# side by side hay rake hitch



## Aaroncboo (Sep 21, 2014)

hello all. I was reading and looking through posts and I found a side by side hay rake hitch and was curious if anybody had any experience with using them. I would think it'd be pretty simple to make at least until I find the parts enough to make my own hydraulic bridge hitch. my rakes do not have dolly wheels so certain things are out of the question. I can't seem to find out what they're called or who makes them and there's no videos on YouTube of any of them being used. I would think they're too wide to go through many places but my fields are right on the farm.I've seen pictures here of people that just weld a hitch off to the one side of the side of the rake and pin a second one but as I said I have no dolly wheels. I will attach a picture or two of what I'm talking about just trying to streamline production as much as possible thank you so much. also in regards to the bridge hitch as i call them what size and length of pipe would you use for the top I don't want to make it too light but knowing my luck I would go over kill


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## RafterJ (Jul 9, 2013)

The triangle hitch is made by NH. We use one that we have had with the rakes since early 70's. The rear pipe hitches slide in and out for windrow width or for transport. Our rakes have dolly wheels and four foot tounges on them. To transport the rakes and hitch cart hook in a line. Very simple and trouble free setup unless kids or ladies have to go through a lot of gates. We also have a hyd bridge hitch like you are taking about, good with gates but troublesome in hills and many turns.


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## Aaroncboo (Sep 21, 2014)

All my fields are hilly... Its great for stacking. Haha so would you say the triangle hitch is better on the hills? Also is it hard to rake with it and can you make two individual rows and two into one?


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

To rake with a straight hitch like that, to make one windrow, you'll need a right hand and a left hand delivery rake ... (NH 258 and a NH 260 rake (LH and RH respectively).

MOST rakes are Left Hand delivery; around here the 260's are rare as hen's teeth. The LH/RH combination will rake the swath of each rake to the center.

If you pair up 2 regular 256/258 Left-hand delivery rakes together, it will rake each swath into an individual windrow. (Two windrows with each pass).

To rake two windrows into one from a pair of LH delivery rakes (256/258 or equivalent from other brands) you have to have the bridge hitch so that they have some offset (one running behind the other...) Since these hitches put both rakes running side by side, that's not possible with this style hitch...

The hay has to come off the LH side of the front rake, and the rear rake has to pick it up and start rolling the same windrow over the next swath with the RH end of the basket on the rear rake. Running side by side, the front rake's RH end will be in front of the other rakes LH delivery end... therefore it cannot pick up the right rake's windrow...

If you're looking for a cheap solution, look for one of those double-rake hitches shaped like an inverted letter "L"... they hitch to the back of the tractor, with one LH rake hitched up by the "crazy wheel" and the second rake hitched back by the single rear tire... the one rake delivers it's windrow in front of the rear rake. I picked up one of these for about $150 bucks at a dealer one time... little rusty but it works... You can adjust the rear single tire at an angle to make the rear rake trail closer or farther away from the front rake as you desire. To transport, you can move the front rake over to a second drawbar strap in the center, and the rear rake usually hitches to the front one so they trail inline, with the tire of the rear of the hitch running beside the second rake...

Course, I picked up a homemade bridge hitch for $150 bucks at an auction and have never looked back... MUCH more convenient! Pull in the field, extend the cylinder to bring the second rake out to the side, jump down and throw them in gear and crank the basket down to the proper height, and start raking. Switching between fields and going through gates or crossing culverts or bridges, just swing the rear rake behind the front one by retracting the cylinder, and drive across with the rakes still spinning, extend the cylinder to swing the rear rake back out, and take off raking... can even manuever around obstacles with the rear rake with a little practice...

I use the new 256 rake we bought about fifteen years ago in front, and a wider 258 rake I bought at the auction and went through and fixed up on the rear... so I'm raking 15 feet at a lick... goes pretty fast. Doesn't HAVE to be a matched set.

I round bale, so I want a good size windrow, and I wouldn't want a RH and LH pair of rakes for that, because you'd be limited to a single swath... in some places the hay is thin and other places very thick, and in some cuts if it's been too dry the hay can be very thin, and I will make 2-3 passes to get the windrow the size I want, even with the double rakes... with 2 LH delivery rakes making a single windrow off the left hand side, if it's not big enough, I can make another pass picking up the windrow from the previous pass with the RH end of the front rake, and combine 2 passes (four rake widths) into a single windrow. If it's still thinner than I want, I can make ANOTHER pass and combine 6 rake widths into a single windrow...

I like the flexibility of putting the windrow off the LH side of both rakes combined... why I've never been crazy about center delivery rakes like carted wheel rakes...

BTW, I've seen plenty of homemade dolly wheels. Some guys actually remove the hitch and weld together some iron to bolt to the front of the rake frame where the hitch bolts on like the factory dollies do (which you CAN buy new from NH, if you want to pay big bucks...) I've also seen some guys take a piece of 4x4 steel tubing, weld a tongue out of 3 or 4 inch channel iron to it, weld a short "hitch" out the back that the rake pins to, and then drop down with a couple of pieces of 4x4 steel tubing to get it at the right height, and then weld old car spindles or cheapy trailer spindles from TSC or old implement spindles or whatever to the ends of the vertical pieces... Just make the cross-piece 4x4 tube long enough to clear the hitch, rake frame, and the tires when it's turned 90 degrees (sharp turn) Probably about 3 feet long is enough... make the tongue about 4 feet long, and weld a couple straps to it spread apart for a hitch...

Wouldn't cost much at all to build...

Later! OL JR


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## Aaroncboo (Sep 21, 2014)

Wow! Thank you for the very detailed info. Is there a name for the L frame hitch? Would like to price those.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Some dolly wheels I found googling "hay rake dolly wheels" in images...

Couldn't find a pic of the homemade one using the existing hitch, so I made a quick "paint" drawing of it...

Later! OL JR


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Aaroncboo said:


> Wow! Thank you for the very detailed info. Is there a name for the L frame hitch? Would like to price those.


They're sold by New Holland... that used to be the "two rake hitch" before they started offering the bridge hitches...

With the popularity of bridge hitches, those are probably available for a song... I have my old one pulling a pair of two-row (about 6.5 foot long) steel pipe rollers that I used to use to roll cotton beds, and then grass seed, and have since replaced with a 16 foot Brillion I bought in Indiana...

I'll have to look in my collection of sales literature... I should have something tomorrow...

later! OL JR 

Ps... just looked up NH.com... of course they don't list them on there... idiots...

later!


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## Aaroncboo (Sep 21, 2014)

I'm really thankful for all the help. I've been baling by myself for 4 years as my parents aren't in the AG business at all. It's all been trial and error each cutting. I just went out and bought all the equipment as I could afford it. I'm not really in a farming area as I'm only about 20 miles from Chicago so finding anyone with advice or experience is almost impossible. It is amazing to come to a place where people are so willing to help. Thank you so much.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Okay, you got my interest piqued... NH calls it a "twindrower" hitch... probably all the dealers and everybody else in the world calls it a dual-rake hitch...

I pulled some old brochures from my collection and took some quick pics of them with the phone, emailed the pics to myself, and then downloaded them onto the computer so I could attach them here...

Enjoy! OL JR


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## Aaroncboo (Sep 21, 2014)

I'll save those pictures for future reference. It's nice to see how to convert it to double row and single row. Couldn't find anything like that on line. Thank you. I'll see what the twindrower name brings up.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Here's some videos of me raking hay with my $150 bridge hitch and 256 rake in front, and 258 rake in rear...

Enjoy! OL J R


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Aaroncboo said:


> I'll save those pictures for future reference. It's nice to see how to convert it to double row and single row. Couldn't find anything like that on line. Thank you. I'll see what the twindrower name brings up.


That's why the crazy wheel bolts on with a little stub extension-- you take the four bolts out in the pipe flange, flip it over, and then bolt it back, and then flip the entire hitch upside down to reverse it...

Course, I've only ever seen them set up to pull two windrows into one...

AIUI, the straight pipe double-rake hitches and the two rakes-two windrows set up for the twindrower hitch were probably for guys chopping or doing dairy hay, stuff like that...

Most folks in these parts want the biggest windrow the baler can eat... LOL

later! OL JR


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## Aaroncboo (Sep 21, 2014)

Its funny I've watched those videos half s dozen times to see how it works. I would like to do two rows the first cutting and two into one the second cutting on.


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## Josh in WNY (Sep 7, 2010)

I picked up one of the twindrower hitches at an auction several years ago for $50. It was amazing how much easier it made raking hay. I usually set it up for two windrows on first cutting and then to double things up on 2nd cutting.


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## Aaroncboo (Sep 21, 2014)

That would be awesome. I bale around 40 acres by myself so any time saving would bebe absolutely amazing


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Aaroncboo said:


> Its funny I've watched those videos half s dozen times to see how it works. I would like to do two rows the first cutting and two into one the second cutting on.


What videos?? My videos??

I only do "double swaths into one windrow". That's all my home-built bridge hitch is capable of...

If you get one that is designed right, where the cylinder can swing it all the way across the other way (to the far left as you sit in the tractor seat vs. far right) then it can rake two swaths with two rakes... but I'm not sure ANY of them do that!

Usually when the cylinder is extended it's in "raking" position (to the far right, cylinder extended nearly all the way-- a little bit of "play" so you can adjust the tracking and position of the rear rake with respect to the front rake's windrow exactly) and with the cylinder fully retracted, the bridge hitch steers the rakes in line one behind the other for road transport...

If you want the flexibility to rake 2 swaths into two windrows, and still be able to rake 2 swaths into 1 combined windrow, looks like you need to stick with the "twindrower" type hitch, as it's made to do that...

Best of luck! OL JR


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Aaroncboo said:


> That would be awesome. I bale around 40 acres by myself so any time saving would bebe absolutely amazing


Yeah, like I said, I picked one up off a DEALER lot for $150... so they're pretty cheap... and in all honesty, there's not much to them.

You can pretty much stick any brand/color rake you want to back there on it as well...

Best of luck! OL JR


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## Aaroncboo (Sep 21, 2014)

Ya its funny those are your videos. I have two rakes one is a massey 56 I belive the other is a unknown IH model. I paid $800 for both of them. I've been pretty fortunate to get good deals on equipment. One of the few perks to living where I do. Only farms left are old retired farmer's who sell old equipment in there barns to anyone. I picked up my 479 new holland haybine for $450. maybe someone has a hitch in this area. Thanks


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## atgreene (May 19, 2013)

I picked up a NH hitch this summer. Need a right hand rake to make it ideal. Works good, but a bridge hitch would be better.


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## mhg (Dec 20, 2015)

RafterJ said:


> The triangle hitch is made by NH. We use one that we have had with the rakes since early 70's. The rear pipe hitches slide in and out for windrow width or for transport. Our rakes have dolly wheels and four foot tounges on them. To transport the rakes and hitch cart hook in a line. Very simple and trouble free setup unless kids or ladies have to go through a lot of gates. We also have a hyd bridge hitch like you are taking about, good with gates but troublesome in hills and many turns.


Rafter, We are using the same set up with hyd drive 258/260 rakes with out the dolly wheels. Works great except hitching/unhitching for transport. Seems like the dolly wheels would help with that. Are there any disavanages when raking?

Thanks

MHG


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## Aaroncboo (Sep 21, 2014)

If I wanted to make a bridge hitch what size pipe would you recommend and length to go front to back? I have a piece of pipe 4 inch by 3 inch about a quarter inch thick I don't know if that would bend or flex too much....? I'm trying to build one but have no measurements or anything to go off of and I've never even seen the New Holland one in person. Only in pics. I've done a search on different web sites and find pictures of homemade ones but no measurements.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

I'll try to go take some measurements and pics of mine tomorrow... it's a homemade one but it works well...

Later! OL J R


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## Aaroncboo (Sep 21, 2014)

That would be sweet! I have a tendency to over engineer anything I build so it will probably last forever. Thank you


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Okay, finally got this done...

Went and took some pics (sorry it's a cloudy, foggy, dreary January day here so the pics are kinda lousy) and some relevant measurements...

I emailed the pics from my phone to my email, saved them to the hard drive, and opened them in MS Paint and annotated them with the appropriate measurements...

I'll post the annotated pics first and then I'll post all the pics as they were taken for clarity...

Any other questions just ask... Hope this helps! OL J R


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Ok here's the "as taken" pics... might help make things a little clearer.

I bought this thing at a local auction-- only gave $150 bucks for it... felt like that was a very good deal, if for nothing else but parts. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good-- clearly built in someone's shop out of pretty much whatever they had... The axles and hubs evidently came off some sort of older model IH planter or something-- they have six bolt hubs (designed to take carriage bolts instead of lug bolts) and have some sort of spacers bolted onto the back of the hubs with built-in planter chain sprockets. They also made the axle risers out of some sort of box steel material about a quarter inch thick... it's not like regular steel tubing that has rounded or eased corners.

The axle swings from side to side from transport position to working position by a 2.5 inch by 10 inch stroke cylinder... (2.5 inch OD, so probably a 2 inch piston) with a flow restrictor in one port to slow it down a bit. The swivel consists of a pipe-within-a-pipe type construction (I disassembled it one time and brazed on some flat washers I'd hammered to the contour of the inner pipe to "shim it up" and minimize shimmy on the road from too much clearance between the inner and outer pipe, then greased it some and put it back together). The axle tube is the same sort of pipe used for the main frame and front and rear risers...

The tires are whatever 6 hole rims/tires I had sitting in storage-- the original car tires went bad after about 6-8 years, and I had some heavier ones just sitting so figured "why not use them".

The front hitch that pins the bridge hitch to the tractor, as well as the front rake to the bridge hitch, is made of 1/2 inch plate about 4 inches wide and a little over a foot long-- it's 11 inches center-to-center from the bridge hitch pin to the front rake hitch pin. Whoever built it doubled up and put a second plate on top of the first one on the rake side for whatever reason, and the tractor hitch side is bent slightly, so it's probably a good idea to make this out of AT LEAST 3/4 inch plate or flat steel... after all it has to support the weight of the bridge hitch AND the front rake resting on the tractor drawbar.

There are two gussets for strength, one on the front and the other on the rear, inside the ends where the vertical and horizontal bridge pipes are welded together... these gussets are made of lightweight (1/8 inch thick roughly, maybe 3/32) 6 inch "I" beam material, probably from a trailer house or something like that... regular channel iron would also suffice, or plate steel...

Two hydraulic lines carry oil from the tractor connectors to the steering cylinder... Originally it was equipped with galvanized pipe and short hoses, but one pipe blew and they were evidently screwed together and then held up against the frame, and short pieces of thin angle iron was welded over them to the main pipe frame to hold them in place... I simply pulled the busted pipe off and ran a couple TSC hydraulic hoses screwed together along the frame on the side with the busted pipe.

It works pretty well... I have a NH 256 rake hitched in front (8 foot rake) and a NH 258 rake hitched in back (9 foot rake). The biggest problem I had with it was it wanting to "shimmy" going down the road, but adding brazed-on flat washers to the center pivot tube to reduce the clearance helped immensely. One time I hit something and popped the welds holding the stationary end of the cylinder to the outer pivot pipe above the axle... these plates were a couple of 1/4 inch plates about 3 inches wide notched and welded to the pipe... I had to weld them back, and then welded some old plow bolts alongside them that reached around to the sides of the outer pipe to "stiffen them up" and give them some reinforcement...

If *I* had built it, I would recommend mounting the cylinder lower-- say inline with the axle... mounting it above the axle means I have to be careful in a sharp turn not to catch the rod end of the cylinder pivot pin and mounting point on that end of the axle on the rear rake's basket frame... I torched off some excess steel they had down there from whatever they built that end from to prevent/minimize problems. Also, I had to weld in some bushings to take as much "slop" as possible out of the cylinder pin holes in the frame (which contributes to "shimmy" and "wandering" in the field).

Once I got it dialed in, it works great. I usually have to tweak the cylinder a little after I pull into the field as I make the first pass; I generally try to run it so the right-hand idler star wheel of the rear rake is following directly behind the left-hand gearbox drive star wheel of the front rake... This minimizes overlap and maximizes raking width, without missing much hay from "rollback" of the windrow after it leaves the front left end of the front rake basket.

Anyway, here's the pics...

Later and hope this helps! OL J R


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## Aaroncboo (Sep 21, 2014)

All I can say is holey crap! That is more info and better than I could of expected. Thank you so much. That is exactly what i was looking for. Now I'm confident i could try and build one.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Anything worth doing is worth doing right...

You're welcome and good luck! OL J R


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## jwise87 (Sep 16, 2015)

I love it! Thanks. There is nothing like the feeling from building something from scraped machines and castoff parts. Nobody is going to have exactly the same scrap parts as the guy that built this but you have provided a solid plan to build off of.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

My top beam was a 4x6 tube and the axle was an 8" I-beam. That was probably overkill...

Several posts back Luke mentioned how it would be unlikely that the same hitch could do singles or doubles. It wouldn't take much. A second mounting point for the cylinder and your pivot angle would change. All it would take would be a minute or two to pull the pivot pins and move the cylinder to another location.


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## jwise87 (Sep 16, 2015)

Or, if you had a long enough cylinder and a mounting point that was offset where the middle of the stroke was transport and all the way in and and all the way out were your single/double positions. I read an old thread on yesterdaystractors this morning where somebody had one built like that.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

8350HiTech said:


> My top beam was a 4x6 tube and the axle was an 8" I-beam. That was probably overkill...
> 
> Several posts back Luke mentioned how it would be unlikely that the same hitch could do singles or doubles. It wouldn't take much. A second mounting point for the cylinder and your pivot angle would change. All it would take would be a minute or two to pull the pivot pins and move the cylinder to another location.


I saw a video in the "recommendations" after my video of me raking hay with my setup that I embedded in a post above. It showed a "factory type" double rake hitch, the kind that New Holland is selling, and it is indeed capable of raking either swaths into one windrow, or two swaths into two separate windrows...

Seems that the factory-built "bridge hitches" are indeed built with a geometry in mind (and a long enough cylinder) that they can swing EITHER way far enough to put two left hand rakes with one delivering it's windrow in front of the other to combine two swaths into one windrow (when swung fully to the left) OR, when swung fully to the right, to put the front rake making a windrow to the left, and the rear rake making a windrow of its own to the right of the front rake, and leaving its windrow in the path behind the first rake...

I'll see if I can find it...

Later! OL J R


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

There it is... If you want to skip past the boring part and the crappy country music, about halfway through you can see the rake hitch and the second half of the video shows the hitch swung all the way to the right so that it leaves two windrows...

Later! OL J R


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## atgreene (May 19, 2013)

Thanks for the info. I'm using the flat L shape new Holland hitch currently, but need to buy or build a bridge hitch.


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## bluefarmer (Oct 10, 2010)

http://springfield.craigslist.org/grd/5362730325.html

http://fayar.craigslist.org/grq/5386993169.html

Thought someone might be interested.


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## Aaroncboo (Sep 21, 2014)

Well I made a flying leap at the junk yard and on Craigslist and made a hitch from a bunch of square tubing and the front axle out of a Massey 65. it only cost me $450 but I'm hoping it works thank you for all the information in measurements and suggestions really made it easy for me. I figured that I would update you all with some pictures of proof and thanks.


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## jwise87 (Sep 16, 2015)

I like it. Using the front axle from a tractor is a great idea. If I ever get around to building one of these it will definitely run in this vein.


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## Aaroncboo (Sep 21, 2014)

Ya the way I figured it a tractor turns pretty sharp and it has clearance. Plus it cost me $50 so that was a plus over finding a runnrun gear and cutting the front off.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Interesting using a steerable axle on the front, versus a "fifth wheel" type arrangement.

Hope it works well for you. Only concern I'd have is rake clearance in operating position... don't want a wheel too close to the basket end IMHO...

Hope you post some videos of it running with the rakes...

Looks really good... congrats!

Later! OL J R


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## glasswrongsize (Sep 15, 2015)

Aaroncboo said:


> Well I made a flying leap at the junk yard and on Craigslist and made a hitch from a bunch of square tubing and the front axle out of a Massey 65. it only cost me $450 but I'm hoping it works thank you for all the information in measurements and suggestions really made it easy for me. I figured that I would update you all with some pictures of proof and thanks.


It looks like it oughtta work just fine. In case you hadn't thought about it, I would add a bottom plate to the hitch (tractor end). It will try to work the pin out of the tractor and the hitch will ride up and down; if the hitch moves up and down the length of the pin, it will change the front rake's setting; if a shorter pin or bolt and nut are used, it will diminish the ability for it to roll with the terrain.
It looks like you are no stranger to fabricating and am probably stating what you already know...but if you hadn't thought of it, it might save you a trip back to the welder when you're needing to rake hay.
73, Mark


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## Aaroncboo (Sep 21, 2014)

Ya I just need to find a good piece of metal to heat and bend. I don't have any steel left that's thick enough. Haha I'll be doing some tweaking here and there as well as hooking the rakes up to make sure it actually holds up to the weight.


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