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Central Kansas | We bought an 854 for 4 years ago and put over 1300 hrs on it. What I can tell is there are pros and cons of all breeds of sprayers. What I can tell you about the Rogators, built tough, have had little to know structure trouble. Have not welded on for anything that wasn't self inflicted. AS far as the wheel motors go, I have all the service records on my machine plus the time I have run it and we have only put one wheel motor on in over 6000 hrs and that was last year. Seems from what I have heard, the 854s were not as bad as some of the early 1254s, they seemed to have a lot of hydro/wheel motor trouble. I have heard everyone bag on the ride of these machines, but maybe I don't have rough enough ground because I don't think they ride that bad. Pivot tracks, washouts, etc. I don't care what machine you drive, you better slow down for these or you are going to be fixing something. In the field, I just don't notice it being that bad (have sprayed 12-15000 acres/yr).
I think they have more than adequate power, the 5.9 seems to make plenty of power. The only problem I have with the engine is it seems like it can't go more than 350-400 hrs without the front seal starting to seep. Not a big job, takes about an hour to put in and no more leaks. Also with the same engine in dodge trucks, engine parts are plentiful.
Don't kid yourself on parts, when Agco bought AgChem parts went up about 50-70%, and I don't know about other places, but our CAT dealer could care less about dealing with these parts and are really just pains in the %&& about it.
Overall, I really think for farmer machines the 854s are good machines, if you know you have really rough terrain may want to look elsewhere. But for machine toughness they are as well built any of them.
Good luck,
Scott | |
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john deere 4700 vs rogator 854
