DIY Build PTO Hay Rake - Tedder

[bmaverick]

OK, while browsing Youtube I found this video. AMAZING work this person did. It looks professional.

DIY Hay Rake - Tedder - YouTube

Anyone ever think of making a hay rake or hay tedder with simple hardware?

I looked for a hay rake, but there are two things very odd. Many are made for the BIG Ag doing oodles of acres. I just need one that putters around on 4 acres.

Now, I'm looking for practical more than the wow, you need to go into production with that thing. Even bicycle rims that spin with the spokes on the outside like a 6-wheeled hay rake would be nice to make. Cost would be well under $300.

I've search the web and even this forum through the past two years.

Our farm is on a shoe-string budget. I'm tempted to call our farm the shoe-string farm too. lol

If I find more, I'll post here.

 

[R W]

Thanks for the link to the video.
I know of 2 HM conditioner/crimpers, so there shouldn't be any reason why there can't be a HM rake. Take a look at the simpler machines on the market and work from there.
I would go for something heavier than bike rims.

 

[bmaverick]

Well, if I got a brushhog 5-ft mower, then a rake or tedder would be ideal to do the conditioning.

Not sure what a HM actually is. So, I'm lost on that advice.

 

[Clint S]

I am guessing HM = Home Made

 

[R W]

HM = HOMEMADE

 

[DT86]

Have you thought about a 3pt wheel rake?

 

[bmaverick]

Sure, anyone have plans so I can build one?

I had seen a person make something like push reel mower, but it did not cut. It was like a Mississippi paddle wheel. It picked up the cuttings, toss it over and out the rear through a shoot that stacks the hay in a very nice row for a baler. It was connected via the 3pt and PTO. It was about 12-ft wide and 4-ft tall in the video. It was made in a foreign country that I could not understand what was said. Neat idea though.

I just need something to toss the cuttings into rows. A rake or tedder DIY would be nice.

80/20 extrusions with PVC piping could make a tedder. I just need to figure out how to make a rotary and drive it by the PTO. That is one method.

Another method is a product called the "Estate Rake". It's rather too small of a rake for a compact tractor like mine. Thus, the idea of using 20-inch bike rims with the spokes bent outward. Just one rake wheel cost $130 before shipping. OUCH. Bike parts in town are FREE on the curb. I only need 3 or 4 of them to make a DIY driven hay rake.

There are illustrations all over the web for the hay rake. Most do not need the PTO.

 

[DT86]

Shop around for those wheels, that's actually the highest price I've ever heard for them. I paid less than $80 each for a new set not long ago. A two wheel model could work for your size field / tractor.

Also, do you realize how much crop loss there is cutting with a bushhog?

 

[bmaverick]

A bushhog on our 4-acres made 155 square bales of hay. It lasted us all year.

I had to rent a rake and baler. Not cost effective.

 

[petes]

I'm all for building things from scratch - something I really enjoy. For my hay tedder/rake I took 2 dead Kuhn GRS-21 tedder rakes and made one good one. Total cost was $900, but I was in a hurry to get something for that season. It's very similar to the one in the video you linked, just a little bigger, and the tine arms rotate to switch from tedding to raking mode. I recently picked up 2 ground drive side delivery rakes, a John Deere 640 and a New Holland 260 for $350 total. The JD needs a tine bar bearing replaced, the others cleaned and re-greased, and a little bit of welding on the hitch. The NH needs new bearings in the gearbox, but I should have both up and running for another $100 or so. All that to say that you may be best off finding something that needs work, but was a proven functional design.

Bike wheels and spokes won't be strong enough to sweep the hay. The wheel rakes discussed above have finger/spokes about 1/4" diameter and are some type of spring steel so they're hard and don't bend easily.

If I was going to build some type of PTO rake from scratch, I'd consider a belt rake, similar to belt rake - YouTube. It could be made with belts or chain, doesn't need a gearbox since it's all in the same rotational axis of the PTO shaft. Construction looks pretty simple.

 

[R W]

I'd aim for a rotary type, something like the one in the video, would only use one rotor, about 6ft in diameter. An old car diff would do for the right angle drive if PTO or ground driven.
Rotor would be set up behind the GB and wheels, drive to rotor would be via belts. For the rotor and pulley mounting, would try and utilize the outer part of a light truck axle housing (pref fully floating axle type). Rotor bars would have to be made to take commercially made finger/tines.
If I had need for a rake and no suitable used machine was available I would have little hesitation in building a machine along these lines.

 

[bmaverick]

If I was going to build some type of PTO rake from scratch, I'd consider a belt rake, similar to belt rake - YouTube. It could be made with belts or chain, doesn't need a gearbox since it's all in the same rotational axis of the PTO shaft. Construction looks pretty simple.

Well, looking at all kinds of haybines, conditioners, cutters, sickles, rakes and tedders, that video seems interesting and doable with the PTO.

Also that type belt rake may be patentable. The good thing about patents are, you can build the same thing, but not be able to sell it to the public. You could sell plans, a build sheet and parts that are not covered in the patent to get someone close. Then they would have to get the last part or two elsewhere.

So, that belt rake is doable using 80/20 hardware. I downloaded some of the project ideas. Two of the projects combined would put this DIY homemade belt rake in the field behind the tractor.

 

[R W]

The belt rake appeared to work well on the video and would be an easier build than a rotary type.
Would be interesting to know how many belt rakes are at work.

 

[bmaverick]

Since I have a few weeks before the grass even starts to grow, I have some time to design plans in the CAD software and then evaluate the framing and mechanics.

Looking at rotary equipment driven by a PTO helps to get the innovation rolling. There are some things in this Wilco diagram that has my mind thinking of either a tedder or the rotary rake. The other thing is to find parts easily at any TSC, Rual-King and the local hardware store that anyone can assemble.

 

[bmaverick]

I'd aim for a rotary type, something like the one in the video, would only use one rotor, about 6ft in diameter. An old car diff would do for the right angle drive if PTO or ground driven.

With the Diff a cutter could be made too like a bushog.
How to Make a Papercrete Mixer - Mike and Molly's House

 

[aczlan]

$400 will get you a New Idea side delivery rake: new idea hay rake
As the season gets closer, I wouldn't be surprised to see some others start showing up.
There was a 2 wheel rake on Craigslist for $200 all last summer and a couple of side delivery rakes for $200-400. Yes, they needed some work and TLC, but less than you would spend building one and they would probably outlast a rake made with bike wheels.

Aaron Z

 

[bmaverick]

Sure, up in your neck of the woods there is equipment, but in my area of three craigslists of 100 miles, .... nothing. And as the season gets closer, fewer would be found.

 

[aczlan]

Sure, up in your neck of the woods there is equipment, but in my area of three craigslists of 100 miles, .... nothing. And as the season gets closer, fewer would be found.

How about this one for $350: Hey rake Teather or this one for $225: Hay Rake
Both within ~2 hours of Nashville.

Aaron Z

 

[R W]

$400 will get you a New Idea side delivery rake: new idea hay rake
As the season gets closer, I wouldn't be surprised to see some others start showing up.
There was a 2 wheel rake on Craigslist for $200 all last summer and a couple of side delivery rakes for $200-400. Yes, they needed some work and TLC, but less than you would spend building one

Aaron Z

aczlan makes a good point. I have built several pieces of equipment over the years and to make something that works well and is of reasonable appearance, does have its expenses ie: bolts, belts, pulleys,bearings, machining that you can't do yourself etc . Even with a good supply of scrap, often the correct size pieces of steel may have to be purchased. That being said I have built equipment entirely from scrap.
Time is another factor. Most of these jobs are time consuming.
Don't let these arguments against building it yourself put you off if you have the desire tools time and patience.
The main problem I have found with buying used machines is the cost of transportation, a $300 purchase can easily end up $600 by the time you get it home.

 

[bmaverick]

Oh, I'm not worried about hauling anything home. I'm good for that. Just the fuel cost going out far and hauling it back can really add up.

Yep, some things would cost a bit more than used in the DIY methods. BUT, I have seen some used equipment as money pits to restore or get something to work half-way decent too.