# What kind of tedder does the best job ?



## Chuck (Dec 14, 2014)

I'm going to trade in my claas 640 volt tedder. I was wondering if anyone new which kind did the best job of spreadding the hay? Is it best to buy one with a small rotor ?


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Chuck you're liable to get a wide variance of answers to that question. My opin is the kuhn for spread quality of Bermuda grass hay. But, the Krone has to be at the top of the heap in build quality, as is the Claas machines I've seen.....I guess it always comes down to availability and dealer service and setup....good luck, buy as good as you can afford


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

For spread quality, Vermeer, from what I've read here and from what I saw when my cousin demo-ed multiple brands before buying new.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

We like the Krone here:

Border/Edge Control:


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)




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## gradyjohn (Jul 17, 2012)

If I was trading I would go with a Krone. Their teeth (tine) are slanted and that makes them perpendicular to the ground meaning both move the crop.


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## hay rake (Dec 31, 2011)

never used a Krone or a Claas so i can not comment on them. but we have used a Vicon,Kuhn, Kuhn/New holland and a Vermeer. Until we bought the Vermeer i thought a tedder was a tedder was a tedder. Boy was i wrong. never saw anything work that good. When my father said "you know that's the best thing we've bought in a long time" i new it wasn't my imagination. Three year warranty on the teeth and our dealer has only sold one. the hooked tines really bring the green to the top. the dealer said i would be impressed thought he was just being a salesman. just my thoughts


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

I love my Krone...


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

Always used New Holland 162,163,169. They do a good job.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

Mike120 said:


> I love my Krone...


Same here.

The reason I have hesitated to post is because I am not 100% sure it does the best job tedding. I have not played with the settings and mine still makes two small windrows if the hay is half way dry already. If I use it the same day as cut it spreads out level. It was so dry here this past summer that hay was not thick and seldom needed tedding. I did not get a chance to play with the angles and wheel adjustments.

Hands down it is the best built tedder I saw when I was shopping.


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## TJH (Mar 23, 2014)

Since my dad took ill and passed my wife is my rake hand. Last OCT. we were headed to the farm show and talking about were wanted to go with our operation. She looked at me and said I want a tedder. I said ok when we get here you look them over and tell me which one you want. So we walked around looked at Vicon, Vermeer. Kuhn, and a few of the others. Finally we arrived at Krone, and she looked it over just like she did all the others and said look how heavy this is built, this is the one I want. I said ok, and I can't wait to get it ordered.


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## NDVA HAYMAN (Nov 24, 2009)

I have several Krone tedders and they have been the easiest piece of hay equipment to maintain and use. They are built to last in my opinion. I just wish they would simplify the numbering system here in the US because I can never remember what model number they are. I like them so much that I just ordered a twin rotor rake and a 6 rotor Tedder. Should be over here sometime in February . Mike


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Krone definitely has a well built and heavy machine. No complaints there. I just wonder sometimes whether it's more important to buy a piece of equipment that's most likely to win a battle with a well casing or the one that has been shown to do the best job in side by side tests. Has anyone actually seen side by side comparisons? I sure would like to.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

NDVA HAYMAN said:


> I just wish they would simplify the numbering system here in the US because I can never remember what model number they are.


It seems we have created our own numbering system. Four basket or six basket.

I am very satisfied with my Krone. So are my friends who have borrowed it. 

Not many pieces of hay equipment a person can feel comfortable loaning out.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

Tim/South said:


> Same here.
> 
> The reason I have hesitated to post is because I am not 100% sure it does the best job tedding. I have not played with the settings and mine still makes two small windrows if the hay is half way dry already. If I use it the same day as cut it spreads out level. It was so dry here this past summer that hay was not thick and seldom needed tedding. I did not get a chance to play with the angles and wheel adjustments.
> 
> Hands down it is the best built tedder I saw when I was shopping.


I talked to a guy that has the same Tedder we have here and he said he had the same problem and contacted the dealer and told him it was unacceptable. The dealer came out while they were tedding and the only adjustments he said they made was to adjust each tine. He said each tine has 3 positions you lock them into, which is discussed in the manual. Anyway he said it worked. I asked if the wheels were still set in the steepest angle position, factory setting I believe, and he said it was.

Before hay season next year we're going set all of ours in this position and see how it goes because like Tim said it tends to windrow on the second tedding, first tedding couldn't ask for the crop to look any better. He said he still gets the same even spread with the first tedding that he got before.

I took a picture of his setting, looks like the bolt head may not be seated quite right on this one:


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

Grateful11 said:


> I talked to a guy that has the same Tedder we have here and he said he had the same problem and contacted the dealer and told him it was unacceptable. The dealer came out while they were tedding and the only adjustments he said they made was to adjust each tine. He said each tine has 3 positions you lock them into, which is discussed in the manual. Anyway he said it worked. I asked if the wheels were still set in the steepest angle position, factory setting I believe, and he said it was.
> 
> Before hay season next year we're going set all of ours in this position and see how it goes because like Tim said it tends to windrow on the second tedding, first tedding couldn't ask for the crop to look any better. He said he still gets the same even spread with the first tedding that he got before.
> 
> I took a picture of his setting, looks like the bolt head may not be seated quite right on this one:


Thank you very much. I shall also adjust the tines. I believe you saved me a good bit of time.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

He claims it made a huge difference. He's a 4th generation farmer so we're going to take his word for it and try it also. I wouldn't have thought a small adjustment like that would make much difference but a little bit there at the bolt might make a big difference out on the tine tips.


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## Jharn57600 (Dec 23, 2013)

Around here the Vermeer seems to be holding up the best for tedding heavy rye. One krone running neighbor bought a Vermeer last year. A neighbor that we chop for couldn't get through his triticale with his little h&s tedder so he rented a 6 star Vermeer. The way that tedder performed got three more Vermeer tedders sold in the neighborhood. Another place this spring was running a class and an older Vermeer, we found a whole lot more class teeth in the metal detector. Unfortunately one Vermeer tooth in a lump in the windrow made it past the metal detector. It took a couple knives to get going again.


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## Chuck (Dec 14, 2014)

One of the main reasons that I want to trade my 640 claas in is because it seems to not spread the hay very well. I cut with a 13 ft discbind . It leaves a 9ft windrows,, The 640 claas just grabs 2 windrows. I usually let the hay dry for half a day or so, then I Run the tedder over it. It seems to move a majority of the hay just straight back. Maybe I should look into adjusting the teeth like you did on your Krone?


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## krone.1 (Jul 28, 2013)

Chuck, your 640 tines should be adjustable. I think it has a setup like in the photo below. You should have 3 positions. Your 640 has the small diameter rotor so it should have a good spread pattern. Advancing the tines should help and you may want to change your height adjustment. (just go the to opposite hole and try it). I would do this before I changed tine angles.

If you are not happy with the spread on your tedder, I would check the tine length..... If the tines are worn it drastically changes the geometry of the machine. You have to tilt the machine over too far to get the tines down to the crop. Then the rotors are angled too much and throws the crop up instead of out. Most of the European tedders use a good quality tine and it* is* possible to wear them out before breaking or loosing them.

Good luck!


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

In my opinion Krone makes the best built tedder.....I have been very pleased with mine. As far as the quality of spread in heavy hay you couldn't ask for any better but in light hay or hay that is getting pretty dry it does tend to windrow it somewhat. I haven't worried to much about it because I usually only Ted my hay once and if I do feel the need to do it twice and it wants to windrow it slightly I just take that as a sign it is getting close to dry. In light hay even it will windrow it a bit.....I figured that could be taken care of in an adjustment but I figured I would leave it alone as if I adjusted it to work the best in light hay it may not do as good of a job in heavy hay and most of the time my hay is heavy and light hay I don't normally have a problem in getting it to dry down anyway. The vicon tedder I used to have didn't come anywhere close to spreading the hay as good as the Krone in heavy hay and was built very light weight.


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## Chuck (Dec 14, 2014)

That's great to hear . I'm going to check the tines on that 640 ! You might of just saved me a lot of money . Thank you very much for the advice !


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## Chuck (Dec 14, 2014)

That's great to hear . I'm going to check the tines on that 640 ! You might of just saved me a lot of money . Thank you very much for the advice ! How do you change the height adjustment on this tedder?


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## 6125 (Sep 14, 2009)

Went to a Krone 6 star last year. Very impressed with the durability, but not so much with the performance. The pequea we had before had durability issues, but the performance was excellent. I don't know if the rotor speed was faster or what exactly, but we tried adjusting wheel pitch and tine angle and nothing was really gained with the Krone. It simply won't rip apart heavy wet slugged hay like the pequea did, and it also has the problem of windrowing semi-dry hay. This is all orchard or timothy by the way.

Waiting to hear how the new 6 stars from pequea held up last season. If they've got things healed up on their spindle shafts and gearbox issues, I wouldn't hesitate a second to go back, so long as the performance of the old has not been lost in changing the durability.

Then, our neighbor has a 4 star kuhn which when you look at it you think it's bound to fall apart at a young age. But it teds hay excellent and just keeps on bouncing around and begging for more. So maybe heavy-built isn't all it's cracked up to be in a hay tedder?


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I believe learning the adjustments for the crop is necessary to make a tedder optimally perform. I admit I only glanced through the different settings option in the book, which is not fair to the machine or manufacturer.

I wish the dealer had mentioned the different tine setting adjustment. I can see where the +7 hole on my Krone would fill in the middle where it is now thin on semi dry hay.

The Krone is the quietest running tedder I have been around.


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## mike10 (May 29, 2011)

For what it is worth, here are some of my observations of tedders. Most of our cutters in the area are 9 and 10 ft and most operators use a 4 rotor tedder. So my observations are mainly for these machines.

It seems when you see videos of tedders operating they are slinging hay high and far. This is the way I always thought it should be until a customer educated me. To get the hay to fly like that you need to tilt the tedder at a steep angle. This causes several issues. One, the tedder will not pick up clean on the sides, Two, you are pitching the hay into the fence rows, and third, you end up with small windrows where the tedded hay overlaps previous passes. Lastly, it seems the hay is pitched back in bunches. Earlier this year there were videos posted with the Krone tedders in action. I watched particularly how the tedder picked up the hay on the sides and it was clear there was a large amount of hay not being moved. I am not picking on Krone, they make an excellent machine. They just happen to be one that I saw the video of. I see the same thing in most other tedders in the field. The steeper the tedder is tilted the poorer the job.

I also feel that operating the tedder at steep angles causes excessive tine breakage because you are trying to get all the hay moved on the sides and to do that the teeth are practically on the ground most of the time.

Do these observations make any difference in the end? Who knows, and if you are happy with your tedder that is all that matters.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

I agree with that assessment mike, when in the steepest position, my krone has a tendency to windrow the grass.....I backed it back down and adjusted the tines and the performance is much more like the kuhn I had, which I thnk did the best job of tedding the hay....the krone is far better built however, I like to keep the rotors as level as possible and still achieve a good Ted of the grass, picks up more of the grass to boot....


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## TJH (Mar 23, 2014)

I'm no authority on tedders' since I've only used one once. But the great thing about the net is you can look up anything, and most companies have the manuals' there and I do a lot of research before buying anything. Everyone basically says the same thing: conditions dictate tedder operation. Each day you go to the field will be different than yesterday. So the way I understand it is you have to adjust you forward speed, or PTO speed or both as well as the pitch. From the videos I've watched on all models and brands each one is different, some are going at a good speed while others are not, and this is with the same brands. I'll get mine this spring and after a season of using it will know more. But I don't believe you just hook it up and go, to get the performance you have to do the adjustments whatever it takes.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

You are absolutely right, Fine adjustments are really key with tedders and rotary rakes.....


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

somedevildawg said:


> You are absolutely right, Fine adjustments are really key with tedders and rotary rakes.....


I like tinkering with settings. I am the type who also reads the book twice before hooking up to a new piece of equipment. I want to know how it works, not just that it works.


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## heytom (Oct 25, 2010)

TJH said:


> I'm no authority on tedders' since I've only used one once. But the great thing about the net is you can look up anything, and most companies have the manuals' there and I do a lot of research before buying anything. Everyone basically says the same thing: conditions dictate tedder operation. Each day you go to the field will be different than yesterday. So the way I understand it is you have to adjust you forward speed, or PTO speed or both as well as the pitch. From the videos I've watched on all models and brands each one is different, some are going at a good speed while others are not, and this is with the same brands. I'll get mine this spring and after a season of using it will know more. But I don't believe you just hook it up and go, to get the performance you have to do the adjustments whatever it takes.





> when it comes to making hay, every day is a different day


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## Josh in WNY (Sep 7, 2010)

somedevildawg said:


> You are absolutely right, Fine adjustments are really key with tedders and rotary rakes.....


I would add mowers, balers and just about all the other equipment to that list, too.


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## PaCustomBaler (Nov 29, 2010)

We really like Krone tenders...use a 6 star and 10 star. The 6 star gets used the most, but 10 star does a better job since the rotors are smaller....leaves a much more uniform spread. My father-in-law uses two claas 8-stars. He said his next tedders will be Vermeer since those hooked tines do a better job at flipping the hay, versus just throwing it back. Here's pic of the Krone.





  








6 star tedder




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PaCustomBaler


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Dec 16, 2014











  








10 star tedder




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PaCustomBaler


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Dec 16, 2014


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

mike10 said:


> ...Two, you are pitching the hay into the fence rows,..
> 
> Mike,
> 
> ...


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Border spread is what Krone calls it I believe.....I see a lot of manufactures now offer that as a feature on their newer tedders, it's a really good feature in the evolution of tedders.


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## jr in va (Apr 15, 2015)

IH 1586 said:


> Always used New Holland 162,163,169. They do a good job.


Have a 158 (13') NH. Do you have any problem with yours not spreading slugs left from buildup on the ends on the Haybine when finishing the field?


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

jr in va said:


> Have a 158 (13') NH. Do you have any problem with yours not spreading slugs left from buildup on the ends on the Haybine when finishing the field?


I don't know. I have yet to run a haybine. I know when retedding raked hay after a rain I would have to make a couple passes to get it spread out nicely. Sorry could not be of anymore help.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

mike10 said:


> I also feel that operating the tedder at steep angles causes excessive tine breakage because you are trying to get all the hay moved on the sides and to do that the teeth are practically on the ground most of the time.





TJH said:


> Each day you go to the field will be different than yesterday. So the way I understand it is you have to adjust you forward speed, or PTO speed or both as well as the pitch.





Tim/South said:


> I like tinkering with settings. I am the type who also reads the book twice before hooking up to a new piece of equipment. I want to know how it works, not just that it works.


All three observations right on the money!

Too steep means that the teeth have to be scrapping the ground to get the edges. Not only do you get breakage, you're putting a lot of dust (dirt) into your hay! And "dust" can be confused with mold.

Every day, even every, hour can be different. Tedding a wetter crop is different than tedding a drier crop, heavier vs lighter, crop type, field, .... I could go on. But you have to have a good idea of what you need and tinker with the ssettings to get it. Sometimes, I'm on and off the tractor 5,6, or more times to see what works best today.

Ralph


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