Biso or Zurn

[gjm]

As above, I'm looking at a rape extension for our combine, been offered two second hand, one a Biso with one electric side knife, the other a Zurn with two mechanical side knives. No experience of either, both about the same price but Biso is a bit newer. Any opinions from any users? Thanks.

 

[Brisel]

I had a Zurn one for a JD combine. Very reliable, with positive drive for the side knifes from the mechanical linkage. Only chewing through metal debris sticking out of a hedge or pole stay would stop the side knives & that was by snapping the knife sections not the linkage.

I have used Spaldings electric side knives which bung up a the first bit of greenery & burn the motor out. I haven't used a Biso one so can't comment.

 

[Rob Holmes]

What combine is it for?

Was told once, if for JD use Zurn as they use JD components, for NH use Cheval as they use NH components

BTW, we have a Cheval and very pleased with it

 

[Scrambler]

I have a 6.1 m Biso with an electric side knife on a NH TX65 and it works well. It would be better with a second side knife, which is easily sorted, and it is a shame that the knife is slightly longer than the other one on the header.

 

[Heathland]

I run a Zurn here on a John Deere,I can take it off/on in about five minutes now,it's just the tie bar in the middle that makes it a bit fiddly,25' header makes combining OSR a breeze and last year used it on swathed SOSR which helped it feed into the combine better,make sure your header trailer has the extra supports for the extension when the header on the trailer.
It can be easy to stove the side knife in the ground if not careful cutting laid rape.

.

 

[gjm]

It's to go on a New Holland CX860, 24' header. If we went for the Biso with the one side knife, I wondered if I'd be able to fit my own electric side knife to the other side or if it has to be a Biso one?

 

[APJ]

Sorry for muscling in had an extension before very useful now looking for a 20ft to fit JD if anyone knows of one!

 

[Rob Holmes]

It's to go on a New Holland CX860, 24' header. If we went for the Biso with the one side knife, I wondered if I'd be able to fit my own electric side knife to the other side or if it has to be a Biso one?

TBH, look at Cheval because as said before they use NH parts, e.g. wobblebox, etc so if sh1t did hit the fan, you could rob it off the OSR extension

 

[gjm]

Sorry for muscling in had an extension before very useful now looking for a 20ft to fit JD if anyone knows of one!

Try contacting Zurn themselves, they have a lot of second hand extensions of all shape and sizes around them.

 

[Vernon]

Have a 24ft biso on our tx68+ with hydraulic side knives both sides. Fantastic bit of kit, wouldn't want to cut rape without it now. One word of warning, it is heavy and had to fit an extra lift ram on the combine.

Vernon

 

[gjm]

It'll definitely be the way to go for cutting rape, in hindsight it should probably have been done years ago [emoji17]

 

[Rob Holmes]

Our OSR is worth it's weight in gold!

 

[Vernon]

Also a few mods required to the header trolley, have a mekenag trolley with our header and was fairly straightforward to adapt.

Vernon

 

[Rob Holmes]

Also a few mods required to the header trolley, have a mekenag trolley with our header and was fairly straightforward to adapt.

Vernon

Yes, we were able to get hold of a Cheval turrntable trolley for reasonable money

 

[Salopian_Will]

It's to go on a New Holland CX860, 24' header. If we went for the Biso with the one side knife, I wondered if I'd be able to fit my own electric side knife to the other side or if it has to be a Biso one?

get a cheval for the reasons Rob Holmes stated. We had one with two electric knives and it was very good. Electric knives are fine - they are not like the old spaldings ones which were no where near up to the job. Spaldings themselves have upgraded them to those similar that fitted on the Cheval extension. Can't remember the make off the top of my head now...

 

[Vernon]

Found a few pictures of when we set ours up first. Shame the rape wasn't much good that year.

 

[gjm]

Does anyone know if the Biso is heavier than the the Zurn or the other way round? Looked for chevals but nothing to suit. Just trying to see which will be easier hanging off the front of the header.

 

[Rob Holmes]

Not the answer top your question but the Cheval is fairly light, we don't need an extra ram on the combine
Can send you the number of the people who can import them if you want?

 

[gjm]

Thank you, I did find one cheval but they wanted to keep it with the combine it was with.

I went with the Zurn one this afternoon anyway, so we'll see how it goes.

 

[iaasr]

get a cheval for the reasons Rob Holmes stated. We had one with two electric knives and it was very good. Electric knives are fine - they are not like the old spaldings ones which were no where near up to the job. Spaldings themselves have upgraded them to those similar that fitted on the Cheval extension. Can't remember the make off the top of my head now...

Zeigler is the knife Spaldings sell now, I think its what quite a lot of manufacturers fit.