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Brinston, Ont | looking for opinions or expereince with these machines. Were they a good machine? Are they easy to work on, maintain, or rebuild etc? |
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Columbia Basin, Ephrata, WA | They were good in their day. We never had one, but considered one when we got started chopping in 2002. Someone must like them, because they seem to sell for a good chunk of change for what they are, which is a small framed, low horsepower, 40 year old chopper design. I ran alongside one once and it was not any kind of fast, and even with a spout extension barely was tall enough to fill our trucks. There are early 6000 series machines that can be found in the same price range, and even a 6710 should be close if not more machine than a 5830. Rebuilt right, a 6710 will be way more reliable, and have the reach to fill the biggest trucks.
Edited by Ben in the Basin 4/1/2012 23:26
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Fairbury, NE (Southeast) | We have a 5830 and it's been an ok machine for the limited amount we chop. Have a 6 row kemper on the front and it's more than enough head for the machine. Biggest problem we have is keeping the radiator clean. Depending on how much you plan to chop I would echo Ben's thoughts and go newer. |
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southwest wisconsin | We bought a new 5400 in 1975 and traded for a new 5730 in 1990. Didnt really gain much in capacity, but major improvement in operator comfort. As the one poster stated, they are old design, but are reliable. Unless you can buy it right, i would much rather look into a 6000 series chopper. I have notice 5830 hold their resale value, and parts are readily available. If over 2500 hours, i would remove the auger housing and inspect how much wear on the flights, blower housing, inner/outer blower side sheets, spout, feed rolls, rear axle pivot for breaks. Knives and stationary knife, which is always a must when buying a chopper. Hope this helps, if you need more, just ask. |
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Blue Grass (Eastern IA) | They are very reliable. Not much electronics to go bad. I have put over 2500 hours on my 5830 which is closing in on 5000 total hrs. With off season maintenence, I have very few in season problems, most commonly a blown hose. A 4 row Kemper is the biggest head you want when running a kernal proccesser. With rotary screen, I have never had it get hot. Spout extensions are available to do a great job filling trucks. I can chop 80 ton/hr in corn silage, which will bury most 9' baggers. Parts are cheap because a lot are common to 7720 combines and 3960 pull type choppers. Aftermarket parts at Kooima and Maize corp. Just about every wear part on it has been replaced by now, and I have no plans to replace it with something newer. Average repair cost has been around $10/hr. plus all my own labor. It has never been in a dealers shop. I put on about 250 hrs./yr. Been charging $4/ton + fuel including wagons.
The chopper man at the biggest chopper dealership in Kansas once told me that if you are going to buy a 6610 - 6810 you should keep your 5830 for when the big chopper is in the shop, which will be often. They have a lot of wireing issues. Don't even consider one without the 50 series wireing harness update.
I have a neighbor who thought he was going to buy a 6610 with 6 row Kemper and get a lot of my custom business away from me. In the 5 years he has been running it, it has been broken more days than it has been running. When it was running, he was plugging the kernal proccesser a lot, so he usually runs without it. When a guy hires a custom chopper he wants to get it done without interuption. I have lost no customers to my neighbor. |
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Columbia Basin, Ephrata, WA | The first 6x10 machines are almost 20 years old. Are there any left that have not had the updates?
You can remove a lot of the electrical components that give the most grief (automatic sharpening and shearbar adjust) and still be no worse off than a 5000 series owner. I had an early 6950 that we bought for a price that some people still want for the 5830's, but it had twice the capacity. With a good rebuild and minimal electric stuff, it didn't miss too many days, and a call to Kansas could usually get it back in action in short order on the bad days. Ran it up to nearly 6,000 hours.
Your neighbor with the 6610 is not a good example. That machine does not have the horsepower to plug a KP without a good bit of human error, either by the operator or the guy in the shop. Any machine will quickly become a poor performer if it's not maintained and run right.
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thumb of mi | We had a 6710 and 5830 at the same time. I thought that the 5830 would be close to or more capacity but the 6710 had a good bit more. The 6710 was a good machine for us but was starting to have electrical issues when we sold it. Still never really shut us down in the field. After that we went to a fx58 new holland that was total junk then to a Claas 900 speedstar that has been good |
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JD 5830 sp forage harvester-good or bad???
