4 wheel hay rake.......help

Each have their place, the 3pt wheel rake is great for thin stuff, bumpy or ditchbank areas.

Doesn't like thick, bunched stuff or windy days.

I had to angle the heck out of mine to get much accomplished too.

--->Paul

Slick grain straw right out of a combine is hard to handle under any circumstances and especially bad behind a rotary combine.

What's the rake doing/not doing?

Have you tried it early in the morning when the dew is down? That moisture sure helps tame the beast.

Allan

If it's the same as mine, the wheels are set in pairs on the main frame. Both pairs of wheels have pins that can be pulled that will allow you to change the position of the wheel pair to either trailing eachother or the inside wheel forward. There is also a T-bolt through a slotted cutout that will let you adjust the angle of the main frame. You can also flip the whole frame over, but that's harder to describe. Ultimately, you want the rake to look like this:

When sitting on your tractor seat and looking over your right shoulder the first rake wheel should be positioned just outside the right rear tire. The other three wheels should follow in an angle right behind the first. This setup will rake the hay to the left.

Now, do the "pairs" of wheels follow the angle of the main frame or do they stagger? If they don't follow the main frame, pull the pins that hold the pair to the main frame and "flip" the bar over, You will need the rake lifted up all the way on the 3 point. You will "roll" it through so to speak. Once you have the 4 wheels in a fashion where they follow eachother you need to set the angle. If yours is like mine, it will have 2 chains, one with a spring that connects the center link to the main frame. You should set the chains to pick the rake up as even as possible, with the rear wheel about 6 inches higher off the ground then the front when the entire rake is lifted.

From my 7 years of experience, this rake DOES NOT do well if it's adjusted to pull "flat" behind the tractor. The steeper you set the angle the better it will do. To rake well, the tines should just touch or contact the hard surface, not just the hay. It takes ground contact of some degree to impart motion on the wheel. I've also found that the faster you go, the farther it will turn the material over.

No matter how you set this rake up, IT WILL NOT rake around corners or through a turn of any great degree. It will drag the material along as the wheel speed drops in the turn.

If you need a picture of what the rake should look like I'll post one up. I don't have a manual I bought my rake used, and just experimented with mine over the years. It's supposed to be able to ted hay but I've never figured that one out.