JD hay rake

grandpa Love · May 4, 2017

Any thoughts on this rake? It's cheap. And I'm just playing not making hay for a living.lol. Thanks

rustred · May 4, 2017

probably ok for mowed hay , but for flipping swaths those are useless.

flying belgian · May 4, 2017

Neighbor has an exact twin to that. He has done some raking for me with it and seams to get along fine with it. The hitch pole cracked off on his. I welded it up and put an extra brace on it. If you look at that hitch pole I bet you can tell where it is susceptible to crack. If that one has a crack in it, beef it up before it cracks completely off in the field.

PJH · May 4, 2017

I have a different brand rake like that. Farmhand Mebbe? I keep it in the fence row in case my main rake AND my backup rake break down. I should sell it - but I would have to tell any potential buyer how much I hate it, and it would kill the sale, ha. If someone ever offered me $100 for it, I'd probably throw in a hitch pin for fear they'd change their mind before it went down the road.

Janicholson · May 4, 2017

It appears to be OK. My only issue is the irregularity of the tooth wheel vertical spacing. There are Z shaped suspension mounts on each one. They should all be very similar in function and height. The hub bearings need to be tight and show evidence of having been greased. Jim

grandpa Love · May 5, 2017

Wow. You nailed the CL price on this one. Lol.

Part Time Pete · May 5, 2017

There were a lot of Farmhand rakes of that design in my area when I was a kid. The upside was you could go as fast as you could stay in the seat - the down side was they tended to rope the windrow, and would pick a lot of rocks etc. into the windrow. Sounds like it would work for what you're doing
Pete

Traditional Farmer · May 5, 2017

Its my idea of a real live Nightmare in the hay field.

DRussell · May 5, 2017

Are they selling it because they quit haying or upgraded to a newer or bigger rake, or are they selling it because they are tired of fighting with it. Myself, I'd be leery of it.

Texasmark1 · May 5, 2017

I tried 4 wheel, 3 pt. rakes twice and both times went back to the JD 500-600 series parallel bar, some call side discharge (most all side discharge that I have seen). Tx. Jim uses pairs of them mounted on wheel assys, drag types in a V shape and that seems to work for him. He will probably kick in on this.

Personally I'd run, not walk away.

chuck machinist · May 5, 2017

I still have a scar on my ars for raking faster than 3 mph .It was explained to me by my dad that if you rake faster than that the clover blade would fall from the stalk,and if I wanted a matching set ,keep raking that way! CM

PJH · May 5, 2017

For $100, if you don't have a rake already, it might be better than no rake. My biggest complaint with my old rake is that it leaves a lot of hay behind. I've always kept it for an emergency, and when I was forced to use it, I have actually raked the same area twice to clean up the hay left behind. If you have much hay on the ground you just don't have time to fool around like that. I've changed every setting on it to try to improve it, but it is still disappointing. Speed made no difference - you could pull it in road gear or granny low and the results were disappointing either way.

Keep in mind that mine is not a Deere rake - I think it's a Farmhand or maybe Freeman, I don't remember for sure. Very similar though.

I hope you have good luck with it.

SVcummins · May 6, 2017

For a hundred dollars I think I'd try it I have a farmhand that mounts to the side of the tractor and it will turn light windrows fine

showcrop · May 7, 2017

The farm where I hung out as a kid has two that are twice the size of those hooked double. They pull it with a 150 HP tractor to combine two swaths from a Krone Big M that mows thirty feet wide. So they are raking grass that has been drying for just a few hours and it seems to rake pretty clean.

JD hay rake

grandpa Love

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rustred

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flying belgian

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PJH

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Janicholson

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grandpa Love

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Part Time Pete

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Traditional Farmer

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DRussell

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Texasmark1

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chuck machinist

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PJH

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SVcummins

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showcrop

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