H&S hay rake, no worky worth a darn

fastline

Member
Just learning to hate this rake. If you get in any thick stuff at all, it will clog up at the back wheels. Hay likes to get around the rake wheels, etc.

I am curious if anyone has modded a rake to improve performance? It also very much sucks at leaving hay behind. Probably another 10 bales in a 40 acre field after raking TWICE.

There seems some debate on which way the rake wheels should be mounted. On mine, the points on the wheel tines are facing forward as they strike the ground which forces them to spin. I am not sure if I still do not have enough down force or what. Was my understanding they need to just touch the ground, which they do.
 
My experience with one of those was if the hay was
'tight' it would leave hay.I also found that if the
angle was too wide it would leave hay.When I
'narrowed' it from 36' to 24',it did a cleaner job.
 

Which model H&S? I've owned a H&S 14 wheel Hi-Cap rake since I bought it new in '02. It has raked unknown 1000's of acres. The greater the raking width the greater the angle is. The metal inner ring that the teeth bolt to should be facing the the center of the rake. When looking at the bottom of the rake wheels the curved part of the teeth should be rearward(photo is correct for LH rake wheels)
mvphoto18633.gif
 
curious to find out if anyone has a solution. i have an H&S 12 wheel and have the same issues. have wondered several time about widening the rear of the rake so it dont bunch up so bad. it's mostly in heavy hay that i have an issue, or with lots of weeds. i've heard that a "pull" is not as good as a "push" rake, meaning the teeth are pulled like the V H&S vs. pushed like the high capacity ones.
 

On the push type wheels such as the hi-cap rakes there is no frame that's low enough to block(hinder) hay flow hence the name hi-capacity. I've raked hay with a lot of weeds,Sudan(aka haygrazer) & lots of Coastal with mine. Hi-cap rakes also have larger diameter rake teeth than the lighter rakes.
 
If the rear of the rake is too narrow hay will ball up. I set my wheel rake to leave a windrow the width of the baler pickup. Too slow a ground speed will also cause hay to ball up and wheel rakes do not work well with unconditioned Sudan, Haygrazer & Johnson grass.
 
I have a 10 wheel sitrex and have had for 8 years. As stated the faster you go the better. I windrow two 9 foot swaths plus into one for a 273 baler. I will say that when I have done small fields and cant go like a bat out of he11 i have had bunch up problems esp in heavy but again the speed seems to be key.. I have a 3020 powershift and run in 5th.
 
(quoted from post at 12:50:10 06/27/13) I have a 10 wheel sitrex and have had for 8 years. As stated the faster you go the better. I windrow two 9 foot swaths plus into one for a 273 baler. I will say that when I have done small fields and cant go like a bat out of he11 i have had bunch up problems esp in heavy but again the speed seems to be key.. I have a 3020 powershift and run in 5th.


what MPH are we talking? I try to run 3/hi in my case but it a ROUGH ride and hard on me and the tractor. I would estimate about 7-8mph. I agree that faster seems to help but when it bunches up, it also screws things up faster.

So, could we ALL agree that the point of the tines should face forward at the bottom of the wheel.
 
I just went and looked at my Sitrex and the teeth on the wheels are pointing forward at the point of contact with the ground, just like your H & S.
 
I gave up on raking altogether,I never found one that gave no problems and there is no timesaving if you're by yourself unless one rolls 3 swaths together and that causes crop and nutrition losses.
I use nowadays a combine pickup on a set of wheels behind the tractor to just lift and fluff the crop after a rain to facilitate drying(works just as good)
Normally I just bale the undisturbed swath when dry.
 
I would think your going fast enough.. at 7-8 mph.. Yep tines pointing forward are correct.. When I first put mine together I had them the other way.. ha ha ha ha.. huge mess not to mention made a huge dust cloud..as mentioned the wider the V the worse it rakes so a nice V with the wheels kicking out behind and not so much at each other.. I have adjusted mine many times until I finally got it to what I want. I love the rake I have BUT adjusting it is a real pain.. so once I got it where I wanted it I spot welded a few things so they wont come loose..
 
I have a low capacity 12 wheel. In heavy crop you need to widen out the back and narrow in the front. If you chage the witdth of the front (the width of the v) you will need to change the width of the back (the ratchet binder looking adjustments). As you narrow the v width setting you will need to reduce the rear width setting as the rake naturally opens up that width. The biggest thing for making sure you pick up hay is having all the teeth in. Even though there are a zillion teeth, if quite a few are missing you will loose a lot of hay. Pressure on the tines will also help. More pressure means a cleaner field and more teeth to replace. I have not found a happy medium just yet. Also, don"t buy cheap teeth. Someone did in my rake before I bought it used. I figure another 2 years and I will have them all replaced.

I love my v-rake because I can rake 3 10" swaths together if needed but it can be an agrevation.

Also it it plugs up, close the v most of the way, pull forward a few feet and spread it back out. Clears it every time. Not that I ever plug up.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top