# Experience with a John Deere 1600A 14' Mower Conditioner?



## nosliw (Feb 8, 2010)

I'm shopping for a new cutter and found a JOhn Deere 1600A. It's a center pivot 14' mower conditioner in the next state over. From what I can tell, it's basically a windrower head setup to be pull type.

The only thing that worries me is that it's got a PTO driven hydraulic pump that runs the machine and the hydraulic reservoir is the neck of the machine. Seems like that's a lot of extra pieces that could fail.

I typically run out of time doing everything, so the 14' cut is very appealing.

I'm also looking at a few 9' cut discbines.

Anyone ahve any good or bad comments on this machine?

Thanks.

Conn


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## Toyes Hill Angus (Dec 21, 2010)

The hyd pump setup is quite common for the big haybines, all the brands use it. Yes, it could be an expense, but my Hesston so far has been fine. It all basically boils down to the sickle vs disc mower and where you sit. These big haybines are everywhere these days, they were built at the end of an era for they sickle, in most cases they were replaced by smaller, easier to handle on the road disc mowers. I got caught 22 miles from home, in town while they were paving yesterday with my 14' machine dodging pylons on the street and idiots in cars. I had never thought about its size as being big until yesterday. Aside from that, with the tractor that I want to use to cut not using much fuel, and the maching being center pivot it can get alot done with much less fuel in a day.


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## Iowa hay guy (Jul 29, 2010)

i had 2 case ih 8360 mowers and they were driven the same way and its no lie they were the most dependable setup ive ever seen
its also the reason i bought a disc conditioner that is driven much the same way


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## Nitram (Apr 2, 2011)

I have Heston 1014 (old 14ft) and a 1160 (11ft) have never used a discbine watched one blow thru hairy vetch I couldn't cut! If I was in a position to upgrade...discbine


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

The NH499 used the same set up, hydrostatic drive, reservoir in the tongue, very reliable for the most part.

However there are some cons as well.

1. If you need to unhook right away, better have some shop rags or gloves to handle the pump, it gets hot!

2. Listening to the pump whine under a real load gets old quickly if your using an open station tractor.

3. In tall lodged crops the pressure relief will blow causing the haybine to just stop if the rollers get hold of the crop before the sickle cuts it. At least my NH499 did this. Can get very aggravating after its happened for the second or third time in the same pass.


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## Iowa hay guy (Jul 29, 2010)

my discbine has a short driveshaft that goes to a step up gearbox so at least the fixed the problem of warm hands when you unhook


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## nosliw (Feb 8, 2010)

the price is right on it, but i thing I'm going to pass. i'd like to cut faster, but 14' is a pretty big machine. I'd have a hard time getting it through a few gates, and it's a good haul to get it home.

I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for a decent used JD MoCo/Discbine


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