The Durabull tine was a Vermeer exclusive. Instead of being a Z shaped tine it had a simple radius after it passed the support ring. I thought they worked really well, but they sure didn’t last very long. Now I was using them in cornstalks which is very hard on rake tines, but I have heard others say they didn’t last very long either. It seemed like they had a very defined fatigue life and when they got to that point they started breaking off wholesale. If you had 2 tines broke on a wheel might as well replace all the tines tomorrow morning or half the tines would be broke by tomorrow night. The strange thing I noticed was that the replacement Durabull tines never did break. I suspect the metallurgy wasn’t quite right in the original. Rake tines are hardened, tempered, high carbon steel.
Thank you, Sir.
I remember when Vermeer came out with the Durabull teeth and was curious why they never caught on. If you think about it, most common rake teeth transmit the stress of raking to a torsional stress on the longest part of the tooth. That part has a weak point where it comes through the outside band and gets whittled down in diameter, and is where 90% of my teeth fail over time. The Durabull teeth don't have that extreme offset and should have less torsional stress, but more shear stress applied to the tooth. Again, the weak point should be where it goes through the outside band which going to be a wear point and also a pivot point, too. All of that BS translates to I'm betting the Durabull teeth are more rigid and have less flex.
