Mentioned a while ago that I was thinking of buying a wheel rake, asked for some opinions;
Have been looking at the N.H. 819 Pro Cart it makes a wide enough vee for our needs, but trying to figure out if we need the 'center kicker wheel' option. It's an extra $1,250.00
Will probably use this rake on tedded hay, to make nice windrows for baling.
I don't ted my hay so that could taint my reply to a degree. In that regard I'm all ears to learn what others do.
I run a Kuhn SR 110 G3 with 5 wheels per arm and a center kicker. I rely on the center kicker to fully roll and incorporate the hay in the windrow. When I run my V rake without the center kicker I see where the grass in the center of the pass is not really disturbed to a great degree. The grass from the wings is just rolled into the middle and more or less lays on the grass that is already there. Part of that could be because I've got the rear two wheels on each side set up to leave about a 5' windrow to feed the baler. They rake more of the hay on the centerline when I have the rake arms straight. I just find that the windrow is rather tall and tends to be a pain to feed into the baler.
Using the center kicker allows me to get all of the grass turned and mixed. As best I can tell the kicker wheel takes the grass in the middle of the pass and moves it to the center or top of the windrow.
Doesn't seem that hard to build. Find one of the old vicon 2 wheel 3 point rakes and you would probably have enough there to get something usable. And I guarantee you can get that cheaper then $1250
I agree, it is possible to build your own but to be fair, 1,250.00 does give you more than just the wheel and mounting arm. There is a hydraulic cylinder involved and I assume the appropriate 'plumbing' is included, that allows you to raise or lower the center wheel from the tractor seat
The reason to use the center splitter is to set all the hay on top of the stubble and to try to move the hay where the windrow will lie. We recommend them for making dry hay and never had a customer regret the purchase. Vermeer uses 2 wheels on their splitter.
Just got a price from the other dealer; a Kuhn SR50-8 with center kicker is 2,800.00 cheaper, and they have one in stock, assembled. (I have to order in and assemble the NH819)
The NH I think has one excellent feature for uneven ground, each wheel moves up or down independently, the Kuhn pairs wheels on a common pivot.
Any comments on this pairing arrangement when on uneven and hilly ground?
It seems to me that if the leading wheel rises, the trailing wheel must try to drop-does this cause the wheel to dig into the ground at that point?
As to Kuhn v Vermeer v NH, I looked at all 3 when shopping. I would have been happy to buy any one of them. For what they are, they all impressed me. For me it was the deal I got that made the difference.
If you doing thick hay and using a center wheel you will be unhappy with all the above except the Vermeer. The double splitter wheel out front is the only center wheel that actually work in thick hay. I have seen it first hand on both the Kuhn and NH. I've never been able to clog my Vermeer.
I'd offer that thick (implies heavy) hay and a V Rake don't go together. From personal experience with tall rye grass in my Jiggs last May, my wheel rake wasn't a real happy camper with that material. I was dealing with roughly 6 ton/acre material and REALLY wished I had a hydraulic basket rake behind the tractor. Since I don't have one I had to change my approach. To be successful I had to pull my rake arms in to about 15' or so and pick the center kicker up. This changed the angle of the arms enough so the rake arm wheels rolled the hay properly. Running the center kicker down resulted in a bird nest of hay on the wheel. Now that I think of it, that picture would have been worthy of the wall of shame.
I do rake on side hills with terraces. If the front wheel rises then the rear wheel drops and starts to flex the teeth. If the ground is soft the teeth do dig in. The rake arm down force is adjustable on my rake but I haven't seen enough of an issue to warrant tinkering with this (YET).
I went out to the dealer's yard last Friday "just to have a look" at their Kuhn SR-50 8 wheel ground driven rake.
Just a look turned to "I'll take it" when it turned out they were hosting a big sale the next day, with Kuhn and other factory reps. attending, could not resist. Saved another 400.00 over what they quoted over the phone 2 days earlier, so over 3 grand less than the NH 819.
Hooked it to the truck and towed it home.
Had to order the center kicker wheel, but that should not be a problem, even with the early spring, we are about 2 months before hay season.
I think the NH is a better rake for uneven ground, with the independent wheel movement, but is it worth 3 grand more for that?
deadmoose:"Out of curiosity, why 8 wheel vs 10?"
I chose 8 wheel because most of our hay fields are small (10 acres or less) and all but one is irregular in shape, and a bit hilly. The 8 will allow us to rake about 18' at a time, which is a big improvement over our 11' rotary.
Yes a 10 wheel would work but: price was also a factor, trying not to spend too much (more) money on equipment. Most years we sell enough of our production to pay for fertilizer, fuel and twine, and end up with enough hay to feed our stock for the winter. If we succumbed to the desire for a new tractor, bigger cutter, bigger round baler with net wrap, twin or quad rotary rake etc. etc. I guess we would be in debt. Trying to live a simple life without that burden.
If hay has been teddered hay, why would you need center wheel...I thought that tedding hay was to make it dry more even...I have ran both wheel rake and basket rake and if hay is staying on the ground when raked and cut with a disc cutter, go counter clockwise..we only baled counter clockwise the last 12 years using a vemeer twin v or r23, but living in the south and heat in East Texas, we hardly ever teddered..
Where I live we Ted and wouldn't be without splitter wheels. Even after tedding the bottom still sucks up moisture from the ground, plus our heavy dews mat the hay to the ground and some hay is missed in the center when baled if you don't use splitter wheels. To use it makes a huge difference!
If hay has been teddered hay, why would you need center wheel...I thought that tedding hay was to make it dry more even...I have ran both wheel rake and basket rake and if hay is staying on the ground when raked and cut with a disc cutter, go counter clockwise..we only baled counter clockwise the last 12 years using a vemeer twin v or r23, but living in the south and heat in East Texas, we hardly ever teddered..
I agree on raking CCW round N round for baler to pick up hay better. My H&S hi-cap rake doesn't have splitter wheels. But CCW raking won't help for people that rake/bale back N forth.
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