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1203 CaseIH swather?

13K views 19 replies 10 participants last post by  SWMan 
#1 ·
Hello looking at a used one, 30 foot header. Good, bad, ulgy? Wondering peoples experience with them. Mostly cutting cereals and maybe a tiny bit of Canola
 
#2 ·
A very good friend of mine who's now gone had one for several years and cut thousands of acres with it, mostly canola. Tractor was good, Honeybee header was where 99% of the problems were. He noticed and often commented while I would be fixing on how I had a lot less issues with my old 960 Macdon. He bought a new combine for his last crop, 9430? that come with a Macdon header and he was then convinced which really was a lot better.

I did a lot of tinkering with both parts of it and only ever simple stuff with the tractor, things like occasional orings blowing out on hydro lines at pump, turbo pressure line wore thru from vibration and one time I had to disassemble the rad screen cleaner to get things working again. Oh and after a wayward rock from his lawnmower found the windshield, hauled home a new one for him from Westlock lol. As I understand that is actually a Case colored version of the NH Speedrower, and if that means anything, in the past, when NH hung that name on the side of a swather tractor, you had a good heavy duty machine. But then NH isn't what it used to be with most things anymore unfortunately.
 
#3 · (Edited)
I have had two of them and only had a few issues most of which were covered by warranty. I have had a few Macdon heads and a few Honey Bee heads most were purchased new and they both seem to have their own issues. I think I had more problems with the old knife gearboxes like on a Macdon 960 than any then else. I never had any problems with the new style Macdon gearbox.
The older 1203 swathers (pre 2010?) had some issues and case did some updates but not to all the machines. I would stick with a newer model or if it is an older vintage try and find out what has been updated.
One thing on the Honey Bee you need to keep an eye on the knife drive bearings. I have replaced a few over the years, but do not consider a large problem like some of the members on this forum.
 
#5 ·
It's a Honeybee painted red. I had a 2011 1203 with 36' head was very underpowered in hills to the point the reel and canvas's would slow down then the knife would jam (I still think it something wrong with it but the dealer couldn't figure it out) Traded it on a 2303 was happy with that swather. You'll want dual knife drive the single knife drives break the knife a lot, if you find the knife jams a lot rebuild the knife drive new head, plastic bushing, and drive bearing solves a lot of headaches. They are a notorious swather for hydraulic leaks but after a few years you find them all it seems. I ran our 2303 for 5 years 1200 hours and last couple years have been minimal repairs. The rotary screen on the back is a pain suction tube plugs easy, blows fuses when it plugs, need to blow the rads out every second day to keep it all working good. The header seems built a bit light we did some welding the last couple years but we have also been stupid wet so we have ruts everywhere and been stuck more times then I can count so that doesn't help with breaking stuff
 
#6 ·
They are a decent unit, cab is a bit noisy. Keep an o-ring kit with you and a pail of oil. Maintain knife head and if it's a double knife drive it should be fine. They turned hydraulic pressure up on later models. Nicer cab than a Macdon except for the noise actually. I'm not sure the whole header float pressure thing is the best system but I got used to it. They do a nice job of swathing
 
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#9 ·
ours has a new Holland cutter bar, cant help but think it would cut better with the shumacher guards (both were options) but maybe I am just dreaming..... we have the new Holland equivalent and so far the knife stalling in green canola is the only complaint I have. we have both an hay header and 30' draper for ours


power unit itself is pretty hard to beat its a dream to drive, usually a race in the mornings to see who gets to run it vs whatever else we are doing at the time. Make sure it had the air bags at the back some draper only units were not ordered with them. takes a lot of the jarring an bouncing out if running a swather
 
#11 ·
Ive got a 2011 1203 and a 2014 1203 "Series II" The 2014 model has been nothing but a POS. Constant hydraulic troubles and very underpowered. Case has been sending out update kits for two years trying to make it work. Thankfully that's all on their dime. The latest one was a spring assembly in the hydro system. The cab is great however, I dont find it too noisy and the integrated auto steer is brilliant, as it the suspended rear axle. The red painted honeybee header is....well a honeybee. Lots of room for improvement.

Bought a new M155/D65 considering trading both 1203s off on another M155, as I'm almost sure one M155 will cut as much as two 1203 factoring in down time. The M155 cut its first year without one trouble. Never even changed a section or gaurd on the head.
 
#19 ·
Ive got a 2011 1203 and a 2014 1203 "Series II" The 2014 model has been nothing but a POS. Constant hydraulic troubles and very underpowered. Case has been sending out update kits for two years trying to make it work. .



that reminds me of these utube clips I found when I was looking into options when I bought my 8040. he had the new Holland equivenlent of the series II. this guy had pretty much delared war on CNH over that machine!!!!!! called it the "norower 240"
 
#12 ·
I have a 2008 1203. I bought it new so I've had it for 9 years. The first 5 years it cut 6000 acres of canola. The tractor has basically worked flawless but the header has its problems but once you know where the weak points are it's not really a problem anymore. I did replace the header after 5 years. I had a 30 ft and I went to a 36 ft. The machine has over 2000 hrs on it and I think it's still a very nice machine. I wouldn't think twice about buying another one.
 
#13 ·
I have a 2008 1203. I bought it new so I've had it for 9 years. The first 5 years it cut 6000 acres of canola. The tractor has basically worked flawless but the header has its problems but once you know where the weak points are it's not really a problem anymore. I did replace the header after 5 years. I had a 30 ft and I went to a 36 ft. The machine has over 2000 hrs on it and I think it's still a very nice machine. I wouldn't think twice about buying another



That sounds good. Its either a 1203 or a Massey. With my budget its a Case or Massey. Would prefer the Case since theres a dealership 20 mins away for parts, were the Argo dealer is 2 hours away. Dumb question but will a 1203 handle a 36 foot header if you got hills? Most of our land is rolling, but were the Canola is, its very hilly?

thanks again
 
#15 ·
That sounds good. Its either a 1203 or a Massey. Dumb question but will a 1203 handle a 36 foot header if you got hills? Most of our land is rolling, but were the Canola is, its very hilly?

thanks again[/QUOTE]

Yeah the 1203 is much better then a Massy. I looked at the massy when I bought mine but decided against it.
If you have hills then don't go with 36 ft. It's underpowered in flat land already. My acre/hr when down when I went up the the 36 ft header from the 30 ft. There's a few reasons for that the 36 ft has the shuamaker knife set up. (Witch I don't like) it takes more power and just the fact that the tractor was abit under powered for the 36 ft header.
 
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