damage as well as expense. One comment about going from a sickle bar to a disc mower; we used an IH 656 hydro on a New Holland 451 and it was a great match. When we put a 7 ft Vicon on it the hydraulics were not strong enough to lift the bar to vertical position. After putting a heavier releif valve it worked, but still slow. Speed control was great with the hydro.

 

[RodinNS]

I would buy only a Kuhn GMD (77) unless you want a narrower machine... or one of it's various derivatives in other color paint. Mine is actually a 465 NH.
My simple opinion of that mower is this: if the discs and shafts are tight, the oil is clean and you keep clean oil in the bar and gearbox... it's not going to give you much problem. Ours has had the breakaway latch replaced, a lot of belts, PTO shaft and bearings, u-joints, more skid shoes than enough and more blades than I can remember. In that time it's had 2 discs... but the bar has never been opened.
I think the machines that have the smaller diameter disc and the longer knife stand up better... and that's the case with this one anyhow. It's seen a lot of rough use and rock... and compared to the discbine I've got... there is no comparison in durability between the two. The discbine wants a LOT more parts.

Rod

 

[495man]

We've had good luck with New Holland, gear drive. It's an "economy" mower according to NH.

Ours is an HM235, just finished the 4th season of cutting with it, no major issues to speak of. Oil is changed every year in cutter bar and gear box.

MF has shaft drive, if you look at stats, usually a gear drive takes slightly more power than a shaft, i.e. you can run a 5 disc gear or a 6 disc shaft at same power requirement.

I looked at MF disc mowers, nothing that said "don't buy", we only ended up with NH due to it being the better deal.

 

[keh]

I have a Vermeer which is a beefed up Lely. No problems with it. For best cutting you need to keep the rpms up.

If you get a gear bed mower I reccommend you change the cutterbar oil and gearbox oil once a year.

All disc mowers are expensive to repair, so maintenance is a money saver.

KEH

 

[Tx Jim]

I too own a Vermeer that I bought used. I cut several 1000 acres with it. One nice thing about the shaft drive over the gear drive is if an obstruction is hit while cutting and turtles get out of time by twisting drive shaft a little all one needs to do to time is raise spindle up to change timing a tooth or two.