case 400/401 rake

Brian1570 · Apr 7, 2016

Has anyone used a Case 400 or 401 hay rake? I just picked one up and would like to know any tricks about the rake and if they were any good.
We were a Case and New Holland dealer but only ever set up the New Hollands as a kid. The Case will look much better behind the 630 we are finishing though.
Brian1570

brutus49DC · Apr 8, 2016

I have never had a 400 but I did have a 281 and while it had nice features like the hydraulic lift it wasn't nearly as good of a rake as a New Holland, NH was on top with john deere in 2nd place, IH probably built the poorest hay rakes ever made among the major brands, the massey 6 bar was supposed to be a good one but I have never used one myself

oldproudvet · Apr 8, 2016

I've never used the 400, but still use my 281 to make a couple of hundred small squares ea year. it beats tearing apart a large bale if I have to isolate a cow, or 2 during calving. My Devon cattle are totally grass fed, so hay is the feed. The only issue I have with the 281, and if I was making a lot of hay with this for my rake I'd be changing, is the height of beam, for lack of a better word. It limits how high the rake can be raised and with heavier windrows you're forever dragging a cross the top and making a mess. I tend to use this in odd corners of the farm, a couple of acres here and there, always odd shaped so you almost always have to pass over them. I'd want to make sure the 400 has adequate rake lift before I spent to much time on it. Restoring is neat, but if it doesn't work for you it's just another lawn ornament to mow around..................Most of us have enough of them.

case 400/401 rake

Brian1570

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brutus49DC

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oldproudvet

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