Pulling a hay rake with...

[sjbrunk0]

I just bought a New Holland Model 56 hay rake, it seems to be in pretty workable order. So now I have all the equipment I need.
I have one tractor and it takes me about 15 minutes to put the sickle bar on it, so I'm motivated to explore options that would reduce how often I need to do that.
I have a polaris ranger (sort of an ATV with a dump bed on it). Is it crazy to think about pullingn that rake with my ranger? maybe in low gear?
Or if that's a bad idea what about pulling it behind a pickup?

Other than losing all respect with my neighbors, what are the considerations?
Wear & tear on the ranger? Too hard to regulate the speed? Ranger isn't heavy enough?

Thanks in advance and please don't laugh at me

 

[MMagis]

I remember when I was younger my dad telling me about the time my grandpa raked with the farm truck. He said by the time he was done half the teeth were gone. it’s just too hard to go the correct speed in a truck. The Ranger might work, if you’re able to keep a slow, steady speed.

 

[zzvyb6]

I've pulled a rake with my ATV. You need a dolly wheel to carry the tongue load. Keeping your thumb on the throttle (no cruise control) is a very tiring duty. Its best if you can offset the hitch so that the tow vehicle runs on the previouly raked section. Otherwise there may be some traction issues. I towed it with my pickup once. Hay got wrapped up in the driveline and strained the pinion seal. (Did I say MY pickup?. It was a Company pickup, so it was only a learning experience not a costly one).

There have been a few times when I've run a front hitch bar across and run the rake just ahead of the bailer. To do that, you need to have a field that's easy to get in and out of easy (and has roundish corners). You can't make hard turns with that setup.

 

[rockinmywaypa]

How many acres are you talking, I'd like to suggest using the polaris if it happened to only be like 20 acres or so. Any great deal more may overwork the transmission to the point of heating it up and causing irreparable damage. I agree about the pickups driveshaft, been there done that, except it was my expense but not me driving.

 

[flusher]

I just bought a New Holland Model 56 hay rake, it seems to be in pretty workable order. So now I have all the equipment I need.
I have one tractor and it takes me about 15 minutes to put the sickle bar on it, so I'm motivated to explore options that would reduce how often I need to do that.
I have a polaris ranger (sort of an ATV with a dump bed on it). Is it crazy to think about pullingn that rake with my ranger? maybe in low gear?
Or if that's a bad idea what about pulling it behind a pickup?

Other than losing all respect with my neighbors, what are the considerations?
Wear & tear on the ranger? Too hard to regulate the speed? Ranger isn't heavy enough?

Thanks in advance and please don't laugh at me

You're agonizing over 15 minutes? Rather than possibly messing up your ATV or pickup, why not just practice attaching and removing your sicklebar until you can do it in your sleep. The first few times I attached my old 7-ft Massey Ferguson 31 sicklebar to my Mahindra 5525, it took about 15 minutes of work with my 5-ft steel pry bar. I made a nice wooden platform for the mower to rest on and that helps a lot getting it onto the 3pt. It's a lot easier to move the mower around on the platform than on the ground.

 

[Rustyiron]

Will the 3pt. pick the mower up high enough to get the rake on the drawbar?
As for raking with the Ranger, I'd say ok for the 1st go round. But if prolly won't be (because of ground clearance) be able to combine rows or "roll" the hay for the 2nd round.

 

[Barry Bowen]

Flusher is dead on right. Either learn to live with getting the sickle bar on and off quickly, or get rid of that useless atv four wheeler crap and get a second tractor if taking the mower off is too much work. Rakes were designed to be pulled by tractors because of the clearances and the steady speeds that are needed to rake properly. Making hay is serious business and to do it right you need to know what you are doing. If you are doing it to say money, forget about it,and just by the hay you need. Buying the hay will be cheaper and easier in the long run.

 

[Duffster]

Making hay is serious business.

Yup, it ranks right up there with brain surgery. :laughing:

Will the Ranger do the job? Yup.
Will it destroy the Ranger? Yup.

Either learn to live with getting the sickle bar on and off quickly, or get rid of that useless atv four wheeler crap and get a second tractor if taking the mower off is too much work.

Ditto.

Buying the hay will be cheaper and easier in the long run.

That is an awful broad generalization. We just put up 35 acres of some of the finest 1st crop alfalfa we have ever made. I would hate to have to shell out the cash it would take to buy that, if you could find it.

 

[SixHoeBob]

You need a second tractor and a mower/conditioner. Then you need a rotary hay tedder.

 

[Duffster]

You need a mower/conditioner. Then you need a rotary hay tedder.

Did you miss this part?

So now I have all the equipment I need.

:thumbsup:

 

[dieselscout80]

I just bought a New Holland Model 56 hay rake, it seems to be in pretty workable order. So now I have all the equipment I need.
I have one tractor and it takes me about 15 minutes to put the sickle bar on it, so I'm motivated to explore options that would reduce how often I need to do that.
I have a polaris ranger (sort of an ATV with a dump bed on it). Is it crazy to think about pullingn that rake with my ranger? maybe in low gear?
Or if that's a bad idea what about pulling it behind a pickup?

Other than losing all respect with my neighbors, what are the considerations?
Wear & tear on the ranger? Too hard to regulate the speed? Ranger isn't heavy enough?

Thanks in advance and please don't laugh at me

I've seen guys raking with pickups before.

 

[5030]

Call me what you want but back when I had a side delivery rake also known as a 'roper', in a pinch I pulled it with my Honda Foreman 4x4. No biggie, not that much tongue weight. It's ground drive so no PTO needed.

I run a Kuhn twin rotor now (and an old Geihl) so PTO is mandatory.

The Amish put lawnmower engines on bailers, tedders and mowers and I've seen Amish pull about everything with a forecart.

You do what you need to do.

 

[Tx Jim]

I've seen guys raking with pickups before.

You're correct and I've seen 2 different neighbors hay fields with burnt pickups and burnt hay in them.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I have pulled my NH 256 behind my F-250 diesel before. it was a case where I just needed to flip the windrow over as the bottom was a tad moist from the ground moisture. I had the baler in the field and just took the truck to get the rake, brought it back to the field and just went around the field flipping it over. The windrows were all doubled up already but I didn't have any issues with hay catching under the truck. It was a 10 acre field and extremely hot so I didn't mind the ac in the truck but you have to have a good field as trucks don't turn anywhere near as sharp as a tractor and on tight fields a truck is just not a good option.

That was the only time I have ever done it but it work fine and it was a much faster option then going to the other farm and stealing a different tractor from another implement as the tractor was on the farm in the opposite direction from the farm the rake was on and I was in the middle farm.

 

[sjbrunk0]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I wound up giving it a try and didn't like the way it felt... I think the rake weighs more than the ranger, and it just didn't feel like a good idea to put that variable speed transmission in that hard of a pull for that long, so I wound up borrowing my neighbor's tractor which worked great.

I hadn't raked before so learned the importance of a sharp turning radius right away and was glad I wasn't using my F-250