I just sold my New Idea 9' disc mower finally so now i'm in the market for a used disc mower in a little better shape. I've looked at Krone, Kuhn, and new Holland so far. Does anyone have any recommendations on which disc mowers you use or which ones you like? I really like the New Idea mowers, I'm just searching out all options at this point.
Used Disc Mowers
- Thread starter matt21
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jagyzf
Silver Member
If you are going to be getting machine 5 years old and newer, I don't know if any are bad machines. We have a Deere and love it, a few people I know have New Holland and like them. My wifes uncle really likes his new idea. Kuhn has a comb conditioner, the few people I have known with them did not like them.
chh
Veteran Member
New Ideas are now sold strictly as MF mowers, so don't be thrown if you can't find a newer model New Idea for sale. The only major brand I have been warned away from is Rhino(by a Rhino dealer) because of bar problems. I don't know if that has been changed on new ones, but I would be cautious about a used one. Vermeer, Fella, NH, MF(New Idea), Krone, and Kuhn(JD) are all basically good machines. Condition is king in a used mower. Vermeers specs make it look like more of a power hog than the others(the last I checked), and (I think) MF(New Idea) specs out to require a bit less than some of the other models. I am currently running 2 Krone mowers and am satisfied with them. I especially like that they use a driveline instead of belts(less maintainence).
I would really like to go back to a conditioner but i don't see very many around here for sale. Most people just use plain disc mowers. I'm starting to wish now i hadn't sold the one i had. I got a good buy on it and haven't been able to find another one that good for a price anywhere close to what i paid. So unless i can luck on to another good deal, it looks like i'm just gonna stick with another disc mower.
I used sickle bar for many years, 3-4 mph is about the fastest I could even get with a good cut under ideal condtions. We now use a disk mower at 5 - 6.5 mph and mowing time is less then 1/2. This is due to a sickle bar every bit of "down" crop or woodchuck hole would cause build up and you would have to stop and back up to clear it. Disk mower I have never had to clear a "slug/plug", you just keep going forward.
I was just at Deere.com a few weeks ago and they don't show a sickle bar machine anymore only disk mowers.
Gizmo36
Platinum Member
I still get the sickle mower out ever now and again . But the Krone is hard to beat.just make sure it don't run out of oil or you will be putting gears in it.
MFRED
Platinum Member
Sickle bar, oh man, those are surely outdated. With our Krone EC280, I mow at 8-8.5 mph. I could go faster if the field isn't rough. I think I would quit haying if I had to use a sickle bar. It's alright if you've got nothing but time, and like to backup all the time. For any kind of production, a disc mower is the way to go. They require maintenance yes, but if you take care of it, it will go a long time. Don't run anything without of oil, you'll be putting a lot of parts in any machine.
flusher
Super Member
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Yeh. Disc mowers are nice.
But sicklebars have their uses.
Right now I can hear my neighbor's Hesston windrower speeding through the first of his three 10-acre alfalfa fields. That old machine has a 15-ft sicklebar that's cutting the crop like butter. Sicklebar mowers probably take more TLC than disc mowers, but I don't think they've been obsoleted by disc mowers yet, at least for the small-acreage guy.
