# rotary hay rakes



## stgower (Aug 18, 2009)

Anyone have an opinion on the best single rotor rotary rake for raking primarily grass (timothy, orchardgrass, brome) hay. I live in southern WI where drying time seem to be getting shorter and shorter.
Thanks,

Tom


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## buckeye (Jul 21, 2009)

Miller Pro


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## Edgewood (Jun 29, 2009)

I have a Kuhn 4120 that has performed flawlessly for the last 5 years. I would definitely buy another Kuhn rake in the future.


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## OhioHay (Jun 4, 2008)

Been real happy with Miller Pro


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## Lazy J (Jul 18, 2008)

I have a Pequea that has worked well for us so far.

Jim


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## stgower (Aug 18, 2009)

Lazy J said:


> I have a Pequea that has worked well for us so far.
> 
> Jim


Jim, What model do you have. Somewhere I saw a post from a Pequea dealer warning not to purchase older than 4 nears. Guess there have been some significant upgrades.


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## Lazy J (Jul 18, 2008)

stgower said:


> Jim, What model do you have. Somewhere I saw a post from a Pequea dealer warning not to purchase older than 4 nears. Guess there have been some significant upgrades.


We have an HR5. We have had a problem with the left side support arm falling and letting the arms hit it. We re-tightened the bolts and used Lock Tite which has fixed the problem.

Jim


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

Who makes Frontier's Rotary Rakes? It has the same specs and looks of the Pequea.


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## KRONE PRO (Aug 23, 2009)

I run a Krone Swadro 38 rake on my farm. It does a perfect job in thin dry hay and really shines in thick high moisture silage hay. Mine is a 3point, hooks up easy due to floating hitch pin arms. Handy to rake tight windrow ends, just lift 3pnt, turn, and lower and go. Built strong and have had no problems.And it will dry out hay way faster than wheel rakes or rollaber rakes.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

KRONE PRO said:


> .And it will dry out hay way faster than wheel rakes or rollaber rakes.


I've always wanted to run my V-wheel rake and a rotary rake side by side and see for myself. Those are way on the expensive side to just buy one blindly as I would want one that would handle 25' just like my wheel rake. We did have Purdues hay days in our area once, but the guy from Purdue that runs it lived up to his nickname of the drought buster. Only thing we got to see was tedders going over the fields yet again and nobody else in my area that I'm aware of uses a rotary.

I definitely will not argue that either a wheel or rotary will dry hay faster than a rolabar rake. I bale hay for my cousin sometime and he's using the hydraulic bridge hitch and a left and right NH rolabar and sometimes the biggest favor I can do for him is take my wheel rake down and rake it for him. Feeds a lot better as well when raked with mine compared to his rolabar rakes. Can usually run at least gear faster on the hay I rake compared to what he has.

Hows the acres/hour compare with a rotary vs a wheel rake? I'm using a 25 v wheel now and run anywhere from 8-10 mph usually, have ran faster but starts to make a pretty sloppy row higher than 10 mph.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

My local JD has offered me a Frontier 1012 Rotary for $3700 which is way off list price but the thing looks really light duty, even JD calls it an economy rake. He quoted me a Krone 46 T for $8500.


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## Krone (May 27, 2009)

All manufacturers of rotary rakes quote a working width - this includes the curtain - the actual working (raking) width will be the rotor diameter. You really need to compare the rotor diameters when looking for a specific working width of a rotary rake:
Krone Single rotor rakes - ww (working width) rd (rotor diameter)
SW-38 ww = 12'5" rd = 9'9"
SW-42 ww = 13'9" rd = 10'10"
SW-46 ww = 15' rd = 11'8"


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

I was quoted $9,100 for a Vermeer RR-150.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Krone said:


> All manufacturers of rotary rakes quote a working width - this includes the curtain - the actual working (raking) width will be the rotor diameter. You really need to compare the rotor diameters when looking for a specific working width of a rotary rake:
> Krone Single rotor rakes - ww (working width) rd (rotor diameter)
> SW-38 ww = 12'5" rd = 9'9"
> SW-42 ww = 13'9" rd = 10'10"
> SW-46 ww = 15' rd = 11'8"


So part of the hay doesn't get moved? Or is what they refer to as working width is the machine width while in working position but it only rakes the rotor diameter? If it is the later I could say my tedder is 25-26' but it really only teds about 22 1/2'. Was just wondering is all. NH claims my v rake will cover 25 foot, but it will only really do that if you move the rear in to its narrowest setting. As you move the rear in, the front of the wings move out since the fold cylinders are about two thirds of the way up the wings.


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## Krone (May 27, 2009)

Working width while in working position.

As far as moving all the hay - it depends if you are raking hay from a windrow or a tedded field.


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

mlappin - I think your explaination is correct. Somebody had once said that raking hay was just a preperation for baling - hay should be dry....... maybe where they were at. In many parts raking is done so that hay does dry a little. We have a 2 rotor kuhn, and the one rotor (the one that brings a roll under the machine) makes it's roll by sweeping all of the hay over, and depositing it over the top of hay that has remained stationary. So actual rotor width and working width would be different.

Rodney


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## KRONE PRO (Aug 23, 2009)

Rotory rake ground speed is similer to wheel rakes. I run my Krone 38 between 6 and 10 mph. The walking axles ride very smooth over rough ground. Since it is pto driven I can adjust rotor speed and ground speed separetly. Great for raking alfalfa when the leaves get to dry, rakes gently. It will dry Faster than wheel rakes for 2 reasons: the hay stems in the windrow are oriented at many different angles,like kindling when trying to start a proper camp fire.Air will circulate it better. 2- Fluffier and more uniform. Wheel rakes can rope the hay somewhat and V rakes can bunch, roll, the hay. 
Everyone I have sold a rotory rake to said they woud'nt go back to rollabar or wheel rakes.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

KRONE PRO said:


> Everyone I have sold a rotory rake to said they woud'nt go back to rollabar or wheel rakes.


Oh I don't doubt that a bit. Like I've said I would love to try one, but wouldn't want to have the investment in it until I could compare them with my wheel rake. I won't argue that wheel rakes can make clumps on lighter hay especially if it's been tedded, but some of that can be resolved by doing a better job of tedding to leave a more uniform spread of the crop and sometimes ground speed can make a difference on the clumping as well.

I'd be looking at a center delivery style though and from how I understand it so far, if I was raking tedded hay, the hay in the center wouldn't be moved at all?

I also have two smaller fields that are about 25 acres combined that I can't even get all the hay raked in a few places using the wheel rake because they are so undulating. I don't even attempt to get all the hay while tedding them either, if I can get 85% of it moved and spread I consider that pretty good on these fields as if I set it low enough to get all the hay, tine or even arm breakage is guaranteed. I just plan on it taking an extra day to get the hay dry in those two..


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Rodney R said:


> mlappin - I think your explaination is correct. Somebody had once said that raking hay was just a preperation for baling - hay should be dry....... maybe where they were at. In many parts raking is done so that hay does dry a little. We have a 2 rotor kuhn, and the one rotor (the one that brings a roll under the machine) makes it's roll by sweeping all of the hay over, and depositing it over the top of hay that has remained stationary. So actual rotor width and working width would be different.
> 
> Rodney


Same thing here for the most part, with our heavy dews at night and the humidity during the day, anybody that gets in a big hurry to rake will either be tedding it back out the next day or out there with an inverter or with a rake trying to get it flipped over exactly 180 degree's.

I seen one article from a university saying hay should be raked at 60% to save leaves. That only happens in two scenarios around here.

1: Its light hay and they merged the rows to chop it.

2: Somebody is getting ready to leave on a week vacation and rakes it the day before they leave at 60% moisture so its ready to bale the day after they get back.


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## brent (Jun 9, 2009)

I run a Fransgard rotary and think it's great. But I don't think there's much difference between any of the European made units.

It's a single wheel about 10' and dumps the windrow on top of the bared and hopefully drier, tracks where the tractor wheels run. There is defineity a lot more green on top after raking so I think it's doing a pretty good job of inverting too !


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## rank (Apr 15, 2009)

KRONE PRO said:


> Everyone I have sold a rotory rake to said they woud'nt go back to rollabar or wheel rakes.


We tried a twin rotor wheel rake for a couple of weeks this year. Kvernland I think it was, but it was identical to this one Krone Swadro 710/26T. It missed hay. I thought our V rakes might be a little more gentle but I'm not sure....the rotary rake seemed to "explode" the leaves off the stems. So I slowed the RPM's down to ~350 PTO to save the leaves then I miss hay. So I slow the ground speed down and my acres/hr drops.

We sent it back. I was disappointed. I really wanted that rake. It could have been had for $20,000 CDN new.

I would like to find one though because I like the way they fluff a windrow. Interested to hear your thoughts on this rake.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Watched Krone's video of their rotary rakes in action. Found it very interesting that several articles I've read all suggest buying the rotary rakes as they will rake much wetter hay (like at 60% to save leaves) than either a rolabar or wheel rake will but the video on Krone's website shows the rotary's kicking up some dust while raking.


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## rank (Apr 15, 2009)

mlappin said:


> ...the rotary rakes as they will rake much wetter hay (like at 60% to save leaves) ...


That's a good point. Perhaps we needed to rake sooner to realize the advantages of to rotary rake vs V-rake. It's usually a big gamble to rake before it's ready though. If it doesn't dry down like you thought, it will get rained on.


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## Banjo (Sep 8, 2009)

When I was researching rakes 4 years ago when I started haymaking my conclusion was that a rotary rake was the way to go. I bought a NH254 which has served me well. When I was cutting with my 7' haybine I set the swath width so I could rake two into one and deposited the raked windrow on the bare ground between the swaths. This way all the hay was getting moved, which seemed like a good idea to me. I definitely needed to get the hay turned over and off the ground to dry properly.

Unfortunately it's not quite wide/big enough to do this for 9' swaths. I'd like to find a bigger center delivery rotary rake that would do the job (and that I can afford).

The 254 works well, but it's been a bit heavy on parts. Too much nylon, circlips and roll pins instead of proper bearings and bolts. However, it does produce windrows that look like the ones in the brochure!

cheers,
Andrew


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

rank said:


> That's a good point. Perhaps we needed to rake sooner to realize the advantages of to rotary rake vs V-rake. _* It's usually a big gamble to rake before it's ready though. If it doesn't dry down like you thought, it will get rained on*_.


That's the exact same thing we always fought with our Rolabar rakes. Rake a little too soon to save leaves and it ain't gonna bale today, if it don't bale today and if the dew is heavy enough that night, the next day it will take till at least noon to start drying again or might even have to be flipped or tedded back out if the weather is going to turn, also raking too soon with a rolabar also seems to rope it up worse if the hay is on the wet side which then makes it take even longer to dry. Wait too long for it to get a touch drier and with the slower ground speed before you can get it all raked goodbye leaves.

Two things kinda turn me off on the Rotary rakes:

1: A lot more bearings and moving parts in general on a rotary than my wheel rake. One of the reasons I went with a wheel rake when I upgraded was to get away from the driveshafts, u-joints, and the gearboxes on the rolabar rakes. Looks to me like a small fortune if a person was to have to completely rebuild a rotary just from normal wear and tear. Driveshafts, gearboxes, u-joints, the guide tracks that the cams run in and the cam followers themselves can't be cheap.

2: I've grown spoiled with my v wheel rake and if I did replace it with any other style it would absolutely be a center delivery. Problem with that is from the video's I have watched, the hay in the center is going to stay in the center and not get moved with a rotary. My wheel rake has the center kicker wheels to move the hay from the center out to each side where the wings can rake it back in the row. So with a rotary I'd either be fighting wet hay that's buried under the row, or would have to wait until the hay is almost dry then rake it, if I'm going to rake dry hay, then why spend all the extra on a rotary?

If a person could afford to trade a rotary off at regular intervals before the repair bills started rolling in and if they came up with some way to get the hay out of the center like my wheel rake does, I'm sure I would be much happier with a rotary, but until both of these conditions could be met, I think I'm sticking with what I got for now.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

I agree with mlappin on the upkeep thing. I noticed the warranty on the cam track with Krone Rotary is 3 years and it is a cast part, parts like that easily be made of alloy steel on a 4 or 5 axis mill and then heat treated. I like the idea of the Rotary but I need longevity too. Our Rollabar 256 is probably close 20 years old and is still going strong. Although we find it a little difficult to get consistent windrows the right width for our round baler. If our windrows are say 3 1/2' to 4' wide we can basically just bale away, virtually no weaving. We baled some volunteer junk last week, a combination of some volunteer Oats, Foxtail, and Bermuda. Turned out real nice got 100 bales off volunteer junk.

View attachment 240


View attachment 241


You can see where we mowed around some really bad junk. We were a little short on hay for the winter so we baled everything we could.


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## Cliff SEIA (Dec 18, 2008)

We have three seasons on our first Kuhn 4120 rake and the next year we bought a second one, still have a six wheel inline rake and a bar rake sitting in the weeds but I doubt they will get used again. What we found "here" is that if we don't rake hay the bottom side will usually not dry unless they hay lays there long enough that the top is way too dry and bleached of all it's color. With a bar rake we ended up with a roped windrow that still didn't dry very good and the wheel rake was too sloppy. Yeah the rotary rakes are expensive but we were selling quite a bit of horse hay when we got our's and they paid for themselves in quality and they rake enough cleaner than anything else we've used that the extra hay we are putting in the windrow will more than cover any maintance costs they will have which so far has been zero. Depending on weather conditions we figure the rotary rakes are saving half a day to a day on drying time and often that is the difference between getting hay up before it gets rained on or not.


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## rank (Apr 15, 2009)

Cliff SEIA said:


> What we found "here" is that if we don't rake hay the bottom side will usually not dry unless they hay lays there long enough that the top is way too dry and bleached of all it's color. With a bar rake we ended up with a roped windrow that still didn't dry very good and the wheel rake was too sloppy.


Yep. Same thing here.



Cliff SEIA said:


> Yeah the rotary rakes are expensive....


That wasn't the issue in my case. Just didn't like the hay it left in the field and the leaves it knocked off.[/quote]



Cliff SEIA said:


> Depending on weather conditions we figure the rotary rakes are saving half a day to a day on drying time ....


Do you rake sooner than you did with the wheel rakes? Do you tedd?


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## SidecarFlip (Sep 20, 2009)

I've been using my ancient Giehl 260 pull behind, single rotor for at least 10 years now on everything from Alfalfa to Orchard grass and I've found it to do an excellent job, especially on grass type forage. On alfalfa, you have to cut your PTO speed in half and match the ground speed so the tines are sweeping cleanly without leaving any unraked material. You run the machine at 540 and the rake becomes a helicopter blade and whips the material and blows the leaves off the stems.

I certainly prefer the rotary over a rollabar roper. My old roper is a lawn ornament now.

I wore out the side stop years ago and replaced it with a sheet of 1/4" plywood with the leading edge tapered a bit. The plywood makes a much better sidestop than the OEM canvas sheet. It ain't pretty but it works even better.

I read this thread and saw the concerns about wearing out the internal cam followers and/or bushings. I've raked literally thousands of acres with mine over the years and I've never had to replace anything other than rake teeth and one carrier bearing. It all runs in gear oil and the drive is sealed. Nothing to wear out from what I can see.

I am having a hard time finding rake teeth. Last time I bought a set, I went to Deere and got Pioneer teeth. I tend to break teeth when I rake clover over wheat straw, something I didn't do this year.

All in all, it's really a turn key rake and at least in my opinion, it does a better job, in less time, than a rollabar. Having never used a wheel rake, I can't compare other than to say the farmer down the way has a wheel rake and borrows mine because he likes the job the old rotary does better than his wheel rake.


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