Got a photo of my Nh 55 rake

I guess we could say this is the before photo.
I am already itching to paint it.
I wonder why? I really do hate painting things.

Good luck with the 55, I am sure you will have it in like new room condition before long. If you need help let me know, I have been inside and out of my 56 rakes several times and can try to help you if you get stuck.

• My hay raking system

Shep,
I wish I had known you had one. I would have sure been asking some questions while we were designing and building this one this spring. We built it using an old combine axle for the back to get steering capability and 4inch tube. Works great going forward but reverse with two rakes is another story. LOL

Yours looks a lot like mine, you did a nice job.

• Shep's World

Kelly,

That rake is in excellent condition and I saw one in much worse shape sell at an auction here for $475. You did good. That one even has its decals and some paint. Let me know if you need pictures as my 55 is completely restored and every bolt was removed and painted under. I have several original sales brochures with pics if you want to confirm something. What I figured out while I was doing mine was to get 3 or 4 spray cans of the old NH red. Tisco makes a decent match but you could buy the real stuff from NH for not much more. I started at the front and took off the hitch and cleaned it up and wire brushed the frame down to bare metal. Hit it with a shot of primer and 10 minutes later hit it with the NH red. Put the bolts back in and bolt it up. Now you have a base coat around that place that is painted and when you go back over it with the final coat in your air sprayer then you don't have misses. Go buy a box of 1/2 inch bolts in the round head. I think 1 1/2 inch but comfirm that and the same with a hex head. When you come to a bolt that is marginal replace it. I replaced most of mine and it was cheap money.

• My 55 Rolabar

I've had to remove the bottom end of the shaft from the axle. Are you talking about the round pin? They can really be rusted in, and if you just hammer on it willy nilly it will mushroom & not come out at all. And if it doesn't have the cotter pin, then it would fall out on it's own of course!

Did just the cross piece wreck on you? Those can be replaced, only 10-15 bucks, but it does try your patience. If the ears of the UJ are shot, then you are looking at some money or real work.

--->Paul

As to why the yoke bent to begin with, I still wonder if it had something to do with the fact that I don't think it had enough room to telescope. The drive shaft always seemed to be fully compressed, and at that, it didn't seem to have enough clearance. The drive shaft that extended into the yoke at the wheel end was rubbing on the yoke attached to the wheel itself. Maybe it just got into a bind and snapped open the yoke on the gearbox. I wonder if maybe the shaft was replaced and wasn't the right one for the 55.

Say, I have a bad seal in my gearbox, you wouldn't feel like getting a diagram of that to me somehow?

---Paul