discbine vs. disc mower

[Anonymous-0]

looking to get rid of my swather and go to a discbine/mower of some sorts. looking at a new idea 5809 right now. did a search on problems/issues for the disc mowers and folks talk about rock issues with the disc mower but say it's better then the discbine. dont they use the same set up? am a little scared now of the disc mower and rocks. i dont have fields with alot of stones or rocks, maybe here and there, but i cut about 200 acres of grass hay a year and 8 acres of alfalfa. so thinking disc mower better way to go, just looking for opinions.
thanks
cody

 

[brandonh]

i wouldnt worry abiut the rocks with a disc mower. The blades on a disc mower swing freely so if you hit rock they just swing back out of the way. You can hear the blade hitting the rock, gives you time to bump the mower up, if need be. Alot of times the rocks are small enough and the mower rides over them.

 

[Anonymous-0]

just so i'm sure cause i have heard these things called all sorts of different names, a discmower goes on the 3 point and hangs to the side of the tractor. a discbine gets pulled behind the tractor.
i never could get use to haybine, swather, windrower cause to me they are all the same, but not to everyone else.

 

[RodinNS]

I'm afraid you don't have any rock...

Rod

 

[NY 986]

A discbine will have a conditioning apparatus as well as a cutting mechanism. I can't speak to other parts of the US but it is darn near impossible to dry hay here in the Great Lakes region without a conditioner. Of course there are the old pull style conditioners that were around before the combination mower-conditioner but that is extra work that I don't think most people want to have to do. We still keep an old IH 2A conditioner here because it worth nothing on trade and might make a good piece for a future Red Power event.

 

[RodinNS]

Disc mower is anything that uses discs to cut... but generally refers to a simple mower bar without a conditioner and those are nearly always three point mounted.
A Discbine is actually NewHolland's trade name for their trailer disc mower/conditioner... but generally is used to describe any trailed disc mower conditioner.

What I've generally found with mounted disc mowers is that they're light enough to bounce over a lot of rock without getting too much damage. Rock do take the blades out fairly quickly and eventually the blade retainers in the disc will start to crack out and need welding but I can't say that I've seen a major failure in a Kuhn GMD bar because of rock.

Discbines on the other hand... are heavy. They don't bounce very well. They don't jump over rock... they are slow to lift and slow to stop because you have 2 ton plus of machine behind you... so a good chunk of rock can do a lot of damage before you can get clear of it. The other factor... if you strike a rock that's just sticking up a couple inches... and the actual disc hits it, theey often shear the spinner shaft. On Kuhn FC bars that means you get to change out a module that costs somewhere north of 250 bucks... and if it bends the disc/turtle shell you get to replace that at somewhere north of 200 bucks. So you get good at picking rock and in the meantime you set the shoes down on the mower to clear as much of that stuff as possible and set the header float as light as possible... but I've had days where I still changed a full set of blades on a 6 disc mower in not much over an hour in one field.

The joy with the mower you're looking at is that it will break a gear off and you'll probably get to go digging deeply in the drive system of that thing. Kuhn's, while expensive... are pretty simple.

Rod

 

[Anonymous-0]

thanks for the reply's. also found a Krone 323 but dont know anything about them. the only nice thing i think is the owner is the seller and he said he's selling cause some part on the 3 point broke and he could not find a replacement so he bouth a different mower (also a krone) but then found the parts to fix the old one. would rather deal with owner vs. dealer is can.

 

[showcrop]

do you have a TLB or excavator? The way I see it the way rocks grow up every year in my fields, a can of dirt paint while raking and TLB in the fall are essential.

 

[kyhayman]

I've not had any huge issues with rocks, at least no worse than with a sickle haybine. We've got a lot of rock too, ledges, flag stones, etc. At the one farm the soil is mapped 40 to 60 percent flag stone, or 4 inch by 6 inch by inch thick flat rocks. I can eat a set of blades in a day, most days I do have to change out at one farm but a typical day with a sickle was 6 sections and 2 guards. I've twisted a couple of NI shafts, usually hitting a ledge just right but other stuff, guard rails, railroad rail, cross ties, etc are a lot harder on shafts. I wouldnt consider cutting with anything non disc again.

 

[Tim(nj)]

Need any parts for that 2A?? I have rusted-up one here waiting to go to scrap that still has some good stuff on it, like the gearbox, and the rollers might be good, too.

 

[NY 986]

Yeah, I'd be interested. I would have to figure when somebody I know would get down your way to pick it up. Do you have an E - Mail I could directly contact you?

 

[Tim(nj)]

If I did it right my e-mail on this post is enabled.

 

[showcrop]

You have way faster reactions and hydraulics than I do!

 

[Anonymous-0]

if the shaft is twisted how hard is it to change out and/or to change the gear bearings in the turtle on a New Idea 5209?