Need help on buying hay rake, pros/cons

What are the pros and cons to a side delivery or bar rake vs a rotary rake?
Also I see side delivery rakes with wheels in the front, some belt drive, and differnet raking fingers, what to stay away from?
Finally, which type does a better job - my fields are pretty flat for the most part.

I always said a monkey could rake lawn clippings with a rotary rake. The little beauties do a great job. They don't rope the hay. If you run the right PTO speed (slow) it just kinda makes little tents in the windrow that dry fast. They're excellent for turning hay too. They tear the windrow back apart and fluff it up as opposed to just turning it over. The only disadvantage,if you can even call it that,is that you have to use the PTO. Might be a disadvantage if you have a youngster running it.

Opps! I did say rotary rake when I ment wheel rake.
Wheel rake vs side delivery rake.
Thanks!

I've never used a folding wheel rake,but everyone who has one says they would be lost without it.They come in various widths,up to more than 30 or 40' if you want one that wide.As far as others go,it's almost a budget thing.NH Rollabar rakes are still made as far as I know,and have been almost unchanged since the early 60's.They would be my first pick anyways.Had a Massey years ago,run and run fast from those.The clutch assembly is just fair at times and the angel is maybe not desireable because we found sometimes it would drag fluffy material.I hate any rake with rubber mounted teeth.Get type that are steel spring bolted right to the bar.I say that because I like to run it right on the ground to pick up everything,if you do that with rubber mounted teeth,they will break off,I have lost a dozen raking 40 acres before lol.John Deere rakes are good,New Idea rakes were alright too.There were likely lots of others that were decent too,I would steer clear of Massey rakes,unless you get one in good shape for free and don't mind frigging around in the field.pd

OK,I've got a Gehl 318 8 wheel V-rake too. I didn't need it when there were kids around here to rake for me,but putting up 140 or so acres alone,it's the only way to go. I can rake in excess of 15 acres an hour in 9 foot cut swaths. Disadvantage to those,you can't turn corners with them,AT ALL. You have to cut so that you are raking straight back and forth. I think you said you had mostly level ground,even better. On real hilly ground you have to use the 3 point lever a lot to keep the back end or both sides down since they are so big. If you get one,size it for the haybine that you have if you're getting a 3pt like mine. I bought a 10 wheel at first. It was too wide for a 9 foot haybine. Luckily the neighbor had an 8 wheel just like it,same make and everything,but he has a 12 foot cut. Had the same problem but in reverse. Couldn't pull in all of both swaths.

Get a wheel rake. Rotary rakes have PTO(s) and more bearings to wear out. Plus when you rake dry hay with a rotary rake it whips the leaves off. Wheel rake don't have PTO(s) so there is one less thing to get tangled up in. Wheel rakes are the way to go.

There are four styles of rakes.

1. four bar with circular motion, like IH #5.
2. 5 bar (sometimes 4 bar) parallel motion.
3. Wheel.
4. Rotary.

Neglecting the ancient dump rake.

The four bar (I call it a beater) rake according to my machinery design text book kicks the hay at 5 mph when pulled at 3 mph. When I've raked with one in alfalfa I could see the leaves separating from the stems if I pulled it too fast. All the value of alfalfa hay is the leaf, the stem is just saved to hold the leaves.

The parallel bar rake (with the bars hinged to disks close to the plane of the bars) moves the hay at about the same speed as the ground speed, so when pulled at 5 mph, it moves the hay at 5 mph.

The wheel type rake is said to move the hay at 5 mph when its being pulled at 8 mph. So for fast work its much easier on the hay. When the wheels are driven by ground contact of the rake teeth, it can add some dust to the windrow which some horse owners don't appreciate, especially when they can't tell the difference between dirt and mold.

The most modern rakes are PTO driven rotary rakes and can be adjusted to treat the hay gently without adding dust from rake teeth against the ground.

Wheel rakes, like the Farmhand with short stiff teeth on a rigid rim, aren't as nice to the hay as those with long willowy teeth, but are cheaper to buy.

Gerald J.

Hey Gerald......also neglecting the ancient sweep rake.
sweep rake

It makes a difference what your fields are like too.If they are small or odd shaped you have to do lots of "middles". the gyro types don't let you turn sharp in order to finish up,where the roll-a-bar with a dollie wheel will turn in its own width.

Give me a 256 New Holland anytime

I wasn't aware that there was an upside to either a wheel rake or roll-a-bar rake other than their cheap purchase price.
I've used all three at one point or another and I'll take the rotary every time.
They're faster, cleaner and more versatile along with forming a better row.
If you have a mounted roatary there's no limit to their manuverability, only the tractor.
Their major drawbacks are the cost and the weight. You need a good chunk of a tractor to handle one. Gone are the days of raking hay with an 'H'...
There will never be another tooth shedding, pile making wheel rake on this farm. We still have a roll-a-bar somewhere that I endeavour to not use, but it's there for emergencies.


Rod

And the old 3 parallel bar and my favorite, the 3 point mounted parallel bar hydraulic driven rake.

We have bar rakes, a wheel rake and two rotary rakes currently and this year weeds grew up around everything but the rotary rakes. Yes the rotary rakes are expensive to buy but I am 100% convinced after raking 1,500+ acres with them over the past three years that they make us enough more money than the other kinds of rakes to pay for themselves. Anybody who say's a rotary rake knocks more leaves off than other kinds of rakes either hasn't ran one or didn't know how to run it correctly, our's are more gentle on hay than either a bar rake or a wheel rake but you can't do it while running the pto really fast. We have two Kuhn 4120 rakes which have been flawless and I really don't see them needing any more repairs down the road than any other rake.