bar rake

[BobnUt]

Considering buying a NH 256 bar rake.
School me on what to look for as far as wear & tear
picture looks good
Thanks

 

[rustred]

Good rakes. Check the u joints for sure and make sure the gear box has oil and not a lot else can go wrong. Give the bars a spin.

 

[trackrat]

Check the bearings on the ends of the bars, and the stripper bars [the round curved rods at the bottom are they bent do they rub the teeth], also the axle bearings, clutch dogs in the wheels. Everything on them is rebuildable and available good rakes I have two of them

 

[moresmoke]

Something I have run into, many times the tires are replaced with whatever is handy. The factory tires are quite small and if a larger tire is installed, it slows the basket relative to ground speed. This leads to poor raking performance.

 

[BobnUt]

thanks for the helpful replies
Pulled the trigger & towed it 5 miles home
Everything is tight and well-greased

 

[rustred]

thanks for the helpful replies
Pulled the trigger & towed it 5 miles home
Everything is tight and well-greased

It is also a good idea to remove the driveshaft from the drive wheel. Just pull the pin out and tie the shaft out of the way. I do that everytime I move on the road. Plus u can’t pull them very fast with them punny u joints.

 

[Ray,IN]

In my neck of the woods they are called side-delivery rakes. They do an excellent job of windrowing IMO. We normally used a HF T) 20 or 30 for raking. The driver could rake in 3 gear at low engine RPM's and rake all day on a ½ tank of gas if the field was fairly smooth.
That appears to be in excellent condition; just follow the advice of previous replies to keep it in great running condition.
One of the most common mistakes was to run the teeth too close to the ground and break them at the spring.

 

[flying belgian]

It is also a good idea to remove the driveshaft from the drive wheel. Just pull the pin out and tie the shaft out of the way. I do that everytime I move on the road. Plus u can’t pull them very fast with them punny u joints.

Not necessary on New Holland. You can lock the hubs out for free wheeling.

 

[flying belgian]

In my neck of the woods they are called side-delivery rakes. They do an excellent job of windrowing IMO. We normally used a HF T) 20 or 30 for raking. The driver could rake in 3 gear at low engine RPM's and rake all day on a ½ tank of gas if the field was fairly smooth.
That appears to be in excellent condition; just follow the advice of previous replies to keep it in great running condition.
One of the most common mistakes was to run the teeth too close to the ground and break them at the spring.

Looks like this one has rubber mount teeth. I would suggest to him as he replaces teeth to go with the spring teeth. If you oil the coil on the spring teeth every 50 acres you will never break them. I could rake hundreds of acres with my NH 55 and never break a tooth. Now I must have raked 1000 acres with my rotary rake and I oil the coils on the springs and I have ye to break a tooth.