JD 1219 Haybine vs JD 1360 Discbine need advise

MattF-8

Member
I have the opportunity to purchase a good solid JD 1360 discbine for 5K. I currently have a JD 1219 haybine that in excellent condition and has served me well for almost 20 years. So my question is, is the 1360 that much better of a machine? I have never run a disc mower before and I am trying to figure out if it would be an improvement over the 1219. Thanks, Matt
 
Despite the reputation of the discbine it will not suck up hay that is really down and this is according to neighbors that have run both. The 1360 is of an older design where if the machine is on a sidehill the lubricant will drain to the low end of the gear case and in the process the high end will be starved for oil resulting in quick failure and an expensive repair. Discbines require more power per foot so I don't know how many high horsepower tractors you have. You will want 70 hp or more for the discbine. The 1219 can get along with 40 hp in heavy hay if you were forced to.
 
Thank you for the information. You confirm what I have heard with regards to the gearboxes. Most all of my hay fields have some slope to them. My largest tractor is a '69 4020, so I figured 9ft discbine would be the max.
 
I don't know where you're getting your information from, but it's hokum. I just traded a 1460, and if it's set right, it doesn't miss much- even down- hay. No machine is perfect, but a discbine will make a sicklebar machine look sick. As far as the cutterbar starving for oil, mine must have blown up years ago and didn't tell me. Most of my ground is hilly and I have NEVER had any problem with the cutterbar. That machine has a Kuhn built bar and it is about as close to bulletproof as you can get. Yes, they are expensive if you tear one up, but not all of us try to cut stones, stakes, trees and posts with them.....
 
Ive had both. The 1219 was a good machine, but it was slow, especially in heavy 1st crop hay. I still have my 1360, 3 pt attach. A couple of days ago I cut hay at 9 mph. But this was behind a 7600 deere. Cut giant rag 6 ft tall, but i had to slow down to 5 mph. When I put the 7710 ford(85 pto maybe a little more) on it, its a load. I have to bump the idle up to start the pto, but mine is an impeller machine.

I would however caution you about the cutterbar. If its not tight-no slop when you move the turtles by hand-run away. Fixing the cutterbar will be more than the machine is worth. I have cut on some pretty good hillsides and have not had problems with oil starvation. If you could swing it, i would try to get the price down a bit on the 1360, and keep the 1219 for a bit until you know more about the discbine.
 
I can only tell you what the neighbors told me. I can't speak to your conditions but I do know here that the hay can get knocked down pretty flat after a storm. We all know the discbine can make good time versus a sickle but sometimes there is more to than a simple head to head competition.
 
Also, you may not have drumlins there that can run a 1000 or 1500 feet or more in length like we do here. Sometimes it is only practical if you cut a drumlin length wise so we are talking the distances mentioned with the cutterbar case tilted to one side.
 
With essentially no sump for the oil to collect in and lots of fast-turning gears there will be a spray of oil from one end of the cutterbar to the other at any reasonable operating angle. I've been around windrowers for many years and have never seen a common gearcase cutterbar that failed from operating on an incline.
 
We use a New Holland 411 which is 11 ft. with our 4020 and have no problem.I like to run in either 4th or 5th gear.Having had both I would never go back to a haybine.I can not see how a haybine will pickup better than a discbine? In very down hay on a discbine you tilt the cutterbar forward.I am not saying it gets it better but I have saw very little difference.I also like the discbine when cutting point rows when finishing a feild as there is no drug up piles,a lazy person could mow all day and never raise his discbine without any problem.The discbine is much better for going out early in the morning when the hay is still wet as well.
 
I have a 1460. It's the roll version of the 1360 which has an impeller conditioner. Personally I don't think I'd pay much over 3 for one of those mowers today. They're jut getting bloody old as discbines go. Big thing you CHECK is that the discs are all tight on their spindles. If the turtle will rock at all, the bearings are shot in that module.
As far as sidehill use is concerned... I'd have no worries. Oil doesn't drain anywhere in those bars. They use 85W140 EP gear lube that doesn't exactly drain well... and the gears themselves toss the oil around more than enough to provide plenty of lubrication. What I WOULD worry about is rock. Those were not exactly Kuhn's most durable bar; probably their worst if truth be known... and scattered fist size stone are killers. They can jamb between the discs and shear a turtle shaft off.
As far as lifting down crop... go to a Kuhn dealer and get a set of lifters for an FC300 and install them along with the heavy duty angled knives and you'll have no problem cutting anything at 8 mph if you have enough snort in front of it. Deere never supplied the lifters or angled knives for that machine so mabey that's
a part of the problem that some have...
You'll also find that 70 PTO hp is the bare minimum on that machine. 85 is better. More than 100 is too much...

Rod
 

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