Need help identifying this rake

[Timber Oak Farms]

I need help on identifying this rotary rake. There are no manufacturer markings of any kind on it. Any help would greatly be appreciated.

 

[DanielW]

Did you see the response I posted in your question on Haytalk? I highly recommend asking on 'The Farming Forum' - a UK forum. Pretty much all rotary rakes (except Miller Pro) are European, and have been around and more popular in Europe for far longer than they have been here in North America.

If I had to guess, I'd say it's almost certainly a Galfre 'AG' series (or a predecessor). Look at the bar mount ears (A), centre axle weldment (B), Gearbox front mount flange (C), transport wing lock (D), tongue structural tube (E), and tine storage mount/gussets (F). All seem to match yours pretty much identically. No other manufacturer comes close. Another poster on Haytalk suggested maybe a Lely, but I'd say definitely not. Not even remotely similar to any Lely that I've seen or have found pictures of.

I couldn't guarantee it, but I'd bet dollars to buttons it's an older Galfre. It might have been rebadged as another make for import to North America - some companies did that (Gehl, for instance, sold rotary rakes for a brief period, and theirs were rebadged Tonutti). But I'm thinking it's a Galfre down under. I can't find any pictures of a model exactly like yours, but the only difference between yours and online pictures seems to be that yours is a trail type while online pictures of Galfre rakes are all mounted/three-point. But that doesn't mean much. There's not a lot of online records for many slightly older rotary rake models. I, for instance, have a Fransguard SR-4200 trail type. There's pretty much no online record of that model/configuration existing either.

Your best bet is probably to ask on the UK Farming Forum and/or contact Galfre directly. But I'm pretty sure you'd find it's an older Galfre 'AG' series.

 

[Timber Oak Farms]

DanielW.
Yes sir I did read your reply and a great “thank you” for the info. I registered for the “Farming Forum” but have not gotten the confirmation back to post yet. I will be going there also. The biggest this is knowing how to set the working height and the taking off the lower pan as it has a blown seal (pic shown). I will keep you posted on what I find

 

[DanielW]

Ah, gotcha. Not sure if this picture helps for disassembly - this is from a Galfre AG parts manual. This is just a guess, but it looks pretty much identical to the Kuhn and Tonutti style of gearboxes. If so, you can hold the rake/gearbox elevated with the tires off the ground, unwind the crank 'A' all the way until the axle drops off. Undo bolts 'B' to drop the lower cover off, and then access seal 'C'. You might even be able to pull the seal out from the bottom without pulling the lower pan off, but if its's like the Kuhn's and Tonutti's I've worked on the seal will only come out from the top.

Wouldn't want to guarantee that. But I don't think you can do much harm in trying. Make sure you goop/gasket up the lower pan well when you put it back on. Once nice thing about your rake is that the arms are the style where you can unbolt them from the base with bolts 'D' and take them out individually if you have to take them off to get things apart (or to check/replace cam followers, etc.). Some Kuhn's and my Fransgard aren't like that - you have to hold and align all the arm ends/cam-followers in-place as you lift the cam up, and you need about 12 pairs of hands to do it nicely.

Link to the manual I pulled this from: https://www.fleming-agri.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GALFRE-AG350-10-SPARE-PARTS-LIST.pdf

 

[DanielW]

I should have added: As far as setting the operator height- not much to go wrong. In any trail-type rotary rake, there's two adjustments. One (the crank in the centre of yours) is to raise/lower. The other (the crank on the tongue) is to get it level front-to-back. Sometimes a little back-and-forth itteration between the two adjustments. You want it sitting level front-to-back, and the height set so the teeth pick up cleanly without rubbing hard into the ground. I always err on the side of being a smidge high - I'd rather leave the odd strands of hay in the field versus having it rub/scrub the ground hard at any bump and put that much more stress into the gearbox.