Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Got the Hay Rake Home and only a little blood was spilled



Took me a little over an hour to tow the hay rake back to the Small-Hold this morning. I timed it just about perfect for low traffic although I still managed to stress out a few semi and work trucks along the way. There were a couple of bridges that proved interesting as well since they had no shoulders on them.

I had the fly wheel for the ground drive disengaged and I made sure the wheel bearings were greased before I left. The rake and my head suffered only minor damage too.





I had the rake carriage set too high up as I was afraid of the teeth hitting the pavement and instead managed to rub the top of the carriage a few times on the support bar when the rake bounced ont he road. Guess I will have a new rust spot there now.




While I was trying to get the hitch pin through the hole so the gentleman who sold it to me could pull it out of his shed the jack we used to lift the rake slipped out and whacked me on the temple. It bled a lot. Enough I was kinda worried about it until I looked in the mirror on the truck and saw it was nothing.

God my the skin around my temple looks OLD. That's like grandpa skin or something. Like the CreptKeeper type skin. Wrinkles ewww.




So this is an old Ford 513 hay rake. Some people love em, some people don't. The real point of contention is the belt and fly wheel assembly you see above. When the slip clutch is engaged on the axle it turns the rake carriage with that long serpentine round belt. The belt costs about $150.00 to replace and is kinda a pain. However they are reported to last decades and the guy who sold me the rake claims he put this belt on it only two years ago. In truth the belt looks almost brand new, not a crack on it, so I believe him. He said the original belt lasted him almost 30 years raking over 100 acres a year twice.

All the teeth are in perfect condition. The only negative I saw was the old white FORD lettering has worn off.  Supposedly the belt drive does have a tendency to slip if the hay is really wet and heavy which was the main downside I read while researching this model. It's actually made by New Line implement company and was sold under the Ford name and as near as I could tell all the parts are still available for it. I plan on using the 8N with a crossbar to pull this rake which will allow me some height adjustment from the tractor and give a bit more clearance from the back wheels when turning.

So this is another implement that I need crossed off the list. All that remains is a baler, plow and a disc. although eventually I hope to put an after market front end loader on one of the old Ford tractors. More than likely the 861.

Now maybe if I am lucky it will dry out enough for me to actually mow and rake some hay. The forecast seems to say otherwise though.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!!


23 comments:

  1. You are well on your way to working hay with that key piece of equipment. You can always cut and rake it and put it up loose if you had to but you probably set up for loose hay. I see balers on craigslist around here as well as plows and other light implements for 8N types. Hot and humid but no rain yet, working on a chicken coop.

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    1. Sf - I used to see plows around here cheap but these days people seem to want an arm and a leg for them. Rakes were also always expensive. I did find a good deal on the old sickle bar mower and this rake but those are relatively easy to figure out. A baler on the other hand concerns me. I have seen some old square balers go for 1000 bucks or less but I don't know enough about them to even know if they are worth it or not.

      Yep it's been raining here all morning off and on and they are saying we are suppose to get some BIG storms tonight again. Oh YAY. NOT

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  2. PP,

    Great find!!! Glad to hear it towed nicely over the road for you. Ouch, getting hit in the temple is painful. Glad to hear the cut wasn't so bad, those little ones always bleed terribly.

    We've had all kinds of rain, more than we've every had in years.

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    1. Sandy - I been watching the radar and it looks like all your rain is moving up this way and becoming our rain. Damit... Keep your rain there!!!! :)

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  3. After about 3 weeks with no rain we had an inch last night and it in the high 50's today. Nice rake. From the photo it looks like you still have hair, its grey but still hair you aiin't old yet dude.....lol

    Carl in the up

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    1. C in UP - Man I love upper Michigan. I never made it up into the UP but even the lower part of the South peninsula was nice. I spent a bit of time up near Houghton Lake.

      Ya the hair around my temples is really gray, has been for years now. The top is still relatively dark though. My dad's is still mostly dark dark but the red from my mother's side crept into mine and turned me gray earlier.

      I think Dad did that on purpose.

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    2. come on up for a visit. I dad was bald by about age 50 and my mother had curly red hair, So I have a little red curly hair in amongst the grey, whats left of it...

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    3. Sadly I think my traveling days are over for a bit. Been putting every spare cent into getting this place in shape and getting the stuff I need to keep it that way to the exclusion of everything else.

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  4. Glad to hear you got it back and all in one piece I can uncross my fingers now, head wounds always bleed a lot and seem worse than what they are :-)

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    1. Dawn - Yep your finger crossing really made the difference. It bled and bled and bled. In fact although it kinda hurts a bit now when it happened it really didn't hurt at all. I didn't even know I was bleeding until it started dripping down the front of my shirt. I thought I was just sweating.

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  5. Nice looking rake there. When I moved my rake from County A to adjacent County B the chain disengaging the gearbox slipped and it started spinning on the road. Fortunately, I stopped the truck before everything blew apart.

    You've inspired me to get my broken-ish (naturally) rake, mower, and baler up and running. Have had them for years but only recently, the last year or two, has there been cleared land available to hay.

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    1. John - I was watching the carriage in the mirror the whole way seeing if it would engage. This rake has a pretty hefty level that needs pulling to get it going but ya never know.

      I have a lot to learn about hay. I have cut it, raked it, baled it and stacked it etc. but I was never the one who made the decisions on when or how it was done. When I really thought about it I know almost nothing about the important stuff you need to know. I was always directed and told what to do. I haven't even given the old bits and pieces of implements I got a real shake down either. Things might start flying apart on me when I actually do get started.

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  6. ack buddy - take better care of yourself!!! with Sweet Sandy near taking off a toe with the weedwhacker and you near giving yourself a concussion - jeesh! you peeps need to be more careful! i like the gray hair - teehee. glad you got your hay rake home! sending much love!

    your friend,
    kymber

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    1. Kymber - That which does not kill us....

      Makes us cripples lol.

      I think the gray hair makes me look distinguished. The wrinkles now I could live without.

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  7. Impressive Preppy. Before you know it you are going to be an agricultural baron...

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    1. TB - That's the plan. Then I can take all the city people who come begging and make them peasants!!! :)

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    2. the word you want is 'serfs', or maybe 'helots'.
      skin like yours needs strong and frequent sunblock, the strongest you can get. keep one in the truck for your forearms.
      there is one now that is like a stick deodorant, solid and is not messy. several of those, vehicle- house- barn- pocket. protect now, avoid cancer in the future.

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    3. DB - I imagine it is too late for my skin at this point. I can't stand lotions, creams or any of that sticky smelly stuff on me so I have not used it ever and after 35 years of working outside mostly I am sure I am already cancerated at this point.

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  8. How wonderful to get a hay rake! We were just discussing over the weekend, could we rent a rake and square baler........ since we can't seem to find anyone to bale our pasture grrrr...

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    1. Texan - Again if I was closer....and had a baler in this case :)

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  9. Those mirrors will show some horrible distorted images sometimes. Or at least mine does because I KNOW I can't really look that old. That is why I brush my teeth in the dark, that mirror image looks much better that way.

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