# John Deere Tri-Lobe conditioner



## JWoodland (Jan 4, 2010)

Looking for anyone who has used the new John Deere Tri-Lobe conditioner and how it compares to the V-10 and other double conditioners of there makes. I am putting up 6-8 ton/acre alfalfa in the rocky mountain west.


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## Cannon (Aug 18, 2009)

The JD Tri-Lobe conditioner is an excellent conditioner for alfalfa hay.I would put it up above the circle c or the new Hesston double conditioner. The only thing I don't like about it is the cost and the fact that we could not get it to condition Feed crops the way I like it conditioned. JD pulled a tractor unit from our dealer before the V-10 head could be attached ugh. JD is sending us one of the first field R450 tractor units to put on the 996 head on. I have heard good things about the V-10 but I have also heard some (don't) as well. We will find out first hand the upcoming summer. Where about are you at in CO?


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## gording01 (Sep 17, 2009)

Cannon said:


> I have heard good things about the V-10 but I have also heard some (don't) as well. We will find out first hand the upcoming summer. Where about are you at in CO?


Please do tell! I have seen photos of the Tri-Lobe and the V-10, but I have not heard any reactions on them yet. They seem very different to me, so I'm quite eager to learn what the pro's and con's of the different systems are.

So please don't hold back









- Peter


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## nwks baler (Jul 18, 2008)

I have used a V10 conditioner JD 4995 with a 995 rotory header the last two seasons and it has worked very well in all the crops it has been in. I also have ordered a new R450 with a 995 rotory header and V10 conditioner for this year. Our dealer keeps telling me not to get the Tri Lobe conditioner because we windrow quite a bit of sorghum sudan. If alfalfa was all I windrow I would get a Tri Lobe. JD web site says the Tri Lobe will work in sorghum sudan but our dealer and everyone I have talked to from JD tells me I will not be happy.


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## Cannon (Aug 18, 2009)

nwks baler, I agree with you about the sorghum Sudan feed. We wanted to try the V-10 on feed but we didn't have a tractor unit for the disk head at my JD dealer. I tried the Tri-Lobe on sorghum Sudan feed and it did not work. I want the JD engineers tell me what I need to do to make it work. I tried everything to no avail. You just can't crush a big hard stem crop like sorghum. The Tri-Lobe works great on alfalfa, we have several 4895 and 4995 running here with them. I hear that the V-10 would shift all the feed to the center of the crimper and then plug. That is why I want to run it before I buy one. I also cut this type of feed and need a machine that will get the job done.


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## nwks baler (Jul 18, 2008)

Cannon, thanks for confirming what I have heard about the Tri-lobe conditioner. On the V10 I have not had the bunching in the center of the conditioner in any crop with mine. I did see a neighbor's V10 load the center of the windrow in alfalfa once in 2009. They were windrowing at 7 to 8 mph. I suggested they run at 13 to 15 mph like I do and the problem went away. These machines do not seem to like slow speeds which is fine for me. In sorghum sudan we usually run 6 to 10 mph depending how big the cane is and the V10 worked very well.


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## BROWNT (Jul 19, 2015)

Any updates on this thread would be helpful. I have the V-10 and it does not work good enough on sudan. I was wondering if anybody figured out how to get sudan to feed thru the tri-lobe.


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