Big Bar Rake Makes Better Windrows

Big Bar Rake Makes Better Windrows HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Rakes (44) 32-3-19 Bar rakes are hard to beat when it comes to fluffing hay and moving it smoothly into an even windrow. However, when it comes to raking wide areas of hay into a single windrow, you can't beat big wheel rakes. Harold Gleason has the best of both worlds. He has a bar rake that can open to a 41-ft. span for raking and close to 13 ft. 6 in. for transport. "I tried wheel rakes, but I was never satisfied," says Gleason. Not content with what he could find on the market, the long time FARM SHOW reader tore apart four 9-ft. 6-in. New Holland Rolabar rakes and created his own. He used the baskets and wheels from two model 260 right hand rakes and two model 258 left hand rakes. He also retained the ground drives and height adjustment cranks. The axles on the wheels were shortened down to about two ft. and attached along with the baskets to two new 3 by 6-in. rectangular tube frames. One frame carries the two left hand rake baskets and the other the two right hand baskets. At the center, the two arms meet the 32-ft. 5 by 5-in. square tube tongue where the narrowed-up center frame and transit wheels from an old Deere disk are mounted. While the center frame carries no weight, it does serve to stabilize the 5 by 5-in. tube and keep it from being twisted to one side or another on turns. Also adding stability is a 3-in. wide, 3/8-in. steel strap that runs the length of the tube on its underside. "I welded it to either end of the tube and inserted truss blocks about 6 ft. from either end to put the tube under tension and stiffen it up," explains Gleason. "Before welding it in place, I put kinks in the strap where the blocks would go so the strap would lay flat over them." Left and right lead caster wheels are tied to their rear drive wheels ensuring they turn with the rear wheels as the rake span is narrowed or widened. A single 6-ft. hydraulic cylinder mounted to the rear of the rake tongue controls the rake mouth. Hydraulic hoses run the length of the tube. As it moves, it creates a scissors action with a system of cross connecting 2 by 2-in. steel tubes. One set of tubes, jointed at the halfway point, tie the outlying rakes on either side to the tongue. A second set of tubes connects the cylinder to points just about two ft. to the tongue side of the joints. When the ram is extended, the rakes move into transport position. Although he retained the height adjustment posts, Gleason says he doesn't use them, even in transport. What he does use is the ability to adjust the width of the rakes on the go. "When you hit a heavy patch of hay, you would expect problems, but you can quickly narrow the width to an amount it can handle." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Harold Gleason, 2843 Gleason Dr., Tolna, N. Dak. 58380 (ph 701 262-4584).

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