JF conditioner mower

roosterman71

I was thinking of buying a JF conditioner mower (CMT 245 model). Anyone ever used/have one? Are they any good?

I wouldn't be doing a lot of work with it. The main reason on buying it is that I reclaimed some land and now I've a 35 acre field. Its too depressing to mow that with my 5'6" Bamford.

I've seen a JF for sale that needs some work. Price seems good but I don't want to spend time and money if it turns out to be a bad machine from day 1

roosterman71

Anyone got any opinions at all?

Sam Kade

What's the price of it? Drum mowers are trouble when they get old a neighbour of mine had a new one of these years ago that kept getting blocked in heavy crops. If you can't see it working stay away from it. Why don't you buy a second hand 8' mounted disc mower there are a few on donedeal.ie

Bitten & Hisses

I reckon they'd be a bit of an orphan. You'll never sell it again because it's that bit different and is there a possibility that repairs/sourcing parts could be tricky due to the fact it's unusual? Stick to a tidy disc mower would be my advice.

roosterman71

Well its the price that's drawing me to it. It will cost me a couple hundred euro. There a few jobs that need to be done to it though - a new belt for 1, and replace a shaft.

I don't have a whole lot of work for it so investing in a newer more expensive machine isn't worth my while. This one is cheap, and I could tip away at it over the winter and have it ready for next year.

My main question was has anyone used one/have one/etc. If its not a good mower, as in it doesn't mow very well, then its not worth having.

Bitten & Hisses

roosterman71 wrote: »

Well its the price that's drawing me to it. It will cost me a couple hundred euro. There a few jobs that need to be done to it though - a new belt for 1, and replace a shaft.

I don't have a whole lot of work for it so investing in a newer more expensive machine isn't worth my while. This one is cheap, and I could tip away at it over the winter and have it ready for next year.

My main question was has anyone used one/have one/etc. If its not a good mower, as in it doesn't mow very well, then its not worth having.

When you put it that way, it's worth the punt in my opinion.

roosterman71

Have ya ever used one? Or know of one being used by anyone?

Bitten & Hisses

Not the trailed one. I know of someone who uses a mounted version and is happy with it, although it is probably a bit smaller than your one.

Sam Kade

roosterman71 wrote: »

Have ya ever used one? Or know of one being used by anyone?

I worked for a contractor over 20 years that had one mowing in front of a silage harvester it gave little trouble and as I said before my neighbour had one again no trouble apart from getting blocked in very heavy crops. Them mowers are pushing on in years now but if you can buy it for a couple a hundred euro you won't loose much to it.

Khan77

Stay well away in my opinion. Father had an 8ft one years ago and it could kill 80hp starting up although a lot of this was down to the conditioner at the back, very heavy flails, almost like a hedge cutter rotor. I remember a day of 8hrs to cut 12 acres of grass for hay. 3 drum mower and didn't cut very well in laid grass, disc bed is much better. There are a few of them about although most seemed to be farmer owned, never saw a acontractor with one.

vincenzolorenzo

Haven't used one myself but have seen them in operation before. They wouldn't be the greatest mower in the world but then again it is a drum mower. Disc mowers are a far better job IMO. However it sounds like you won't be putting huge demands on it, just keeping the place tidied up. For a couple of hundred quid i'd say its definitely worth it, you can't lose on it. Drum mowers do give hassle alright in heavy/lodged crops but i reckon it'll do you grand. Go for it!

roosterman71

I bought one of these mowers in the end. Paid €400 for it. Got it Friday and have knocked 31 acres with it today. Had to weld a piece to the draw bar to hold the pipes off the PTO. That's all I did to it. Its a temporary job.

It does a good enough job at the mowing. Its not 100% level - the outside drum isn't cutting as low as the inside one. Apart from that it is 100%.

I'll give it a clean down over the winter. I've to get a tyre, do a couple of seals in the rams and replace a few grease nipples. Everything else seems OK so far

I'll post a picture up during the week.

whelan1

we had one for years . it was grand it did 100 acres twice a year and then any meadows we had for hay .. as far as i can remember the gearbox went and a few things like that we had a 2wd 885 international on it and it was fine good luck with it , we also had to weld a bit on to the draw bar to hold the pipes and another bit to stop the draw bar hitting the back wheel of tractor while turning sharp - as far as i remember the pto was a ba**ard to do anything with we had a dog chain on the bit we welded on for the pipes to tie up the pto when on the road

roosterman71

Here are the promised pics. It looks a bit rough now. I'll fix it up over the winter and maybe spray it too

vincenzolorenzo

Nice looking machine, well worth the €400 anyway. You did well there i'd say.

It did remind me of one thing though. If you compare the drawbar length on that mower to one of the modern mowers, its way shorter. We replaced a JD 1365 mower with a JD 530 a couple of years ago and the drawbar on the new one is much much longer. It seems to be a trend with new mowers. Does anyone know why??? It makes life much more awkward getting in and out of places

roosterman71

I noticed that alright and was thinking of extending it 12 or 18 inches. But after using it, I don't think I'll bother. Its plenty long for turning both while working and going through gates. Plus, a longer drawbar would mean having to leave bigger corners uncut.