Kuhn VM 123 Plough trouble

[crabbitfarmer]

Hi, I’ve a new Kuhn Vari-master 123, only have it 2 weeks, was an ex demo but hasn’t ploughed more than 150 acres in total. It has a full set of discs on it and I’m having trouble with the adjusters stripping the teeth even though the bolts are cracking tight. And a few of the landslides you could shave with already with so few acres. Has anyone else experienced these problems?

 

[Boohoo]

A welder solves the disc adjuster problem, it's an awful design.
Haven't had any problems with excessive wear on the landslides, but land around here generally doesn't wear metal unless it's very dry which isn't often.

 

[crabbitfarmer]

A welder solves the disc adjuster problem, it's an awful design.
Haven't had any problems with excessive wear on the landslides, but land around here generally doesn't wear metal unless it's very dry which isn't often.

Metal never really wears here either, and I’d say this is hardly acceptable

 

[Fraserb]

Excessive wear on the landslide sounds like the plough isnt pulling square.

 

[crabbitfarmer]

Excessive wear on the landslide sounds like the plough isnt pulling square.

Yep I thought that too, only 1st and 3rd on a 5 furrow though? They were like this when she came here but surely she shouldn’t be that bad when so new?

 

[Two Tone]

Kuhn, a company with a reputation for quality have taken over some good Companies, repainted and rebadged them.
Unfortunately, they have taken over some bad ones too. Who originally made your plough?
You aren't the only one I know who has had problems.

When it comes to long lasting, wearing plough metal, I don't think you can beat genuine Kverneland.
(The rest of the plough might fall apart though. But perhaps not as often as a Dowdeswell!)

 

[Boohoo]

Metal never really wears here either, and I’d say this is hardly acceptable

That certainly isn't acceptable for 150 acres. You say a few of them are worn, which ones? Are the discs all set right? I'm thinking that it isn't pulling square but isn't wearing all the landslides evenly because some of the discs are cutting wide.

 

[Boohoo]

Kuhn, a company with a reputation for quality have taken over some good Companies, repainted and rebadged them.
Unfortunately, they have taken over some bad ones too. Who originally made your plough?
You aren't the only one I know who has had problems.

When it comes to long lasting, wearing plough metal, I don't think you can beat genuine Kverneland.
(The rest of the plough might fall apart though. But perhaps not as often as a Dowdeswell!)

A Kverneland won't fall apart any more often than a Kuhn, providing the horsepower rating isn't exceeded. Having used both I'd choose Kverneland every time.

 

[crabbitfarmer]

That certainly isn't acceptable for 150 acres. You say a few of them are worn, which ones? Are the discs all set right? I'm thinking that it isn't pulling square but isn't wearing all the landslides evenly because some of the discs are cutting wide.

1st and 3rd furrow. Yep, discs are fine, have them in quite deep but that shouldn’t be causing teeth to strip. I’m putting it down to poor design

 

[crabbitfarmer]

Kuhn, a company with a reputation for quality have taken over some good Companies, repainted and rebadged them.
Unfortunately, they have taken over some bad ones too. Who originally made your plough?
You aren't the only one I know who has had problems.

When it comes to long lasting, wearing plough metal, I don't think you can beat genuine Kverneland.
(The rest of the plough might fall apart though. But perhaps not as often as a Dowdeswell!)

Had to google that, they were Huard ploughs pre 1987. Can’t get a good enough photo to check disc assemble though

 

[Boohoo]

1st and 3rd furrow. Yep, discs are fine, have them in quite deep but that shouldn’t be causing teeth to strip. I’m putting it down to poor design

Meant width of cut for the discs. You'll need it in the ground to check.
If you're in stoney ground and run the discs deep you'll get a lot of stones jamming and bending the disc over.
The whole disc assembly is a poor design.

 

[Matthew Britton]

If it’s not all of them I would guess the legs aren’t set square to the beam, is there adjustment. It sounds like it’s not been set up right from new. Perhaps Kuhn have a plough expert that could visit and tweak as necessary? It is ostensibly new after all.

 

[crabbitfarmer]

Meant width of cut for the discs. You'll need it in the ground to check.
If you're in stoney ground and run the discs deep you'll get a lot of stones jamming and bending the disc over.
The whole disc assembly is a poor design.

Shouldn’t they be running straight in line with the landslide? All mine are, and I have it running straight behind the tractor, although I’ve no way of knowing what way the demo folk ploughed with it. I’m maybe just gradually wearing at something which has been already worn [emoji58]

 

[Boohoo]

Shouldn’t they be running straight in line with the landslide? All mine are, and I have it running straight behind the tractor, although I’ve no way of knowing what way the demo folk ploughed with it. I’m maybe just gradually wearing at something which has been already worn [emoji58]

The discs will always pull straight but you can adjust the width of cut and the body will lift out everything that the disc has cut. For example, say you're ploughing 14" wide but the disc on the 2nd furrow is set 15" from the furrow wall left by the 1st furrow. The 2nd furrow will lift out all of that 15" and the landslide won't be touching the furrow wall so it won't wear but the others will wear more because there's more pressure on them. The only way to check is to measure when it's in the ground.

 

[crabbitfarmer]

Can’t see any setting on the beam other than the hydraulic, one thing I’m really not fussed on the Kuhn is how the front furrow width adjusts, that in itself changes the whole angle of the plough

 

[crabbitfarmer]

If it’s not all of them I would guess the legs aren’t set square to the beam, is there adjustment. It sounds like it’s not been set up right from new. Perhaps Kuhn have a plough expert that could visit and tweak as necessary? It is ostensibly new after all.

Sorry Matthew, the above message was a reply to you but I forgot to tag you [emoji1318]

 

[Two Tone]

Had to google that, they were Huard ploughs pre 1987. Can’t get a good enough photo to check disc assemble though

That doesn’t surprise me. They were once sold by MF as their Diamond Plough. Tried to shape the mouldboards in such a way as to be able to shorten the distance between each furrow so that the Tractor could lift more furrows. Trouble was in doing so, they fecked up the way it turned the soil over.
IMO the modern ones do look pretty in their Kuhn orange livery, but...........

 

[Matthew Britton]

No problem. The old boy who taught me a lot would have unbolted legs and added spacers of sometimes next to nothing just to get it lol square and even but he did like to win the odd cup. Personally I would start at dealer and request specialist out and if that doesn’t work hit Kuhn social media pages asking for help, you might get further than you would think like that.

 

[crabbitfarmer]

No problem. The old boy who taught me a lot would have unbolted legs and added spacers of sometimes next to nothing just to get it lol square and even but he did like to win the odd cup. Personally I would start at dealer and request specialist out and if that doesn’t work hit Kuhn social media pages asking for help, you might get further than you would think like that.

I’ve tweeted them about it and got little response, but we’ll see this week what happens.

Yep, already on to the dealer, which to be fair the salesman is being very helpful thus far, they’ve only just got the Kuhn dealership and this is the first plough they’ve sold, the salesman himself is a match ploughman and he was out last weekend with me and said she’s set perfectly as far as he can see so he’s for beating the drum to Kuhn about it tomorrow

 

[crabbitfarmer]

The discs will always pull straight but you can adjust the width of cut and the body will lift out everything that the disc has cut. For example, say you're ploughing 14" wide but the disc on the 2nd furrow is set 15" from the furrow wall left by the 1st furrow. The 2nd furrow will lift out all of that 15" and the landslide won't be touching the furrow wall so it won't wear but the others will wear more because there's more pressure on them. The only way to check is to measure when it's in the ground.

Yep, I get you now, will check that when I get her back in the ground. Thanks for that