Gathering wheels

[Anonymous-0]

Anybody ever make/use gathering wheels on a small square baler? I'm making some, will be interesting to see if they work.

 

[hayray]

I tried to make a set work on my my round baler, did not work out. Let me know how it goes, post some pictures.

 

[showcrop]

I have thought that they could be a great help on windy days.

 

[Anonymous-0]

My hope is to eliminate finding/paying someone to rake ahead of me baling. My Grimm tedder leaves the windrow a little too wide.

 

[NEBeef]

I made a replacement set for my round baler. It had some, metal discs with rubber fingers. The rubber eventually weathered and broke, and the replacement of $400+ per side would have then broke me, so I went without them for a while. But the pickup on that baler is small, so I really could use them. So I cut off all the old rubber, cut the bead and sidewall off an old 16" tire, cutting the sidewall area into the same shape as the original triangular fingers - sort of like a flat crown. I got a 16 steel rim from the bone yard, cut the bead off off that and used that to hold the piece of tire onto the metal disc.

It worked ok, the one thing I'd do differently is use a stiffer tire - the "fingers" aren't quite as stiff as would be ideal. But it worked...

 

[NEBeef]

Ah.. make that 16 *inch* steel rims...

 

[JBruce]

I made some for my round baler out of v belt idlers and made the teeth out of heavy v belt bolted on at an angle so as to shed the hay as they turn. Worked great.

 

[Jim in Ma.]

How about using 2 wheels from an old pin wheel rake?
One on each side of the pickup.

 

[randallk]

I"d sure like to see a picture of how you mounted those onto the baler. I"ve thought about it too, but just can't get it through my head how to bolt them on. Can you describe how you did it?

 

[Anonymous-0]

I made a mounting point near/above the pickup axle shaft. I have an adjustable arm made of telescoping highway signposr attached to it with a 20" lawnrake pinwheel on the end. The wheel axle swivels on a pin to adjust the wheel angle. A chain on the side of the pickup to the arm limits swing. If it's too light/small to work on first cut it should on second.

 

[Joe(TX)]

Northern sells a snmall wheel rake. The wheels would work for gathering wheels.

 

[Anonymous-0]

That's what I have for wheels. A friend just told me I could make 'em bigger with longer wire tines in case I need to.