Bought a 2002 JD 6950 with a 2007 kemper 4500 6 row corn head. Also purchased 2 new 36' versa silage trailers. Brought in 2 93 Mack CL 753's, camelback suspension, top loaders, 18,000 gvw front and 44,000 gvw rears, 5.29 gearing, Cat 3406b 425hp, 13 spd's. Last time I ran a chopper was 1996, should be interesting.
How come that Deere has an N14 in it, surely Deere makes an equivalent engine? I really like those Macks, except I would rather have E7-427s in them. I have a '94 similar to them, except that it has a E7-300. I have a '96 w/ a 427 and 18-speed, but is too long. Good luck w/ the new venture.
Deere has run cummins in there largest chopper since the early 90's, there current big chopper runs a 19L cummins, the rest run a 13.5L deere. (I think) The 6950 was the big horse in its day 505hp. The N14 was the reason we got the Deere instead on the Claas, the Mercedes scared me to much. We have 2 other macks a RD for a lube truck and a Rw for a water truck. The low end torque in the 3406 for lugging through a field is great, they do have some draw backs. I would take either engine, heavy specs, short wheel base, (love the double steering boxes) make them a great field truck. Right now I'm replacing the road radiators with Jcores, hope to be going in 2 weeks.
Regarding the engine, I know that Deere was having trouble with their 4WD motors back in the late 80's/early 90's. We had one at the University that Deere gave them for free. The story I was told was that the rod bolts we soft and by the time they replaced the bolts, resized big ends, and paid for labor it was cheaper to just put in a short block. In any case the engine got a bad reputation. Around 1995 you could buy a JD, CaseIH or Ford 4WD and they all had the N14. ISZ