# V Wheel Rakes



## Bruce Hopf (Jun 29, 2016)

I'm contiplating on looking at eithe an 8, or 10 V Wheel Rake. I had a 4 wheel rake before, but only could do one row at a time, and I thought it did an alright job. I sold it, when I bought my Tedder Combine Rake, and still use my 5 bar rake, but with the 5 bar rake, I can only do one row, at a time, and would like to speed up the raking part, of haying.
I operated an 8 V wheel rake years ago, to put 2 rows into one, and it did a good job, as well. I know they are ground driven and my only concern is this, we put manure on alot of our hay ground, in the fall, and in the spring, we harrow, using Chain Harrows, to help break up the clumps, and spread the manure out better.
What In wondering, or worried about, is the manure being gathered up again, by the rake, and put into the hay rows. Just wondered if that was anything to worry about, or now. Just thought it would help speed up Hay Production. What's everyone else's thoughts, on this matter. Thanks again, in Advance, for your input. Bruce.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

I don’t think there should be a significant amount of manure pulled into the windrow, even with a wheel rake. Only case I can see where there might be a small amount pulled up would be if the manure was largely un composted bedding.


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## Bruce Hopf (Jun 29, 2016)

The manure is stock piled in the barn yard, during the winter months, then hauled out in the Fall. There is the Odd comp, but by Spring, it breaks down somewhat, amd gets spread around more, when it's hit with the chain harrows.


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## glasswrongsize (Sep 15, 2015)

Bruce, if your (if you get it) rake is set correctly, I don't see where it would be a problem.

The wheel rakes, whether 10-wheel V rakes or 4 wheel or whatever, are not actually "ground driven". They are CROP driven. By that, I mean that the rake has no need to run on the ground. I cut with @4" stubble and my wheel rake's wheels don't run on the ground. I have seen some rakes, that when let down, the tines are squashed or folded back or whatever. When mine is let down, I can still turn the wheels...there is resistance from the grass and maybe a little from the ground, but not very much. Before I got mine adjusted, it would run on the ground and bring up dust (ash) and whatnot. I keep lightening up the on it and it just keeps doing a better and better job. All of my hay is tedded and that may make a little difference?

Mark


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## NewBerlinBaler (May 30, 2011)

I once had a 10-wheel V rake and I liked how fast it performed.

If you have perfectly level & smooth fields, I can see how the rake could be set up to never hit the ground. However, my land is sloped & uneven and I was unable to adjust it to keep the wheels off the ground. My options were to bale some ash or leave a lot of hay on the ground.


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## MtnHerd (Jul 6, 2011)

We bought an 8 wheel Vermeer a couple of years ago and LOVE it. Looked at 10 wheel, but we have such tight, steep fields, I thought it would be too hard to maneuver. We do almost all of our first cutting as haylage, and it works great, as the windrows are as big as we would want for hay of that moisture. If we had larger, flatter fields, I would have definitely went with a 10 wheel, as most brands you can raise one wheel each side for heavy first cutting. Has cut hay raking time bynover half, and has actually increased baling speed by one gear since we I have the windrow width set up the same width as the rollee pickup. No more weaving!


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## StxPecans (Mar 3, 2018)

I have a sitrex qr12 i think the same as a new holland? It has the feature to lift up front wheel on each side for heavy cuttings and i have even takrn the front section off each side that will make it an 8 wheel rake. I did that to get between the rows of a pecan orchard that the trees are planted on 25 foot spacing. But now i just leave one side up and rake twice. It takes a little muscle to remove front sections (2 wheels) on each side but its 3 bolts and it slides out.


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## bool (Mar 14, 2016)

I have a Sitrex H90 V10 carted wheel rake. I have never had problems with it picking up anything other than hay. You do have to set the suspension spring pressure carefully. I have had a problem with it not picking up silage in a heavy crop. Maybe if I had tedded it a second time that might have lifted the crop off the ground a bit and helped the rake pick it up. These days I just ask the custom operator who makes the silage rolls to use his twin rake, partly because I am flat out carting the rolls to the tube-wrapper.

But I still use the wheel rake to rake hay. It has no feature to lift up any front wheels but to handle heavy crops I once removed the two front wheels on each side (they share a swivel mount) and replaced them with a couple of tractor front weights to maintain balance. I had to do this because the crop was so heavy the rake blocked up with hay. Even with the front two wheels on each side removed, the two sides of the rake wandered in and out and made the windrow uneven, which caused a few pickup blockages on the round baler (Claas Rollant 66 with the older, narrow pickup).

After that experiment, for the last couple of paddocks I raked with a two-basket Lely Lotus 300 tedder-rake. The windrows were close together but better-formed than the wheel rake windrows and I could go fast with the baler and had few pickup blockages.

Roger


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## hayray (Feb 23, 2009)

I have a 8 wheel Gehl V rake and I spread a lot of manure and compost. Just adjust your rake tension if it is picking up too much thatch into the windrow. I bought extra long 10 mm bolts to adjust the height at the back of the rake.


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## Bruce Hopf (Jun 29, 2016)

I seen on advertised on line, an 8 wheel rake, that mounts on the three point hitch, of the tractor. The guy says it has an 18 foot working width, and it doesn't fold up. Just wonder how your supposed to get it down the road, or through a narrow gate, or is there a way, to male it swivel, to narrow it up. It's a Sitrex RP8.


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## bool (Mar 14, 2016)

You swing each side up manually to arrange the wheels vertically.

See:

https://www.sitrex.com.au/sitrex/brochures/RP%20mounted%20rakes.pdf

Roger


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## Bruce Hopf (Jun 29, 2016)

bool said:


> You swing each side up manually to arrange the wheels vertically.
> 
> See:
> 
> ...





bool said:


> You swing each side up manually to arrange the wheels vertically.
> 
> See:
> 
> ...


Thanks Roger, for the help. Looks simple enough to handle,m to get down the road, with, aND through narrow gates. One place I do hay at, the gate is around 12 - 14 feet. Could be around little interesting, in deed.


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## Bruce Hopf (Jun 29, 2016)

So is Sitrex a good make of a rake, and how about replacement tines?


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## bool (Mar 14, 2016)

Tines are fairly standard across all makes of wheel rake: there are only a couple of different designs so no problems there.

Sitrex is adequate quality.The RP rakes like you are looking at and the H90 carted v-rake like I have are at the lower end of their range. The Magnum series is a pretty nice towed v-rake but they sell second-hand for several times what I paid for mine.

If you are on a budget the RP-8 will be your cheapest way into a v-rake.

Roger


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## Bruce Hopf (Jun 29, 2016)

The one I have found on line, they are asking $1,900.00 Cnd, for it. Is that a good price range, for them, and what would a new one, be worth?


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

I owned a 3 pt wheel rake many yrs ago in my custom hay baling business. IMHO even folded up they're not easily transported on county roads. Also they do not rake hay very well when cornering but rake decent when raking traveling straight. I disliked my 3 pt 8 wheel rake so much I had a rubber tired caddy built for it.


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## bool (Mar 14, 2016)

Yes, you have to cut the corners.

$1900 seems expensive. It would have to be in really good condition. I paid not much more than that for my H90-V10 carted rake at a farm clearing sale and it is in pretty good condition with a splitter wheel.

Roger


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## Bruce Hopf (Jun 29, 2016)

I had a three point hitch Vicon, 4 wheel rake before, that was mounted on the three point hitch, of the tractor. I found if you drove counter clock wise, you didn't have an issue, getting the corners, but driving clock wise around the field, in the corners, the backend would kick out away from the windrow.
For a while, I could only use 3, of the 4 wheels, as the bearing was shot, in the 4th wheel, a d the rake was that old, I couldn't find a replacement bearing, until the one farm we had bought, there was a Wheel from a Wheel rake, hanging on the barn wall, checked it, a d sure enough, had the Right Bearing.
Next question I have about this rake, if I need Bearings, how hard will it be, to sorce new ones?


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## bool (Mar 14, 2016)

No idea, but I suspect fairly easy since they are a more modern design than the old Vicon. I had a 3 point 4 wheel Vicon with the big roller bearings once too.

Roger


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

It's pretty easy to find bearings without going to the OEM. Bearings almost always have a number on them, if that is not available go by the dimensions.

I would avoid 3 pt mounted wheel rakes if at all possible.


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## Bruce Hopf (Jun 29, 2016)

I've decided to go and look at a Brand New Vermeer 10 wheel rake. Dealer told me, that the the center wheel is all alone, just pull a pin, and the wheel assembly can be removed, pull another pin, and move the Front Tandon Wheels, back to the Center location, and I now have an 8 wheel rake. Thought that was a pretty handy feature, to have. $8,000.00 Cnd, and Vermeer offers 0% Interest, for 3 years, with $2,000.00 Down.


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## bool (Mar 14, 2016)

It looks a better unit than my Sitrex.

Roger


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## paoutdoorsman (Apr 23, 2016)

All this talk about rakes has me dreaming about speeding up my raking process. Still using a single NH 256 Roll-A-Bar. Always assumed my next step would be a rotary, but the wheel rakes could be an even faster and less expensive option. Found two different wheel rakes available locally here. Would either make a good choice for straight alfalfa and for grass?

Frontier WR-1008 - $3400





















Gehl 520 - $2500


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

I'm just not excited about running wheel rakes in pure alfalfa. I've had three good high capacity wheel rakes and my brothers Vermeer R23 and later R2300 can always make a fluffier windrow than the wheel rakes can. Sure, wheel rakes can make a pretty windrow, but it will always be a tighter windrow than what the Vermeer makes.

Of the two rakes you have pictured I'd pick the Gehl without much further thought.


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## StxPecans (Mar 3, 2018)

Gearclash said:


> I'm just not excited about running wheel rakes in pure alfalfa. I've had three good high capacity wheel rakes and my brothers Vermeer R23 and later R2300 can always make a fluffier windrow than the wheel rakes can. Sure, wheel rakes can make a pretty windrow, but it will always be a tighter windrow than what the Vermeer makes.
> 
> Of the two rakes you have pictured I'd pick the Gehl without much further thought.


School me why is fluffy better? I want to have as much hay in the windrow as possible. Guess for drying but i dont rake till its dry enough to bale.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Gearclash said:


> Of the two rakes you have pictured I'd pick the Gehl without much further thought.


Although I'd pick a bi-fold rake with rake wheels in frt of frame over a butterfly type rake with rake wheels behind the frame the Gehl that appears to be built by Tonutti would definitely not be my choice as it has no hinge points between rear axles & main frame. I bought a new JD 704 built very similar by Tonutti that the tubing across the rear broke 3 times in 1st year I owned it. BTDT

No hinge points on rear of rake may be fine in a smooth field but I cut/bale NO SMOOTH fields.

I traded the JD 704 for a H&S Hi-cap rake in '02 & the H&S has raked many 1000's of acres. with no frame breakage.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

StxPecans said:


> School me why is fluffy better? I want to have as much hay in the windrow as possible. Guess for drying but i dont rake till its dry enough to bale.


We are almost always needing every bit a dry down we can get. This is concerning pure alfalfa, so raking when it is totally dry will result in significant leaf loss. Except for later cuttings, windrows are plenty big anyway.



Tx Jim said:


> Although I'd pick a bi-fold rake with rake wheels in frt of frame over a butterfly type rake with rake wheels behind the frame the Gehl that appears to be built by Tonutti would definitely not be my choice as it has no hinge points between rear axles & main frame. I bought a new JD 704 built very similar by Tonutti that the tubing across the rear broke 3 times in 1st year I owned it. BTDT
> 
> No hinge points on rear of rake may be fine in a smooth field but I cut/bale NO SMOOTH fields.
> 
> I traded the JD 704 for a H&S Hi-cap rake in '02 & the H&S has raked many 1000's of acres. with no frame breakage.


I see what you are talking about. Agree, poor design. At some point Tonutti must have gotten away from that design because the Tonutti built Vermeer WRX12 that I had did have a 2 axis hinge point at the rear of the wing. I thought the smaller WRXs were a pretty good rake.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Gearclash said:


> I see what you are talking about. Agree, poor design. At some point Tonutti must have gotten away from that design because the Tonutti built Vermeer WRX12 that I had did have a 2 axis hinge point at the rear of the wing. I thought the smaller WRXs were a pretty good rake.


Yep,My WRX 12 is hinged on the rear also,plus the tongue is of different design.Bought it new about 20 yrs ago it's raked ALOT of acres.Dealer keeps after me about trading but it's pd for and works for me.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

swmnhay said:


> Yep,My WRX 12 is hinged on the rear also,plus the tongue is of different design.Bought it new about 20 yrs ago it's raked ALOT of acres.Dealer keeps after me about trading but it's pd for and works for me.


I have a small amount of seller's remorse about selling my WRX12 5 years ago. I bought that rake new. Now I have a 20 wheel Rowse, which is far better suited for raking stalks, but I wish I had the WRX12 around yet for hay. The Rowse is just too big and clumsy for the hay work we have around here.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Gearclash said:


> I have a small amount of seller's remorse about selling my WRX12 5 years ago. I bought that rake new. Now I have a 20 wheel Rowse, which is far better suited for raking stalks, but I wish I had the WRX12 around yet for hay. The Rowse is just too big and clumsy for the hay work we have around here.


Looks like the Rowse is becoming the rake of choice for the larger cornstalk guys.Alot of Vermeer VR1428 also.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

StxPecans said:


> School me why is fluffy better? I want to have as much hay in the windrow as possible. Guess for drying but i dont rake till its dry enough to bale.


it really depends on what type of baling you are doing.....for squares, the fluffy windrows dry better and the baker will not snatch a large amount of hay into the feeder at one time resulting in inconsistent bales. For round rolling, I would rather bale behind a wheel, but it doesn't dry as fast because of the roping effect.....hth


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

StxPecans said:


> School me why is fluffy better? I want to have as much hay in the windrow as possible. Guess for drying but i dont rake till its dry enough to bale.


In my area, I like to rake alfalfa at 30%+ moisture, preserving as many leaves as possible. Fluffier, helps with the drying process. YMMV

As far as the rakes, neither, would be my choice, I need a center kicker wheel in MY area. IDK the cost (availability) of them for these rakes.

Larry


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## Bruce Hopf (Jun 29, 2016)

Today, I pulled the trigger, on a brand new Vermeer VR1022, 10 wheel rake. I bought the center kicker wheel attachment as well, for the rake, that way I can turn 3 - 9 foot rows, into 1, with only one pass, with the rake.
Rake alone, was almost $8,000.00,Canadian, without the centre kicker wheels, and almost $10,000.00 Canadian,with the kicker wheels. I couldn't beat the deal, that Vermeer offered, $2,000.00 Down, finance the rest, for 3 years, at 0% Interest.
Nice thing about this rake, I can lock up the center kicker wheels, on the rake, when I don't need, to use them, when I rake 2 - 9 foot rows, together, or 2 - 16 foot rows, into 1 row, and many options, for adjustme to, of the rake.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

You'll like it, Vermeer, as proven on this forum many times, is a very good manufacturer of eq....enjoy!


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## paoutdoorsman (Apr 23, 2016)

Congrats Bruce. Be sure to post back once you've had a chance to get some experience with it.


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## Bruce Hopf (Jun 29, 2016)

paoutdoorsman said:


> Congrats Bruce. Be sure to post back once you've had a chance to get some experience with it.


Thank you. I sure will. Getting ancious to getting Hay cut, and put this new rakec to work, but I will have to wait, a few days, as it is presently raining here, so far an inch and as half, since it started to rain.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

glasswrongsize said:


> Bruce, if your (if you get it) rake is set correctly, I don't see where it would be a problem.
> 
> The wheel rakes, whether 10-wheel V rakes or 4 wheel or whatever, are not actually "ground driven". They are CROP driven. By that, I mean that the rake has no need to run on the ground. I cut with @4" stubble and my wheel rake's wheels don't run on the ground. I have seen some rakes, that when let down, the tines are squashed or folded back or whatever. When mine is let down, I can still turn the wheels...there is resistance from the grass and maybe a little from the ground, but not very much. Before I got mine adjusted, it would run on the ground and bring up dust (ash) and whatnot. I keep lightening up the on it and it just keeps doing a better and better job. All of my hay is tedded and that may make a little difference?
> 
> Mark


In my experience I'd say probably 90% of hay growers run the rake TOO LOW, usually in a desperate attempt to gather in *every last freakin' straw* and in the process, either gather in ground duff/dust/ "ash" or worse, ruin the rake by using it as a "tillage implement"... I know I've seen a TON of them at auction that were completely shot from being run down in the dirt to the point EVERYTHING was shot on them...

Later! OL J R


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Tx Jim said:


> I owned a 3 pt wheel rake many yrs ago in my custom hay baling business. IMHO even folded up they're not easily transported on county roads. Also they do not rake hay very well when cornering but rake decent when raking traveling straight. I disliked my 3 pt 8 wheel rake so much I had a rubber tired caddy built for it.


Yeah I ran a 3 point mounted NH 56 rake PTO driven... couldn't get rid of it fast enough... stupid thing made the worst "bell shaped" corners and only got worse with multiple passes. Back to ground driven basket rakes we went.

Later! OL J R


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## Bruce Hopf (Jun 29, 2016)

Sorry for taking so long, for an Update, on my new rake. Running this rake, was a real learning curve, and putting a 100 acres through it, within the first few weeks, of buying it, was a blast.
Having the center kicker wheel, was one of the best options, that a person could ever add to the rake. Learning how to operate it properly, was easy enough, and very handy, as well.
I had just finished raking a Customer's hay, and since I had to take my small square baler, to bale, I towed the rake home, with the pickup. I had a neighbor, follow me into my lane way, a d asked me, to rake for him. 
The hay I just raked, needed to dry a little bit more, so I unhooked the rake, from my truck, and hooked the baler up to my truck,man then hooked the rake, to my other tractor, and went and raked hay, for the neighbor.
His hay, was cut into 12 foot rows, so I didn't have any issues, putting two rows, into one, or field, he had 2 different types of hay, a d that field, he had devided into 2 fields. He showed me, where he quit planting one type of hay, and another type of hay, with a lot of white clover,and the stuff with the clover, wasn't dry enough, to rake.
I had to drive across the rows, so I lowered the center kicker wheels, as well, and drove across the rows, to make a head land, and once I got to the corner of the field, as I turned the corner, I was able to pull the Hydraulic lever back enough, to lift the center kicker wheels up only, without lifting the wings, of the rake, which was a very nice, and handy feature, of the rake.
When I went to rake 3, 9 foot rows into one, I straddled the center row, with the kicker wheel down, the kicker wheels devided the row, into two, aND rolled it out, just inside the width of the wheel base, without the tires running the hay over.
When I was raking either 3 rows into one, or two rows into one, when the I drove between 4, or 5 miles an hour, while raking, the raked formed, two nice rows, with about a foot in between the two rows, for extra drying, and when I went back, the second time over, I had the center kicker wheel down, which turned over one half each side, and while driving 6, or 7 miles an hour, put the tow rows, into one.
One nice thing about that center kicker wheel, I figured if it ever rained, a person could always drive 4, or 5 miles an hour, turn that one row, into two, to help speed up drying time, and once the hay is dry enough, even with the centre kicker wheel down, drive 6, or 7 miles an hour, and put the hay, back into one row, again. 
One thing I did learn, about this rake, it's very deceiving judging rows of hay, especially second cut hay, if you have the rake adjusted, thinking your raking a lite crop of hay, with 2, 12 foot rows, or 3, 9 foot rows, every once in a while, the rake is going to leave a ball, a d depending on how wide the pickup of the baler is, your going to have to back up a bit, to clean up, the remainder of the hay, from the clump. Learned that the Hard Way. LOL.
Once again, I'm sorry, I didn't update everyone, a lot sooner, than this, about my new rake. Bruce.


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