# Hesston 1340 swather PTO



## crbearden (Nov 15, 2009)

I bought a 1340 Hesston Disc mower conditioner from a dealer Monday morning. Salesman advised the machine was ready to go to work, they had checked it out, it was only rough looking. I checked the rotors, and they were tight, the driveline looked good, it did not have the front half of the PTO shaft, but dealer advised he had the CV joint half and it was good. I paid his asking price of $4250 and requested a set of blades and that he deliver it ( about 30 miles to my place).

I finally got the swather hooked up and greased and ready to go about 6pm Tuesday. The drive shaft vibrated so much you could not stay in the cab and I never got it over 400 RPM. I removed the drawbar extension the next morning and tried it again and this time I sped it up to about 500 -600 RPM The strobe effect of the video camera really showed what the shaft was doing.

The link to the video is here:





The salesman wanted me to pay his cost of $1400 for a new shaft. After talking to the owner, I agreed to pay 1/2 the cost of a new shaft ($1500). I picked up the shaft and then travelled another 100 miles to get a new PTO stub shaft for my tractor since the old one was bent when I sped up the PTO shaft to 500-600 RPM. I installed the new shaft and found the rear U-joint and slip joint had nearly 1 inch of runout at 500 rpm due to the looseness in the joint & shafts. I ran it up to 1000 rpm for only 10 seconds and it vibrated the tractor and swather terribly. Another day of travel and another $400, I found the square shaft section, a yoke, a square slip sleeve, and u joints.

I have not had a lot of experience with 1000 RPM shafts, but the shaft cannot have a lot of vibration or it will self destruct. I can't believe this machine was actually tested at the dealership. This is a Hesston Dealer, not a used equip dealer. I had the owner, salesman, and delivery driver tell me that this machine was fine when they ran it...... If so, the operator was deaf, and numb!!! Numb from vibration..

Have any of you all had this kind of a problem with a machine being misrepresented? I expected to invest another $500 in this machine during this hay season, instead I have spent $1250, 500 miles travel, and 3 days work to completely overhaul the driveline. If this machine had been ready to go, as the dealer said, I could have had at least 100 acres cut and baled before the 4 days and 4.5 inches of rain that just stopped a day ago. I bought this machine from a dealer because I got stuck on the last windrower I bought from a former good friend. I expected this machine to be useable since I bought it from the servicing dealer. Is this normal practice or just normal in Central Oklahoma??.... If I sell a machine and tell the buyer he should be able to go to the field with it, I don't mean just drag it across the field, but use it... I might as well have bought a machine at auction and taken my chances.


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## urednecku (Oct 18, 2010)

Sounds to me like they *gave* you the shaft, just not the one they should have!

Welcome to the forum.

I think I would keep on them, make dang sure they know that you know how they scr***d ya. Might help if you make some calls to they company they represent. If they are a Heston dealer especially, make sure the company knows what kind of a dealer they are.

BTW, how about putting your location in your profile? It'll help people on the forum help you.


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## dbergh (Jun 3, 2010)

Dealing with a similar situation with a dealership. Will let you know how it turns out. So far they are good about standing behind some things that obviously got missed as it went through their shop.


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## jrcrumiI (Jun 10, 2013)

Sounds like a dealer that got a friendly letter from my cousin the lawyer.... after 6 months of trying to get them to stand behind something they hopped into overdrive the day they got the letter... he reminded them that making a statement of it being work ready was a guarantee that it was...


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Dealt with something similar when we bought our MF8160, had hydraulic problems, damn thing would just stop moving sometimes, sometimes would barely raise the marker arms on the planter, etc. Bought it in Illinois, first year it spent more time at the local Agco dealers than at the farm. Turns out previous owner wore the brakes down so far they actually ate into the axle housings which was where the all the metal and other debris was coming from. Had about $25,000 in parts and labor before everything was kosher.

Dealer we bought it from refused to do anything as they sold it "as is" but repeatedly told us it would do anything we needed it to do while we were deciding on pulling the trigger or not. Had to hire a lawyer in their home state and went to court, seems "will do anything we need it to do" trumps "as is". Dealer we bought it from ate all court costs and the repair bill.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I hate to say it but much of the Ag industry has very much evolved into the mindset of the rest of the business world....the expression that is used in business when defrauded is, "well that's business". Anytime that someone says a piece of used equipment is "field ready", you need to reply "can you demo it at my place ?" If not, move on.

I used to be involved in the horse industry and when buying or trading in horses there was a expression that was used sometimes when you asked if or how the horse was broke? If they replied it was "Green broke", that just about meant that the SOB would kill you......and you had best stay away from it.....the term "field ready" is quickly becoming the equivalent to "green broke". I hate it for you Bearden....hope this will work out for you.

Regards, Mike


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## urednecku (Oct 18, 2010)

Looks like ya need to give jrcrumil's cousin a call!


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## crbearden (Nov 15, 2009)

I finally got the swather in the field. It will not make a windrow narrow enough to fit within the pickup of my NH 648 baler. It leaves a foot on each side. I have set the forming shields to the narrowest position. It looks like it needs the top shield between the conditioner and the forming shield. I will have to build it as the price from the dealre is $569.00 !! That is not as bad as the price for the latch knob on my 648 NH baler. $54 for a knob with a 3/8 bolt attached................!!


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