This is my first time posting
Last year I mowed my 10 acres of grass using my John Deere 5303 tractor and John Deere 1365 mower conditioner. It was an extremely heavy late crop. The tractor seemed to handle it ok although I was using lower range gears. I knew I was underpowered so I was not surprised.
The 1365 was a little too wide and crumsy for my field so I purchase an old Vicon KM281 the swath was narrower than the 1365 so I thought it would take less power to run.
Once again I was cutting a extremely heavy late first cut, this time using the Vicon. Unfortunately for me the top row of the conditioner cogs were brittle and flew apart. So I loosened off the tension on the conditioner and also removed all the plastic cogs from the top shaft.
After doing this, I assumed this would require a lot less power, given the conditioner was not processing the grass, and the machine was now only cutting grass.
As I continued on I had the tractor down to its lowest gear and was powering out.
I do not understand how I could have enough power to run the larger 1365 last year, but this year not have enough power to run the smaller Vicon even without the conditioner.
Is there a big difference in horsepower requirements between these two machines? Or maybe this years crop was that much heavier??
My tractor is rated 60hp and 53pto (I know I'm pushing it)
Any comments would be appreciated thanks Rod
Last year I mowed my 10 acres of grass using my John Deere 5303 tractor and John Deere 1365 mower conditioner. It was an extremely heavy late crop. The tractor seemed to handle it ok although I was using lower range gears. I knew I was underpowered so I was not surprised.
The 1365 was a little too wide and crumsy for my field so I purchase an old Vicon KM281 the swath was narrower than the 1365 so I thought it would take less power to run.
Once again I was cutting a extremely heavy late first cut, this time using the Vicon. Unfortunately for me the top row of the conditioner cogs were brittle and flew apart. So I loosened off the tension on the conditioner and also removed all the plastic cogs from the top shaft.
After doing this, I assumed this would require a lot less power, given the conditioner was not processing the grass, and the machine was now only cutting grass.
As I continued on I had the tractor down to its lowest gear and was powering out.
I do not understand how I could have enough power to run the larger 1365 last year, but this year not have enough power to run the smaller Vicon even without the conditioner.
Is there a big difference in horsepower requirements between these two machines? Or maybe this years crop was that much heavier??
My tractor is rated 60hp and 53pto (I know I'm pushing it)
Any comments would be appreciated thanks Rod