Dump Rake Tonque

I want to make a tonque for a Dump rake so we can pull it around & maybe try it. Want to keep it period "correct" even though we are not using horses. What length should it be? Using what ever lumber I can find so results might be different?

I would think in the 12 foot range. Ash would be my first choice. Second Spruce. IMHO

We used a dump rake when we first moved back home after getting out of the Army. Make the tongue long enough that you can make sharp turns with the tractor without being too short and long enough so that you won't need a great area to make the turns. The trick to operating a dump rake is the person on the rake tripping it so you have straight windrows to bale or pick up the hay in "doodles" if you're putting it up loose. Good luck with your haying. Keith

I remember breaking the tongue when a kid, it had some good wood in it!

The length is whatever is needed for the horse(s) pulling it. The front of the tongue is held up by the neck yoke. The one we had converted for use with a tractor had a hitch such that a hard turn with the tractor had the rake pivoting on the inner wheel. The tongue for use with horses was usually made of lodgepole pine. It was probably about four inches in diameter. The hitch for use with a tractor was made out of angle iron and was made in a V. It was probable about 3/16 x 3" angle. I don't remember just how it was mounted, but it needed to angle down so the rake was about right for the teeth to work right in use. The tongue for horses was much higher on the front than the tractor hitch. The tractor hitch was also much shorter than the one for horses. A guess would be less than eight feet from the back of the wheels because it seems like we could haul it crosswise without it hanging over either side of the trailer. Maybe that is how they decided how long to make the hitch. I used one behind a single horse for two years and behind a tractor for about fifteen years, but that ended about forty-five years ago. The horse pulled rakes were modified in a variety of ways to use them behind a tractor with nobody on the rake. The hard part was figuring out a good system for the hold down.

I have one that I pull behind the tractor to rake up hay for the chicken house. The tongue can't be straight to use behind a tractor. The tractor draw bar is too low unless you use it with a raised 3 point hitch tool bar. The tongue in mine is made from a bent steel pipe. I can send you a photo and measurements, if you would like.

If you can figure out where the double tree attaches to the rake, then the "hook" on the bottom of the tongue (which keeps the neck yoke from sliding back on the tongue) is 9'8" forward of that point for draft horses.

Thanks for the offer and all the other input. Seems the long (12 foot-for horses) is the right answer and other combinations for tractors. Fifty plus years ago my brothers & I helped Grandpa rake up some loose grass & move it to a burn pile with a old steel wheel wagon to for fire prevention with a tractor and That equipment had already been "Farmerized" from original. A little actual experence is a good memory? cleddy

How're you gonna make it dump? When you ride on it, the trip's right at your foot; but if you're up on the tractor, what'll you do?

I really like a dump rake for light hay, but for thick hay it's not so great, because the windrows are too close together. It makes windrows that are nice and fluffy--not roped like a side delivery. They make really nice windrow turners too, in case you didn't know. You can carry the hay any distance, and when you trip it, it always turns it bottom side side up--and fluffs it as it does.

I'd like to see how you do this with a tractor. Have you thought about connecting two together to make a really long one?

Here are a couple pictures of me using my dump rake to turn windrows. Not that it shows much for you though.

joel

Yeah-I have 3 sons and a couple grandsons big enough that can try to do that part of the operation. In fact they can drive the tractor too. I saved some extra parts from scrappers but not enough to make double wide. At one time we had two- but my Dad scrapped one out and saved some parts? Thanks for the pictures-Shows how the length came into play.Cleddy

I've thought about making an adaptor for an hydraulic cylinder to trip it. It'd have to be pretty quick action though, I'd think. Better yet though, a person could make a three-point-hitch mount for a dump rake. That'd be pretty simple. Then you could have a lever next to your seat with a link connected to the trip mechanism. Can't do that so well pulling it by the drawbar, because the distance varies when you turn. You'd still need the wheels to operate the trip, of course. They'd also serve as a height gauge. Hey, I like that idea!

I'm glad you've gotten me thinking about this. I'd abandoned my dump rake when I sold my haflinger, but it makes an excellent, open windrow and an even better turner. And another thing: when you start a field, there's never a double windrow around the outside.