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We started trying Claas hay equipment in the '90s and I don't have much good to say about their products. My brother bought one of their round balers when they introduced the Roto-Cut. It did a pretty good job of baling. One of the main channels for the hitch tore and he had to very carefully drag it home. An angry call to Claas revealed they had 'updated' the hitch and we received a much heavier replacement. Then dad got a Volto 740 6-basket tedder. First, the little round-tube 'guards' that are mounted above the outer baskets broke off from flexing as the outer baskets hopped in the field. Next, the bracket for the angle adjustment broke. Apparently, a single, small strip of steel wasn't enough to hold a 20+ ft. tedder at a set angle. After we fixed that, the rest of the hitch crumpled. We fixed and reinforced that, and it was ok. We replaced that tedder last year with a Volto 1050T. This is a much better machine. It had one season on it when we got it. When we got it out of storage this spring, the four hydraulic hoses that connect between the main frame and the wings were all leaking. The hoses had gone bad, and had to be replaced (2 years old). Our dealer only had fittings to make up one hose, at a cost of just about $180. ($75 for each fitting, the rest for hose and tax) Then the word from the main Claas distribution center was 6-8 weeks to get the fittings for the other 3 hoses. It took TWO MONTHS to get the hydraulic hoses for this thing. Meanwhile, there's a single front tire that rides along the ground. The square tubing that supports that wheel bent once and we fixed it, but now its bent again, much worse. We need to completely cut the entire braket and tube off the frame and build a new one that isn't going to break so easily. Truthfully, this is the only Claas machine we've had that I actually like. Aside from those problems we've had, its a great tedder. New for this year, a Liner 1550 Twin rake. Its replacing a pair of John Deere 700 Twin rakes. Given the past history of Claas equipment on our farm, I've been trying to pamper this thing like its a glass chandelier. Despite that, I've had problems. There's a long linkage on this rake that runs from the hitch to the rake's main wheels, to turn them. We've had a lot of rain this year, and apparently a tile line couldn't take it and blew out, making a hole. I never noticed the hole (under the windrow), but one of the rake's wheels found it. The long steering link bent in three places, and it twisted the steering post for the wheel that bounced in the hole. I'll take the blame for this one, but it really seems an excessive amount of damage for something that isn't much different from encountering a groundhog hole. Each rotor has a spring-assist to help raise the arms and to cushion them when they're lowered. The one on the rear rotor has broken loose twice. Apparently, the bolt that attaches it to the arm isn't big enough to do the job. This is a pretty minor thing, but enough to add to my frustration with Claas products. There's a pair of forks that prevent the front rotor arm from raising all the way up when you're in the field. These things have been malfunctioning from the start, and allowing the front arm to raise all the way up. I've tried small tweaks to get it to work, with limited success. On examination, it looks to me that one of the brackets wasn't welded on straight at the factory. The best way I've determined to fix the problem is to fabricate an add-on part that will keep the forks straight so they don't malfunction. Not really something you should expect to have to do to a machine that has less than two seasons of use on it. All I can say about the 1550 is that its huge (in transport position: 12.9 ft. tall, 9.8 ft. wide, 21.8 ft. long) and does a pretty clean job of raking. It doesn't make better time in the field than some other rakes we've used (like the John Deere 700), and its horrible unless you're raking in a straight line. (Does not do well raking on curves or in the corners when doing the outside rounds of a field.) It may just sound like we're exceptionally hard on equipment. Not really true at all. We've used New Holland and John Deere equipment on these same fields for years and never had the sort of breakdowns I've seen with the Class products. To their credit, Claas seems to design equipment for high-volume and they have great gearboxes and drivelines. Even the main frames on Claas machines are built heavy. Its just that everything else seems to be 'cheap'. Anyway, that's my Claas rant. New Holland and John Deere seem to cost more up-front, but I think the payoff is machines that'll keep going out to the field day after day and not have to be in the repair shop every other evening.
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