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I've used the Darf rake exclusively for 25 years. THey have some foibles, but I like them better than the other types. As the previous post said, you gotta have ALL the teeth intact and functional. Even if they get bent, it'll throw the wheel up after the bent or broken tooth passes, missing whatever hay it's passing over. Spring tension is also critical. It's not complicated, just keep lowering the wheel until it JUST rakes clean. Your speed id completely dependent on ground conditions. If your field is smooth, you can go like a raped ape. If you try to go too fast is a rough or rocky field, the wheels will hop all over the placed (not to mention folding like a taco if they catch a rock at speed. I buy these rakes for almost nothing at auctions, dissassemble them for the teeth and wheels. It only takes a few minutes with an impact wrench to change teeth and I replace every broken one after each field. With correct spring tension, it's not that many. AS I'm sure you discovered, they don't make good corners, so I don't bother. I rake up and down the fields the long way (Making a double windrow on each pass), and let the ends get all messed up. Afterwards, I go around the outside of the field a few times to roll all the messed up ends into one huge windrow. For all the drawbacks, They're still the most gentle way to rake hay. Hardly any leaf shatter, and I love the quiet. No clattering bars or whirring gear drives. With a good muffler on the Oliver 66 in 4th gear, throttle set at about 30%, it's a nice way to relax between the stress of mowing and baling.
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