# Bar or Rotary Wheel Rake?



## ewalker (Apr 14, 2010)

Looking for a Rake for my small opeation, will be working mostly with Grass, Clover, and alfalfa mix hay. I have seen some older Bar and Older wheel rakes. What is you opinions on both and if you found one of each at about the same price and condition which would you buy an why. Just info there is a 5 wheel Farmhand just down the road that I have been wanting to stop and look at.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

From years of using NH bar rakes with the twin hitch I can say this, If you gave me two brand new bar rakes and the hydraulic bridge hitch, I'd park em in the yard and plant flowers around em. Bar rakes are slow and tend to wrap or rope the hay up and makes it that much harder to get dry.

I love my wheel rake but can't comment on a rotary rake as I've never used one. If the 5 wheel rake is three point I'd stay away from it. Really hard to rake a straight row or do corners when the rake moves the opposite direction of the tractor. Or that's what a friend claims, they had one and cut it up for scrap after he bought his Vermeer 8 wheel v rake.


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## ewalker (Apr 14, 2010)

It is a pull type, do you think wheel rakes do ok with Grass, Alfalfa, clover mix hay?


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

I don't make hardly any clover, but mine does fine on grass and alfalfa. Get one that has the spring suspension like mine.  if you can afford it. A friend of mine has a carted type kinda like this with no springs, and the full weight of the wheels and frame ride on the ground and moves A LOT of dirt.


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## geiselbreth (Feb 21, 2010)

really like my kuhn rotary rake easy on crop and has a fluffing action kill 2 birds with 1 stone also use 10 wheel v rake in summergrass use rotary in berumda grass only


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## NEHerdsman (Sep 23, 2009)

Never used a wheel rake, but I understand if you got a huge amount of hay to rake that's the way to go. I also have the Kuhn rotary, and I'd never go back to a bar rake. The rotary makes a windrow that is a large improvement over the bar. I can rake much faster and leave a better windrow. I rake sooner as the windrows from the rotary are the last step to drying, not just the first step to baling...


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## bowlnchamp219 (Jun 17, 2010)

Go with a wheel rake, If u can get one for the same price as a parallel bar rake, go for the bar rake.


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## Norseman (Jun 6, 2010)

I bought a Farmhand F-76 5-wheel rake for $100 and love it. I had to replace some teeth (available anywhere) and some of the clips that hold them on (available only from your Agco dealer @ $5.85ea). I bale grass and grass/alfalfa mix and love the rake. The only change I am going to make is removing the Acme screw to raise/lower and replace it with a hydraulic cylinder I pull mine with and Allis Chalmers "B" and it works very well. If you have a lot of nooks and crannys in your fields the cylinder will be an important upgrade. Also, if the one you're looking at doesn't have wooden inserts in the wheels, heavy hay will fall through them from time to time.


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## Va_plowboy (Jan 12, 2010)

Okay, I would rank them:
Rotary
V
Bar

I have ran a Kuhn rotary quite a bit and it's hard to beat. I think it sweeps 13ft. Very gentle on clover Alfalfa. Hard on the wallet though compared to some others. I think the Big boss paid around 8k for it. But if you can swing it, its worth the cash. Awesome in uneven ground and you can rake hay thats half green and it will dry in the windrow. Hardly need a tedder with it.

We also run a 10 wheel Kuhn V-rake and it's pretty nice too, faster than any by far. Only complaint is it won't pick up very good in dense crop. Teddering usually helps this. Will throw a little dirt in the crop too. Does pretty good on uneven ground.

The old bar rakes work fine for a smaller farm. But for the price of a new one these days you can have a V-rake. They will rope the hay and are useless on uneven ground IMO. But they get the job done.

I would say, if you could afford it, the rotary rake is the Shizzle. If not, I'd go V rake all the way. Can't justify a bar rake anymore when the V is so affordable. You can get a new 10 wheel Kuhn here for around 5500-6000. 8 wheel for around 5k.


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