It's about accurate seed placement - Kuhn North America

D9 owners are more satisfied with the
D machine’s quality of work than D8
owners are. 50% of them say their drills
D
D 9 range (linkage-mounted mechanical drill)
Year of manufacture: from 1999
Work width: 2.5/3.0/4.0 m and 6.0 m
Hopper capacity:
450 l – 600 l on 3 m version (extended
to 830 l and 1,000 l); 830 l on 4 m
version (extended to 1,380 l)
Coulters: Suffolk coulters and RoTeC
coulters
The AD cultivator-mounted drills
generally feature good quality of build.
Sharing many components with the
D9 models (metering system, coulters,
tines, seed hopper etc), the cultivatormounted
AD range received similar
marks as this. However, lift requirement
AD-P range
(cultivator-mounted pneumatic drill)
Year of manufacture:
from 1995
AD-P Super from 2005
Work width: 3.0/4.0 m;
AD-P Profi up to 4.5 m
Hopper capacity: 1,550 l
(extended to 2,000 l)
Coulters: Suffolk/RoTeC
D
87% of all AD-P owners surveyed
would buy the same machine
again. This is the highest score in
the survey. The machine earned good
marks in all categories. The 2,000-litre
hopper capacities received particular
praise, which is typical for a pneumatic
machine. At the same time, the
machine offers easy emptying of remaining
seeds as well as easy cleaning.
The seed level gauge is less
susceptible to failure than on mechanical
versions.
Yet, the generous capacity and the
are fitted with disc coulters, because in
unploughed land these give smoother
running than Suffolk coulters. Hopper capacity
is bigger than on the predecessor
models, yet it is not as big as on pneumatic
drills.
Most machines rely on Exact tines,
which give good quality of work. By comparison,
the seed metering system is an issue.
Swapping between normal and small
seeds is particularly difficult and many
machines do not drill accurately to calibrated
rates. These are reasons for some
D9 owners to not buy the machine again.
Build quality earned praise on the
whole. Still, the breakdown rate was
AD range (linkage-mounted mechanical drill)
Year of manufacture: from 1999
Work width: 2.5/3.0/4.0 m and 4.5 m
Hopper capacity:
450/600 l on 3 m drill (extended to
810/1,000 l); 830 l on 4 m drill
(extended to 1,380 l)
Coulters: Suffolk coulters/RoTeC
coulters
is considered high for this semi-mounted
design so that some users would appreciate
it if the hopper moved closer to the
tractor. Further issues include restricted
visibility on extended hoppers and the
high dead weight also generated criticism,
because the 3m versions weigh
about 2.7t. Most criticism concerned
the AD-P Profi models. The more recent
Super model mounts the hopper
on the press and moves the centre of
gravity closer to the tractor. When
extended, the hopper is yet too high
to provide for convenient bag fills.
Repair wise, the machine is neither
extremely susceptible to damage nor
particularly reliable - just middle of
the road. Some farmers criticise the
flimsy tine bar mountings.
User criticism centres on seed rates.
Many users say that calibrated and
drilled rates are not always identical.
higher than average. After the tines
proved to be very susceptible to damage,
the manufacturer modified them. The
seed delivery tubes, metering aggregates,
gearboxes and hoppers also needed an
occasional repair.
metering system. Swapping from normal
to small seeds is difficult and actual sowing
rates are higher than calibrated rates so
that some owners replaced the bottom
flaps. There is no rest on the hopper that
would make bag filling easier. The amount
of remaining seeds left in the hopper is
large, which is attributed to the agitator
that makes emptying difficult. The operator
often has to sweep or blow out the remaining
seeds. The lid does not close tight
and invites dust contamination.
Drills with leading wedged ring roller
to take care of depth control do not always
sow deep enough in clayey and wet
soils. Many machines have RoTeC coulters,
which provide excellent results, except
for the flimsy depth limiters. In all
other respects, the owners confirmed reliability
and good build quality.
Hopper capacities of up to 2,500 litres
result in a high lift requirement.
User assessments - Amazone
D 8 D 9 AD AD-P Average
result
Visibility 2.1 2.1 2.1 2.4 2.1
Lift
requirement
2.2 2.4 2.8 3.3 2.5
Hopper 2.7 2.2 2.3 1.9 2.2
Seed rate
setting system
2.3 2.3 2.4 1.8 2.1
Seed
placement
2.1 1.9 1.8 1.8 1.9
Tine bar 1.9 1.8 1.8 1.9 2.0
Quality of
build
1.5 1.6 1.5 1.7 1.7
No. of
repairs/500 ha
4.0 5.2 3.1 3.5 3.0
Buy again? Yes 83 % 70 % 76 % 87 % 75 %
The Schulnoten: grading 1 system = sehr follows gut bis a 5 scale = sehr from schlecht 1 to 5, with
1 representing excellent and 5 being extremely poor.