MF vs New Idea 3 point hay rake

[Montanaford]

I need a 3 point side delivery rake. (Small irregular shaped fields). They are uncommon and expensive in Montana, Ive located a nice MF 25 and also an ok New Idea.
I know the MF were designed to run off wheel speed PTO, (which I don’t have) and might be unusable with 540 PTO. Is the New Idea the same?
The pulley ratios look similar to me. Or will I be able to use the MF with some messing around with pulleys? Looking for advice. Thank you.

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

I have a Ford 503 I got from a neighbor for $200, because I needed one. 3-point, PTO driven. Hated it at first and took me a few years to really learn how to make turns. Now I kinda really like it. PTO drive allows you to adjust the reel speed to ground speed.

 

[rrlund]

I need a 3 point side delivery rake. (Small irregular shaped fields). They are uncommon and expensive in Montana, Ive located a nice MF 25 and also an ok New Idea.
I know the MF were designed to run off wheel speed PTO, (which I don’t have) and might be unusable with 540 PTO. Is the New Idea the same?
The pulley ratios look similar to me. Or will I be able to use the MF with some messing around with pulleys? Looking for advice. Thank you.

I don't understand the need for using ground speed PTO. Run in whatever gear is appropriate and adjust PTO speed with the throttle.

 

[Wdj]

My Ferguson ground speed rake doesn't work real well at PTO speed. Kinda winds a rope. On the A John Deere I ran in a higher gear idled way down and made it work ok but much better on the 165 with ground speed.

 

[Montanaford]

Thanks for the responses.. I don’t get the sense that the New Idea will necessarily be geared any differently than the MF, the pulley sizes look similar. I know that there were pulley kits to help adjust rake speed, maybe I’ll just buy a rake and see what I can do..

 

[DanielW]

The MF's were available with different pulleys to accommodate different PTO speeds and thus work with either standard 540 PTO or the (slower) ground-drive PTO. Belt sheaves are standard, available at any TSC or industrial supply. If you need a different speed, just spec one with the bore and diameter you want (and for the correct size belt).

The Massey 25 was a common mounted rake, and would be my choice between the two brands. Especially if it's a 6-bar model. The Massey bar rakes were the best of all the bar rakes (in my opinion). The bars were larger and had heavier walls than all others, and many were ordered as a 6-bar option which made them more solid and pick up better than the 5 bars of other manufacturers. Their pull-type models also had the best and most robust counterbalance setup, though that won't matter for you as mounted models didn't have counterbalance.

Make sure it's not beat to heck. Mounted bar rakes are often rather beat up, because without any counterbalance on the basket, you had the whole weight of the basket smashing and crashing into every lump & bump.

Are you sure you need a mounted model? We have a lot of small, and very irregular shaped fields at our Northern farm (many fields are 4 acres or smaller), and we now get by with trail-type rakes just fine. The mounted models are nice and maneuverable, but a real pain to hook/unhook if you need to use the same tractor for different chores.

Here's a video I made a few years ago when I was selling our last Massey bar rake, explaining why I like them better than all others. Some aspects won't apply to a mounted model, but some will: