The Krone Advantage: Favorite Mower Features
By: Derek Bontrager, Equipment Sales
Regardless if you are a seasoned hay veteran in the market for a mower upgrade or if you’re switching some row crop acres to forage for the first time, evaluating all the bells and whistles of the various brands can be time-consuming. To save you some time, here are my favorite features of the Krone mower line and where they differentiate themselves from the other guys.
The heart of a Krone mower is the heavy-duty cutterbar.
Krone uses a fully welded, one-piece cutterbar for superior durability and a long life. The cutterbar contains large spur gears that sit in a bed of oil while spinning at low speeds. These large spur gears drive smaller satellite gears, which then drive each disc at high speeds. The satellite gears require no internal timing. On some models, the disc rotation can even be changed for varying crop conditions. The cutterbar slides on hardened steel skids that are bolted on and easily replaced when worn. The low profile of the cutterbar allows for close cutting. Discs on the cutterbar are positioned with generous amounts of overlap, resulting in fewer stripes and a more consistent, smoother crop flow over the cutterbar.
Exclusive beltless direct drive design.
This design transfers PTO power from the tractor (through the drivelines and gearboxes) to the cutting discs, eliminating drive belts. The direct drive typically runs smoother and quieter than belt-driven cutterbars. Plus, no more tensioning or replacing belts!
SafeCut hubs protect disc drives if you hit something.
If you hit something while mowing, roll pins inside the disc hub will shear, allowing the disc to spin up and away from adjacent discs. This prevents further damage to the cutterbar and the spur gears inside the cutterbar. To get up and running again, all you need to do is replace the roll pins and tighten the disc head back down. During normal operation, two bolts and a nut keep tension on the bearings in the disc. The roll pins only shear at a preset momentary overload.
Quick-change blades come standard.
To change or flip the blades over, slide the special tool (that comes with each mower) in between the top of the disc and the underlying spring plate. Applying pressure to the tool allows the blade to release from the blade pin. The entire cutterbar can have its blades changed in just a matter of minutes. Krone even sends a gauge that shows you when to replace the spring plate and blade pins.
Choose your conditioner style on pull-type mowers.
For mowing grass, the CV steel-tine conditioner spreads the crop to the full working width of the mower, promoting continuous crop flow. If you’re mowing alfalfa or another delicate, leafy crop, CR roller conditioner rolls are the way to go. The rubber rolls are adjustable and provide thorough treatment across the mower’s full working width. Some models are offered with steel-on-steel rolls as well. Don’t want or need a conditioner? Most 3-point mowers don’t have one.
3-Point | Pull Type | Mounted
Krone offers nine models of three-point mowers from 6’6” to 13’3” widths. Pull-type models are offered as side pull or center pivot in sizes 8’11” to 20’4”. Krone also offers several models of front and rear-mounted combination mowers in widths of 9’2” to 33’2”. No matter the model or size, Krone mowers come standard with a one-year warranty. We also tack on a three-year cutterbar warranty.