# Best disc mower or cheapest?



## leeb

I'm in the market for a new disc mower. Right now the best deal for a name brand is a 7040 Vermeer $9100.00, cheaper than a Deere or New Holland. The cheapest new mower I've found is a Bellon for $4990.00, that's alot of difference in money. The thing is that I only cut about 70 to 80 acres a year, I'd try to find a used mower, but you never know what you're getting there. I prefer quality, but at what cost, nearly double for what is probably the best mower built versus an unknown. Does anybody run a Bellon?


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## bricewest50

Go Green, you will not regret it.


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## Production Acres

You need the best service and parts availability! Any machine will break! If you can get a $5 part on Sat. evening, that could save you $5000. Most of the name brand equipment will be good. Krone's headquaters shipped me a new computer on Fedex last Sat. evening - sent someone back to the warehouse to put the computer on the truck! Service like that sells equipment - who cares what color it is!


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## mlappin

I have to agree with Productionacres here, no point saving money on the original purchase if you can't get the parts you need when you need them.

I've looked at Vermeer myself in the past, but the closest dealer is over an hour away while the New Holland dealer is 15 minutes away. The NH dealer also is considerably larger and has a much larger selection of parts in stock. One other factor was that there is another NH dealer 45 minutes away as well.


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## KRONE PRO

we sell the Bellon mowers for about 4 years, they are a med, duty cutter, do a great job, but no, it wont cut as many acres in its life as a German built Krone. Krone has huge gears, the bottom and top trey of cutter bar is welded all around yet gears are top servicable, no belts or pullys, no connecting bar at outer end of cutter bar for no hang ups.
I call it a life time mower! We sell very few parts for them , they just last and last


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## leeb

KRONE PRO said:


> we sell the Bellon mowers for about 4 years, they are a med, duty cutter, do a great job, but no, it wont cut as many acres in its life as a German built Krone. Krone has huge gears, the bottom and top trey of cutter bar is welded all around yet gears are top servicable, no belts or pullys, no connecting bar at outer end of cutter bar for no hang ups.
> I call it a life time mower! We sell very few parts for them , they just last and last


I don't get along with the local Krone dealer. At 80 acres a year, what would you expect the useable life of the Bellon to be? I know it's not quite in the same category as a Vermeer, Deere, New Holland, or a Krone, but for a small acreage, would you recommend it?


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## David in Georgia

Between me, my father, and my father in law we have/had 8ft Roto, 8ft Vicion, 9ft Vermeer, 2 8ft Kuhn's, 7ft Duetz Allis. After getting a used Kuhn GMD 600 at auction 2 years ago I'll never buy anything but Kuhn mowers. Sold the Vermeer which was 2 years old and bout a new GMD HD 600 for my father and it'll run circles around that Vermeer.


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## fxrupr

Just finished completely rebuilding a NH 617 mower. I've over $4000 in new and used parts in it. If it weren't a hobby I'd be bummed but at least I know what is inside and what it's weaknesses are. 
Check the oil regularly and when they say change it after 10 hours, change it. 
What I can't understand is why they don't put some big magnets inside these things to collect shreds of steel. 
The two things which I saw which affected it the worst were moisture which rusted the seal surfaces of all the modules letting oil leak prematurely and poor quality control on the turtles which allowed the knives to gouge into the bar because of lack of clearance. When they stamp out the turtles and then heat treat they must stack them up or something and it bends the mounting slots down.


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## Barry Bowen

Have you considered an old New Idea 5209? Sound solid machine, parts through Agco, sorry that is a draw back. All gear drive, no belts or chains. Old fasion used tire rollers, not best but okay. Cutter bar is segmented so if you loose one pod you do do not loose the whole bar. If you find a good one it will last as long as you take care of it. I bought a used one 5 years ago, and the machine is a 1991 model. I did some repairs, mostly minor, and it has given me good service on the 150 acres that I do since then.


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## Hay DR

If that is a Gray 1991 New Idea machine it was made by Lely. You will find the parts cheaper at a Vermeer dealer if you ask for the Lely parts price. That machine should be a Lely Optimo. We have the Lely PDF manual on line free for downloading.


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## leeb

I bit the bullet and bought a 6040 Vermeer, best decision I've ever made. 
As far as a Kuhn out mowing a Vermeer, what have you been smoking? A Kuhn is a real good mower, but the Vermeer cuts just as fast, just as smooth, and I believe it takes just a little less power. Besides that a 6040 Vermeer was over $1000.00 cheaper than a Kuhn 600, and I don't even have to use a wrench to change blades anymore with the quick-clips.


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## swmnhay

Aren't the Quick Clips sweet.Did some testing for Vermeer with them about 5 yrs ago.Run 1/2 the cutter bar with them and 1/2 the old style for a yr.


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## grouchy

Most all disc mowers will do a good job right out of the box. What determines a good dm is the job they do in 5 or 10 years of heavy use. We are rough on dm's in my neck of the woods. I see what all my neighbors have and how well they have held up. There is no question the best mowers are Krone or the Kuhn built mowers. I have a 20+ year old Krone that has been thru h*ll and back and I will put it in the field with any new one. I folded the curtain back on it last week and cut down saplings around the woodline. (Faster than a chainsaw!) No streaking bs, still quite, no slop in the cutterbar. Change the oil every year and keep good blades on it.

Grouchy


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## leeb

And I've got a 20 year old Kuhn that was well-maintained and only cut 80 total acres a year that is trashed. Don't never want another mower that you have to totally disassemble it to fix 1 bearing, or if 1 bearing goes out it gets metal in 31 other bearings.


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## grouchy

One of the farmers in our little community coffee shop bs group bought a new Krone for that reason. It uses sealed bearings inside the cutterbar. If you trash a bearing it doesn't get garbage in the rest of the bearings and also if you mow a lot on hillsides you don't have to worry about an outer bearing running dry. The oil just lubes the gears. I don't know if my old Krone uses sealed bearings or not, never had it apart......

Ol' grouch


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