Opinion of Claas Disco 260 Disc Mower

[kmanvt]

I'm looking at a used Claas Disco 260 mower and wanted to get some other opinions on it. There seems to be very little information on these mowers. I thought the Claas brand is supposed to be pretty good. I found a disc mower review that had the newer version of the Claas mower and it rated very good compared to the other mowers. The one I'm looking at seems to be in pretty good condition (minus the cover). The first disc has a small amount of play in it, but everything is in time and seems to be pretty tight (rotate the first disc just a hair and the other ones start rotating). Turned the belts and everything seems to turn smoothly. The owner put near bearings in the second gear box two seasons ago. He started to use it last year and noticed a vibration and parked it. He believes some of the bolts has loosened where he worked on it. He is asking $1800 obo. I thought I would offer $1500 so that I would have some money to go towards a cover, new blades/bolts, and ?.

 

[AKfish]

I'd want to run it up to pto rpm's before I'd make an offer. Maybe the vibration/noise is coming from the gear box.

The turtle's are less $$ to fix than the box.

Might change your mind on the 1st offer!

AKfish

 

[blueriver]

As "fish" said ... get it hooked up and try it out. Vibration in my opinion in any disc mower is not a good sign. Something is getting prepared to come apart. Also reconsider that offer ... he'll probably snatch that offer and you won't get a chance to regroup.

If he worked on it ... I think he may know excatly why its vibrating.

 

[rdbigfarmboy]

A questionable mower is 600 to 800 at an auction doesnt matter the brand. A junk mower is twice the scrap price 100 to 300. I know they got for more but when they go for more they usually dont leave with the new owner. Ive had 2 class items not that mower. I like class but parts are not common in most areas.
Unless you have a parts machine just like this one its 600 or skip.

 

[kmanvt]

Thanks for the input. I'll reconsider the offer and think some more. I was able to get on the Claas website and look at the parts diagram for the mower. Based upon the diagram and what the guy told me there is a double U joint coming out of the second gear box going down to the cutter bar. On the other side of the double U joint is a 6 bolt flange. Those of the bolts that they guy said had come loose. Rdbigfarmboy brought up a good point about parts (the dealer). There is one guy in our area that is a Claas dealer. He is about 50min away from me and is the only dealer within 2+ hours so basically he could charge whatever he wants. Maybe I'll just check out some equipment auctions or wait till next fall/winter to buy a mower.