wheel rakes

DLMKA

Member
Been thinking about upgrading my 894 hay rake to either a newer roll-a-bar New Holland 256 but then started looking at wheel rakes.

I'm only doing about 12 acres of hay with a Deere 24T baler.

Can you use only one wing of a v-rake and it not get tippy? Is there adjustments for windrow width when using both sides in v-configuration?

24T can't handle a double windrow in first cutting grass hay and I'm afraid the windrow width from a v-rake is too wide for 24T pick-up.
 
If I where you I would keep looking they do make wheel rakes that only have one set of 4 wheels which make a single windrow. I have one and they work real good. Now if i could ever get it back fro ma friend who borrowed it some 10 or so years ago LOl
 
Guess it might be an area thing. I have one that as I said a friend has and I have parts and pieces of another one. Seen a number of them in this area
 
For 12 acres with a square baler,I'd be looking for a rotary type rake. Kuhn,or something similar.
 
If you want only raking into windrows for baling the NH Rolabar rake is best. If you want/need to dry the hay the Kuhn "Eggbeater" rakes
are tops. They also tear out lumps making it easier for a smaller baler and if it rains you can spread it all out to dry and windrow it up
again, easy.
 
I forget the saying about making a mistake once and making it again on being stupid. I had a 4 basket 3 pt and it was a POS. Fast forward,
bought some new haying equip and wouldn't you know it, puked $800 again. It's been sitting out in my "implements of the line" (reference
to ships of the line in the old days of sailing and battle ships sailing practices).

Tx. Jim uses the V and apparently works for him. JD parallel bar 500 and 600 series work for me and that's where I'll stay. On NH rakes,
custom baler guy here, been at it 40 years I know of, here uses green to pull and to roll but yellow and orangish red to do the raking and
cutting....food for thought. I pull and cut with 2 shades of red and rake and bale with green.
 
(quoted from post at 15:17:07 06/29/17) For 12 acres with a square baler,I'd be looking for a rotary type rake. Kuhn,or something similar.

I would be also. But a rotary is more money than a bar or wheel rake and has more to go wrong (so look them over closely). But I sure do love my Pequea rotary.
 
(quoted from post at 18:56:12 06/29/17) Ya the higher capacity rakes you can keep one side locked up but they are a lot of money for 12 acres!

It'd be ridiculous overkill but not many 5 wheel rakes here. Mostly older roll-a-bar and some 8 or 10 wheel v rakes.
 
My vote is for the New Holland. Even an older 55 or 56. I had a wheel rake for a few years. It worked perfect in perfect conditions. It didn't do well if the hay was too heavy or to light. Traded it off for a 56. I still wouldn't trade back
 
You can't go wrong with the NH 256 rolabar rake, my brother has a NH 56 rolabar built in 1959 (same as the 256), he's owned it since 1975. After raking thousands, and thousands of acers with it over the years this past winter he spent $500.00 on some new wheel, and drive parts for it, still working like a brand new one. Myself, I'm partial to my Massey Ferguson 25 pto driven rake that I use on my 15 acers. Since it uses the live pto to drive it, it has no problems with thick windrows, and if you go with a slow ground speed you can spread out a windrow almost like a tedder (paid $350.00 for it at an auction, I'm very happy with it).
105.jpg
 
The NH 256 is a nice match for your 24T. I use a 56 rake and have a 224T. Before you buy a used wheel rake find somewhere to check out replacement parts. Seems to me the replacement wheels can be pricey? Seems to me I looked into that once but the memory is not clear on this. :)
 
I would stick with the rake you've got for a square baler & 12 acres. The wheel rakes are the only way to go for a round baler but unless you have a higher capacity square baler they don't match up well.
 
Wheel rake wheels never need replacing unless you have an accident . Besides, Rural King has brad new wheels with teeth for $100 bucks. 25 years ago I had a whole fleet of bar rakes. I have been using the same wheel rake ever since, so much cheaper to keep up then a bar rake.
 
(quoted from post at 13:55:45 06/29/17) If I where you I would keep looking they do make wheel rakes that only have one set of 4 wheels which make a single windrow. I have one and they work real good. Now if i could ever get it back fro ma friend who borrowed it some 10 or so years ago LOl

I hope that you have that written down somewhere. I nearly lost my manure spreader when I loaned it to a friend after the animals went down the road. After awhile I didn't remember where it went. One day he showed up with it because he was moving.
 
you have a good rake and paid for..soooo with that Ill inject my two cents

I have been using v rake for about 12 years now.. LOVE it.. I have a 10 wheel and have used all 10 in light hay, have
taken the front single off and used it 8 wheel..

In the past few years Hay has gotten heavier so I took the double off the rear and replaced with single wheel
adjusted the v rake so I rake two 9' swaths into two seperate rows for baler in one pass.. As said two into one in
heavy hay is to much for sq baler if heavy hay.. but this new way works great for me..

I had originally had a side basket rake..took me 6 plus hours to do 15 acres.. takes me 1.5 hours with v rake...as I
said I have made adjustments to mine to adapt to diff. situations...

I also do 30-50 acres of hay..not that much but still the time factor is huge for me..

Also I can rake with just one side as a side rake too.. not been a problem..

Bought mine back in the day for 3700.00 for the use in alfalfa field.. since have gone to all grass now.. so thats
when the adjusting and improvising started happening.. lol
 
I know it's not what you're asking, but I'd
be patient and look for a good used rotary
rake. Claas, Kuhn, and krone seem to be the
go to brands around here. They seem to fluff
the row up better than the rest, especially
if you have to rake it a second time. I have
a gehl 6 wheel style in line rake that is
adjustable from around 7 to 11ft. Got me by
for a few years but hasn't been hooked on a
tractor in the 2yrs we've owned the rotary.
I'm in Michigan and sometimes need all the
drying advantages we can get.

But to answer your question, yes one side
can be locked up on some. My buddy has a
sitrix and can lock up one side on his. He's
currently looking for a rotary to use for
1st cutting and for flipping already raked
hay......
 
Hum.

I have an old roll a bar rake dad bought when I was a kid. Great rake for all conditions. It is slow as hay fields get bigger and bigger. But it is -
the- universal rake that will give you a windrow in most any conditions.

I have a cheapie 3pt 5 wheel rake. It works ok, but is terrible at corners or irregular shaped fields. It can't handle heavy windrows of hay as it
clogs up under the wheel acres, and it doesn't handle fluffy hay in windy conditions well either. I'm glad I have it for a backup, but it would be
terrible if it were ny only rake, many situations it does not work well.

I see a lot more expensive Vee wheel rakes, with the wheel axle on the back side, and they appear to make big windrows in a hurry, and work
pretty good. But you are looking at some money for them.

The rotary rakes that sweep the hay to the side with long teeth are not popular around here, I understand they are good but just do not see
them for some reason.

Paul
 
I bought a new H&S tedder last year. May have been a decision not 100% thought out. I could have bought a rotary for less than the cost of the tedder and a new(er) rake and had one less piece of equipment to store. With the tedder already purchased I think after reading the comments here that my best option is to find a used 56 or 256 NH rake.

I'd keep the 894 except the joints on the ends of the bars are all but worn out and I can't trust it to not engage randomly going down the road. The engagement dogs in the hubs are shot. I just take the chain off between fields. I'm afraid that even if parts are available from mother Deere I'd have more invested in parts than the thing is worth. I just replaced 17 rubber teeth on it.
 
The New Holland rakes do work a LOT better in uneven ground if they have a dolly wheel on the front.
 

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