Side Delivery Rake Help!

[Claddagh Farms]

Have just finished my second attempt at using our 38 JD 594 Side Delivery rake. Yesterday I tried the team on it and it didn’t bother them going on the straight or on wide sweeping turns. However, both yesterday, and especially today on close inner turns the boys choked and refused to move–forward or coming around. I finally broke down and began backing them into the windrow behind us and forcing a turn that way. Hardly ideal and my field looks like a mess compared to how orderly I am used to making a field with a tractor and rake.

Is it me? Is it my hitch? Or just the nature of the beast? Granted I tried the boys and rake out on my two worst fields. One is heavy and tight and we were raking green-ish hay. The other is broad, but triangular with lots of hills, but fairly light grass.

I rigged the rake like the manual said. Hitched the boys to it pretty standard. The problem seems to be in coming around, the team gets out of sync and balks. The turning horse get out front and off to the side, while the following horse keeps knocking into the tongue.

Would it help to deviate from the standard hitch and make the tongue articulate near to the rake? Or should I be more patient and work the boys so they can handle it the way it’s meant to be?

Thanks.

[Jay]

Neal, it looks very similar to the New Idea rakes I’ve been using for years. It may take a bit of time for the boys to learn to lean into the turns. There can be a bit of side draft when turning those rakes, particularly when pushing a windrow around the corner. Keep at it with them gently and they should figure it out before long. Your hitch looks fine to me. I don’t think I’d mess with it. Jay

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Neal and Jay, I have used one of the New ideas off and on for a few years before finally giving it up. Mine was in bad shape and I was always fixing it. Scaring horses when the bars break, etc. I think Jay is right about letting them figure out a new machine, but I would add one thing. On side hills mine allways pushed the tongue on the up hill horse. I switched to a 48″ evener and neck yoke, and liked everything about that. easier to turn in tight places I believe.

[Does’ Leap]

Neal, one minor suggestion is to make sure you chamfer your pole. It might just be the picture, but those edges look pretty sharp. It is inevitable that your horse will hit your pole at some point and you want it smooth.

Good luck.

George

[near horse]

Neal – I think I have the same rake but it still has the heavy duty tractor hitch not a horse tongue so I’ve pulled it with a forecart. The turns can be a booger since the rear wheels don’t seem to “follow” so good as they’re pretty worn.

Also, some of the trouble can show up when the uncut grass is tall enough to create more drag on the rake teeth.

[Claddagh Farms]

Thanks all for the replies! They have been very instructive.

I re-raked the field yesterday, with new eyes and learned a lot. Perhaps it was the amount the boys had done the day before or knowing that for everyone’s sake things needed to go smoother, both the lads performed flawlessly raking.

It probably doesn’t hurt that I not only adjusted my attitude, but also made several mechanical improvements…..

Geoff, yes, those rear wheels are a bugger when the turn sideways or stick! I also re-adjusted the inner bar height to be as high as possible–it still drags, but vastly less so. The rake is in near-mint condition for being a 1938, but there have been some modifications/ repairs to it which probably didn’t have the benefit of a manual or mechanical experience. I found once I had undone all the field-made repairs and replaced proper sized bolts and re-calibrated all the bars to be at the same tooth angle, things went much smoother.

George, thanks for reminding me!! I had meant to ease all the edges of the tongue, but skipped that step in getting the machine to the field.

Donn, my yoke and evener are matched 48″, which is why I was surprised they were having trouble turning it. But yesterday I learned a bit more….. day 1 I followed the line of the mower–1st pass counter clockwise to roll away from the fence, all others clockwise. In going clockwise, there was a short, steep section at the beginning of each run at one of the narrow ends of the triangular field. At the top of this run was a right angle turn followed by two long stretches. It was at the first turn and this second turn the horses were balking. Because they were both having fits I assumed–maybe partly correct–that it was my gear. I think Jack–my newer, younger (14) boy–was the problem. He was fighting the turns, slapping into the tongue, riding up on the yoke, bringing Tony–who is more dependable–up short and refusing to work with such a moron.

Yesterday, in re-rolling the whole field I went counterclockwise without out ANY trouble. This way, Jack was the inside horse and knew enough to lean out and step away in the turns. Tony with more experience on all sorts of equipment could pace himself into the turns. I didn’t have to back up once. All the turns were easy–broad or tight–and we rake the field casually. There was still too much draft at times as there is no way to raise the inside of the bar any higher and it was raking the ground pretty hard, but I lessened the outer height so it was rolling the windrows easier.

The good news is my next field is long and level, so of there is a problem with right-hand, clockwise turns we can work on them better without the added hassle of elevation changes and slope.

[Author]

Posts