New Idea 272 Cutditioner

Hi all-

Well right, wrong, or indifferent, I went and decided to purchase a new idea cutditioner. It is the 7 foot cut, model 272. Picked it up tonight and pulled it the 100 miles home. Pulls excellent, went 50 mph on the smooth roads.

The flails look to be in great condition, and the entire machine looks good. Looking forward to trying it out. Thanks to all who posted comments a few weeks ago when I was asking questions on the cutditioner. Feel free to add any new comments, good and bad.

Is there any way to tell the age of the machine from the serial number plate?
Thanks!

-Jesse
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Probably a late 80's to early 90's unit. NI is and has been out of business for quite a few years now. Some parts are listed with AGCO dealers for some things and some of the parts for NI equipment was off the shelf stuff. As for exact age of machine I would doubt it.
 
Nice machine. Belt drive isn't it? I cut all my hay for 13 years with a 270. Mine was chain drive. You'll be amazed by how soft the
hay is after you cut it with that. I think the lot number will tell you more than the serial number will.
 
Get a manual,

Keep it sharp.

Keep it maintained.

It will do the job.

I may have sickle bar haybines.

Someone else may have disc mowers.

You wanted to use a cutditioner.

All of them will cut hay, and the people writing the manuals will tell you how to do that with the best performance.

The marketing people will tell you about all of the problems, so you either buy a new one of the same style, or a different style.

I've seen farmers thrive and/or go out of business with all of them. So, I think it's more about how you operate and maintain something than what style you choose.

Good luck. I can't help with these, because I don't have one. But I hope others here can help you operate it for many happy years!
 
(quoted from post at 06:29:43 10/26/22) Late 70s. Cut-ditioners were discontinued after Avco (not related to AGCO) sold New Idea to Allied and they changed to gray-and-white paint.


Hello-

I was searching the AGCO parts books website. Found the LOT #'s for the 270 cutditioner, but not the 272. Thought I would post so others can see what year their machine was built. Thanks for the comments so far!

-Jesse


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This post was edited by oldfarmall on 10/26/2022 at 09:59 am.
 
I bought one cheap for cornstalks. The gang v belt was a bit pricey for me but it ran several years with a set of TSC v belts until the
cattle left.
 

The cutditioner in the pictures I just bought had 3 individual v- belts that looked worn. I ordered the correct wrapped belt yesterday on eBay that has the 3 grooves. The one I bought was Optibelt brand. Cost was $25.00.

Search New Idea 270412 belt. Or if you want more options search 3/B67 belt, this is the same belt. Hope this helps others looking for a belt.

-Jesse
 
Ive never seen one before but looking forward to see how it works for you. How many HP tractor required to run it? Could be a handy unit in the small
fields around here. We have a small disc mower but man the thing is heavy. Wouldnt mind something small and pull type
 
(quoted from post at 09:26:15 10/30/22) Ive never seen one before but looking forward to see how it works for you. How many HP tractor required to run it? Could be a handy unit in the small
fields around here. We have a small disc mower but man the thing is heavy. Wouldnt mind something small and pull type

I used it yesterday to cut about 3 acres of thick fine grass hay. Temps are going to be about 70 and sunny next week, hoping to bale hay. This is a 7 foot cut model, flails are in good shape. I was using my Farmall 450 and it made it work, takes some horsepower to run one like everyone has said. You will want a tractor around 50 horsepower or larger for the 7 ft model. It pulled nice too, just like my haybines. I think the machine as a whole is lighter in weight than a haybine. Cut the grass with no problems, my haybines would have plugged every 50 feet in this type of grass. Lays a nice even strip behind the machine when cutting. Will keep everyone posted. Thanks

-Jesse
 
I've heard others use them for cornstalks and grass......they do do double duty as a brush hog, more or less.
Dad had one back in the early '80 .
Said it was hard on alfalfa, clover and such .
Chopped the crop instead of just cutting off at the ground and keeping the leaves intact, was his opinion , if I recall.
Seems like his was around 8' wide.
 
I grew up working on my uncle's hay farm
in the late 70's & early 80's. During this
time we went through several Cutditioners
and then switched to MC Rotary Scythe's.

We put up small squares of mostly grass
with a little alfalfa mixed in for horse
hay and had a niche market because the
horse people really liked the softness
of the the overconditioned hay that these
machines produced.

We liked the fact that they never plugged
and were nearly indestructible when
encountering all the rocks in the fields.

They do take a lot of HP (and fuel) to do
all that conditioning.
 

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