Rake-up pickup, good or bad?

[lexionmike]

A friend of mine are looking for a new or used pickup. Wanting to use it for grassseed and white clover.
He has been offered a rake-up. Year 2003 with 1000 hectares of canola behind it.
Is there anything special to look out for on a pickup like this?
He found it herepics)
http://www.maskinbladet.dk/search/detail....8f-823e9aa456ee
It seems to be partially rake-up, partially home made.
TIA Mikael

[9682]

.........had a melroe on a 1995 tx 68.Traded to a 1997 tx 68 with a rack-up.No comparison on the same field with the same machines.The barley straw was short and the melroe was useless,the rake-up was excellent.The rake-up in our area for a time was the pick up to have.We used the rake-up for 1700 hours,never stopped once or never spent any money in repairs.Some had issues with the aluminum slats breaking on the ends.In conditions where there is rocks or roots the rake-up works very good.The rake-up seems to flip the rock or roots forward instead of delivering into the feeder house.Some concern with Canola falling between the slats.We currently use a swath master which the roller stub broke after 200 hours.I like the delivery better on the swath master than the rake-up.But the swath master also picks up rocks and roots more.The picture is what the rake-up looks like.My opinion only!

[woodytr99]

My personal experience with rakeups are not that great. First of all more moving parts- more maint. secong I have alot of trouble picking a light swath, especially peas, lentils, and flax, because the fingers are picking in a sideways motion as opposed to straight back.

I can't wait to trade my rakeup for a swathmaster.

Woody

[harsh]

The Swath Master will leave more crop in the field than the Rake Up. If it is not picking up good you need to replace the teeth, you can install plastic or steel. The reel bar slats will keep the crop on top of the bars if they are not worn or completely gone.

[Don Boles]

I don't understand that at all.

Don

[gary]

This fall I had my cousin help me combine a very lodged crop of barley, he has a rake up and my machine a victory super 8 and the rake up missed lots of barley, while the victory did a much better job. Personally I would stay away from the rake up.

[matt2]

Had a victory and JD 914, and now have a rake up. I don't see any difference in header loss (shattering) and feel the rake-up does a better job in "downed" swaths. I would recommend the rake-up.

[woodytr99]

New pickup teeth helped some, wind gaurd is in good condition and lowered. Any other suggestions. Maybe it is in my settings, I think i've tried most everything.

[woodytr99]

I don't understand that at all.

Don[/quote] The fingers on pickups such as melroe,westward and swathmaster, are coming straight back, the material has no where to go but back. With the rakeup, because the fingers are moving in an sideways(circular) motion, the material tends to roll in front of the pickup. This happens only in extreme conditions where the crop is very lightand short. I have some sandy land that doesn't always produce that well, this year I had peas that were very short and thin in spots, the rakeup was useless, my westward with steel fingers, no problem.

[jaymo]

We've run rake-up and melroe pickups and later swathmasters side by side on our Gleaners since the 80's. The Rake-up ALWAYS outperforms the conventional belt pickups in any crop.
We've moved to NH combines for a number of years now. The first year we ran our TR99 with a swathmaster we where again reminded why we love rake-ups and put a new rakeup on for the next season.

In perfect conditions rakeup and belt pickups perform evenly but in any kind of less then ideal conditions the rakeup is in a class of its own.

In canola the rake-up is really nice slowed right down with the variable auto groundspeed mode. Smooth and gently on the crop.