I've raked with something as small as an Honda Foreman ATV in a pinch. Not sure how good that is on the transmission and I would speculate that a transmission will buy a lot of fuel.
I used to rake with an 801 Ford. Used something like 15 gallons of gas in a long day to do it. When I decided to go with 'all alike' tractors that moved me to using an 86 hp Ford diesel to rake duties. Normally its the 7600 that gets drawn for the job but sometimes the 7710 gets the nod and occassionally the 7610. I still use about 15 gallons or so of fuel in a long day with the rake. Greatest fuel sipper I ever had was a 1210 Case DB. Thing would rake all day on 5 gallons but with parts costing twice what they do for the Fords I couldnt see keeping it for the savings.
I cant see ever saving enough fuel pulling a hayrake to ever pay for a tractor. If it saved 10 gallons a day and fuel was 4.00 a gallon thats 40 bucks a day. That would mean it would need to rake 200 days just to pay for an 8000 tractor. For most of us, thats a lot of years of raking at what I think are unreasonable savings. Plus, the first time you need a thousand dollar water pump (dont ask how I know about those, I had a Romanian tractor when I started out) over an 80 locally available one it makes it even worse.
To me, a better solution is (and was for me) to increase output. I added another rake and made an offset hitch so now I'm pulling two instead of one. Nominally I should do twice the work using the same fuel and time. Realisitcally, its not quite that efficient, in that I only save a third. Payback is a lot quicker on a 600 rake, with a 600 overhaul and 200 in a hitch than on several grand for a tractor. Plus, the time savings can be priceless when rain is coming.
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. [ About Us ]
Today's Featured Article - Usin Your Implements: Bucket Loader - by Curtis Von Fange. Introduction: Dad was raised during the depression years of the thirties. As a kid he worked part time on a farm in Kansas doing many of the manual chores. Some of the more successful farmers of that day had a new time saving device called a tractor. It increased the farm productivity and, in general, made life easier because more work could be done with this 'mechanical beast'. My dad dreamed that some day he would have his own tractor with every implement he could get. When he rea
... [Read Article]
Latest Ad:
For sale Farmall super A tractor is complete and has just been setting for awhile,it was running when pulled out of the barn,shouldn’t take to much to get it going asking 1100.00
[More Ads]
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy
TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.
