Reversed Rake Speeds Haymaking

Reversed Rake Speeds Haymaking HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Rakes (44) 12-4-8 To rake and bale hay faster, brothers Ray and Roger Walter, of Plummer, Minn. ù who already owned a 2-wheel Deere model 894 hay rake ù purchased a second one and had it "reversed" by their local welder so it would throw hay at a 45? angle in the opposite direction of the first rake. They paid $300 for the rake and spent about $500 to reverse it. By pulling the two 9 ft. wide rakes together behind each end of a dolly hitched to the tractor, they now have a combined 18 ft. raking width. They can roll two swaths into one large double windrow that's just right for their big round baler. The gear-driven, 2-wheel model 894 rakes were originally designed to be mounted directly to the tractor drawbar. To pull them behind the dolly, the Walters added a third wheel, taken from an old grain drill, in front. Ahead of this wheel, a hitch connects the rake to the dolly, which is made of 2 by 2 in. steel tubing. A tube inside can be moved in or out to adjust distance between rakes, and size of the windrow. To reverse direction of the teeth, the local welder completely dismantled the cage. He cut off the drive from the right side and moved it to the left side. Using a torch, he heated up the teeth and bent them in the opposite direction. Then, he rewelded the teeth together. "Because these rakes are equipped with parallel wheels, we didn't have to change the main frame of the rake," notes Ray. "On rakes with staggered wheels, you'd have to change the main frame. And, on some new rakes, one wheel is in front of the other so there's no room to run the cage on the other side." To transport the rakes, one is hooked to the middle of the dolly and the other is pinned behind it. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ray Walter, Plummer, Minn. 56748 (ph 218 465-4400).

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