More Krone tedder questions

Ok, I know tedders in general and especially Krone tedders have been discussed at length many, many times on here before and I think it's safe to say the general Haytalk consensus is that Krone tedders are best of the best. Not trying to beat a dead horse. What I am after is some specifics on a few things on these tedders though from those of you running them. Starting to look around and think about trading the NH 163 (Kuhn 502) on a new tedder. The 163 is a good tedder and has served me very well and I think it does an excellent job spreading hay. It is 8 years old and still looks close to new. We just moved up to a 10' discbine last year and I'd like something that is a little bit better matched to the wider mower and also travels better on the road. Had really been looking over the Pequea TT4100 as a replacement. Had never really considered a Krone simply because the main dealer around here is about an hour away and not as convenient, and had just a lukewarm experience with them when shopping for rotary rakes several years ago. But, I forgot that our chain Deere dealer is also a Krone dealer and saw a brand new KW5.52/4x7T on their lot the other day (first new piece of Krone equipment I've seen on their lot in years). I have to admit it looked pretty sharp and got me considering it in the mix.

 

I've read many past posts on these tedders and wanted some clarification on them.

 

1) My understanding is the Krone tedders are plumbed with one hose/one remote and the fold feature takes priority and therefore you can't tilt the tedder back while running in the field? At least not without adding a second hose and redoing the plumbing? Has anyone done this and gotten along ok? Being able to tilt back the rotors while operating is a must for me. We are able to do this with our NH 163 when turning on the ends and this keeps the hay from piling up uneven when turning. The way it functions is the wing fold gets priority but the transport locks keep the wings from folding up more than about a foot, and then the tilt function kicks in. Maybe this is just being picky, but in heavy hay you can create a mess and uneven drying I feel like if you don't tilt the rotors back when turning or doing point rows. Also have a couple rough spots/ditches that I like to be able to tilt the rotors back to cross.

 

2) Road travel. I have read past posts that say these tedders travel fine on the road, and others that don't. I don't see a lot of Krone tedders in my area but did get behind a neighbor one day pulling his at 18mph and it was swerving bad...but I also think it was an older model with smaller tires than what come on the newer ones? That is really the only thing I hate about my 163...anything over 15 mph and you think something is going to tip over or come flying apart. So do the newer model road travel ok? I don't need to pull them at pickup speeds, but would like to be able to go 25 mph, which is the top speed of the tractor we usually ted with.

 

 

I have not priced the Krone yet but I know it will be higher than the Pequea and probably won't get as good a trade on my NH 163, but I just want to get the best long term buy with the features that work for me - and you guys sure do seem to love Krone . The Pequea tedders sure do look heavy built too in my opinion. And from videos I've watched of them it looks like it can be tilted back first prior to folding the wings. I definitely like that about it. Thanks for any info.

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