New Holland vs Kuhn Disc mower

[whodat526]

some of the nh have comer cutter bars.

yea maybe the ecnomy models which is built by sitrex but not the 616 and h series style cutter that is made my nh there self

 

[I have no memory]

If memory serves, (which it usually doesn't), AGCO/MF/Heston gets their cutter bars from Sitrex which I consider second tier.

 

[whodat526]

If memory serves, (which it usually doesn't), AGCO/MF/Heston gets their cutter bars from Sitrex which I consider second tier.

sitrex is a pretty good cutter i have used them and sold them and they hold up pretty good

 

[sweettractors]

sitrex is a pretty good cutter i have used them and sold them and they hold up pretty good

I have to agree, We sell the Sitrex, Galfre, Farm-Maxx, Fort disc mowers and the Sitrex is a few more $ higher than the other 2 however, they have better name recognition. Ken Sweet

 

[HayDR]

If memory serves, (which it usually doesn't), AGCO/MF/Heston gets their cutter bars from Sitrex which I consider second tier.

AGCO/MF/Hesston uses the New Ideas designed cutterbar. That cutterbar is manufactured for them by Comer. It is not sold to anyone else.

The Sitrex disc mower uses a 300 series Comer gear drive cutterbar, yes it is a solid system and is not the latest out but a proven cutterbar. Comer makes the Claas cutterbar for them. Comer has as much technology as Kuhn when it comes to spur gear cutterbars.

Fort, Morra & Leverda all share a cutterbar made in the MBS factory.

 

[I have no memory]

CCI - I read a lot of your posts and got email from you in the past. I ended up ordering a Vermeer based on:

1. Your Information on cutter head manufacturers/designs.
2. Efficiencies and reduced parts in the Lely shaft design.
3. Ease of repair in Lely shaft design.
4. Checking a bunch of old cutter bars to see how they held up.
5. Being impressed with the Vermeer people at the factory.
6. The Vermeer design of the new TM850 mower.

I believe when you buy a disc mower the two factors are cutter head and whatever carries it. So, when I did my research I looked at a lot of cutter head designs to see if I could compare apples to apples. It seemed there where three basic designs: Lely-Shaft, Kuhn-Gear, Krone-Multi-Gear.

Using information, mainly gleaned from you, I put together a spreadsheet with different cutter head manufacturer information. It doesn't look pretty but here it is:

Mower / Type / Cutterbar / Model
AGCO Hesston MF / Shaft / Comer / Lely Copy
Sitrex / Gear / Comer / 300
Fort & Morra & Leverda / Gear / MBS / Kuhn Copy
Kuhn / Gear / Kuhn
Vermeer / Shaft / Lely
Hay Magnum / Shaft / USA Made - Texas / Lely Copy
New Holland / Shaft / Make their own. / Lely Copy
John Deere / Gear / Make their own - Iowa / Kuhn Copy
Krone / Gear / Krone
Vicon / Gear / Kverneland

Did I make many mistakes? I know saying Kuhn or Lely copy is simplistic in that there may be some changes but I think most are minor or just there to get around the prospective patents.

-For Shaft designs I think Lely was the first and the best.

-For Gear designs everyone copies Kuhn but you could do well with some of the copies depending on dealer support.

-Krone seems to be in a class by itself with their gear drive design. They are probably the best and probably the most expensive. I just didn't have any dealer close enough to consider one.

 

[Bigfoot62]

Did I make many mistakes? I know saying Kuhn or Lely copy is simplistic in that there may be some changes but I think most are minor or just there to get around the prospective patents.

John Deere / Gear / Make their own - Iowa / Kuhn Copy

Don't know if it was a mistake or mis-print, but John Deere does not "make their own." It's not a Kuhn copy, it IS a Khun. The JD "5 Series" (265,275, & 285) disc mowers are built by Kuhn for JD. Except for the green paint and a black tarp, they are exactly a GMD 600, 700 & 800, respectively. I have both a 265 and a GMD 600.

 

[sweettractors]

Don't know if it was a mistake or mis-print, but John Deere does not "make their own." It's not a Kuhn copy, it IS a Khun. The JD "5 Series" (265,275, & 285) disc mowers are built by Kuhn for JD. Except for the green paint and a black tarp, they are exactly a GMD 600, 700 & 800, respectively. I have both a 265 and a GMD 600.

Back in the early days, Kuhn also made NH,Deere,Gehl Hay tedders. I don't know about today? Ken Sweet

 

[Tx Jim]

I have a Gentleman that works for me and his Fort mower is 15 yrs old and still has the original belts and he has replaced all blades and blade bolts 1 time. He does about 300 big rolls per year and a few square bales for the calves..

Ken
You state a gentleman has used one of your disc cutters for 15 yrs and only replace blades/bolts once. If all disc cutters that you sell have that track record how can you afford to stock $60K PARTS INVENTORY?

On another tractor site you stated in a response to one of my posts that you had sold 1000's of disc cutters and in this thread you stated you've sold nearly 1000. There's a lot of difference in the statements. Also I've pulled a NH 617 over a lot of acres/yrs and I think it takes a whole lot more than 1000 acres to wear out skid shoes

 

[sweettractors]

Ken
You state a gentleman has used one of your disc cutters for 15 yrs and only replace blades/bolts once. If all disc cutters that you sell have that track record how can you afford to stock $60K PARTS INVENTORY?

On another tractor site you stated in a response to one of my posts that you had sold 1000's of disc cutters and in this thread you stated you've sold nearly 1000. There's a lot of difference in the statements. Also I've pulled a NH 617 over a lot of acres/yrs and I think it takes a whole lot more than 1000 acres to wear out skid shoes

Well, actually parts inventory has gone up quite a bit. We now have most parts also in Used inventory at 1/2 price of new. Basically, we support most of the nation with parts for Fort. Long, Panorama, Yellow Jacket, First Choice, Farm-Maxx, Morra. As you may know hundreds of dealers have went out of business in the last few years and we seemed to have picked up the extra parts business from that. We actually could build a few mowers from ground up with our parts inventory. Ken Sweet