John Deere 594 Rake, Value?

Hey it's Bryce. I have a JD 594 High Wheel Steel hay rake out in the yard and I was just wondering if it has any value to it? I have had it for sale on CL for a while at $200, and I just had a guy bite on it this morning, but I am wondering if I would like to restore it, keep it and use it, and some day sell it? Are they worth anything? Here are a few pros and cons:
Pros,
I am the third owner
Works good
Looks REALLY cool
Almost all complete
Drawbar isn't broken and fixed
Wheels are all really straight
Cons,
Missing a half of the teeth guards
Handle that adjusts teeth angle is broken and gone, but nicely farmer fixed to work.
Arms that lift and lower it aren't working too well, but I think that is just a lack of lube.

It is the smaller rake, 8 foot swath I think? Here is a pic, let me know what you all think! Also, does anyone have any old advertisements or anything like that, or even pictures of yours in action! I would really like to see what one looked like new, I think that they had some red on the didn't they? Bryce

I had a Case rake that was a lot like that, I sold it to the Amish for $75. I had used it for a couple of years but it tended to slide the drive wheel in heavy hay and the left side drive mechanism was broken up so it only drove off the right wheel. I would think for raking with horses it would be handy but with a tractor I would try for something a little more maneuverable. I got a Ford 3 point rake at an auction in 2003 and have used it ever since, it works nicely.
Zach

Pretty much "lawn ornament" value, I think- just not much demand for them as a "using" rake. I never see them bring more than scrap value at auctions around here.

If you can get $200, take the money and run like a thief. However, maybe its worth more than 200 to you, to be decorating YOUR lawn. . .

Even a yard art buyer might give you $200. Put some Christmas lights on it, and you might have people bidding on it.

I was going to suggest market to the Amish. Newer rakes (rubber tire - pull behind) going for $600 up to amazing. Probably worth $200 at scrap yard.

Well, I have got a McCormick Deering one as well, here is a picture of it. It is on all rubber, and I personally think that it is in better shape. Everything on it is in good working condition, except for the tires! Only bad thing about it is the fact that the drawbar has been broken and welded, but it still works good. Which one do you guys think is a better rake? Thanks, Bryce

My opinion is after all the fixing plus painting to make it nice again, it's a $300 rake instead of a $200 rake . . . I kept my grandpa's 594 around for a long time because that's what I learned to rake with, but did have to eventually let go. Unless you are really attached to this one for some reason take the $200 and put your efforts into something newer and better to use. I'd want rubber tires just in case I needed to go down the road to make hay someplace other than home.

Bryce, those rakes had the stripper bars spaced every third tooth instead of just about all other makes, Old 3 bar Case was like that but the 4 bar was every other tooth like all the others. If you were in driving distance of me I would take it right now at the $200. Getting back to working shape I would get $500 from an Amish Machinery jocky and he would put it on his lot for $700 and get it. You could get a kit for the later 594 rakes to move the stripper bars to the every other tooth setting like most rakes and it would work a lot better in shorter hay. Look on your frame and if it is drilled for a every tooth spacing on those bars it is a later one and that was also a kit that you could get for very short stuff, most with the every tooth stripper bar were called mint rakes. And the high axle you can get over a previous winrow to rake 2 together where that McCormick No. 5 in your picture with the low axle you cannot do that as it will just want to drag. And that No. 5 rake takes a unique tooth that only fits that one model. I have a frame of a No. 5 setting here I bought just to get the teeth to finnish up one I had gotten last year and converted over to steel as that is what My buyer wanted but now he thinks he will be stuck with it because of that stupid low axle. I am going to be cutting up this No. 5 frame as they are not worth fixing up. Bought it at auction for less than it would have cost me to get the teeth I needed new and then the clips that hold the teeth on I can use on other rakes as they are the same for the 3 & 4 bar high wheel rakes that are also in big demand. You cannot drive any faster with that McCormick than you can with the Deere or you would be beating the hay to bad. Did not keep a good count on rakes this year but think it was about 10, perhaps 12 that I redid and last year was a dozen and year before could not do any because of ilness but in previous years have done several. Probably have handled at least 50 of those type of rakes and have hauled 250+ mile one way to get them. I have used the frame of two different rakes to make one and then parts off yet some more.

If I could by rakes like that for scrap value, About a $100 around here I would be picking them up by the hundreds and if only a parts rake be using them to repair others. Can't hardly find any even parts rakes any more. Same with steel wheel mowers or steel wheel manure spreaders.

I had an Amish neighbor stop and try to buy my 594, along with all my other junk machinery I am using. Told him to come to my auction when I'm gone. He would have put me out of the farming business in one fell swoop. Seriously, I pulled my 594 out of my neighbors woods 24 years ago for a case of beer, did some minor repair and been using it ever since. I only cover 4 acres or so and it works fine. For a nominal cost you can buy 1/4 x 1-1/2 hot rolled flat and make the extra ones you need for short hay. May have to drill a few holes, so pick a nice day to do it. Almost impossible to wear one out. the ends of the bars on mine were worn off and pieces of pipe welded on to repair, still going fine.

No there are not terribly valuable from a cash perspective unless you in Amish territory as mentioned by Leroy.

But they are arguably the finest rake of that vintage style. They make loose fluffy windrows that dry well. Newer parallel bar rakes can be rope makers that do not dry well.

Here are 2 units that I have refurb'd for my hobby operation. One is roughly a 1937 and I am 2nd owner. Other one with home brew steel wheel conversion is roughly 1948.

Lots of info (and pics) in archives. Use the search.

How do you go about finding the year on one? I didn't think that there was a data plate or anything?

Not alwasy a sure thing but the parts books will a lot of times have in when they made changes to improve the item, Like on the stripper bars it might say for the extra bars to narrow the space down for year XXXX and up. little things like that can sometimes get you in the ball park, not exact but like earlier or later model. Like on a wagon when they changed the type of hub cap and small things like that.

(quoted from post at 16:22:57 12/04/13) How do you go about finding the year on one? I didn't think that there was a data plate or anything?

Click to expand...

Correct no serial plate or model number.

In short, it takes effort. Almost every JD casting has a part number on it. Use the parts list to identify parts that contain the year listings in the parts list.

Example 1: Look at the center reel support. Is it a solid plate or 4 individual bars? Compare to parts list for year breakdown.

Example 2: Look how the gearbox bolts in with the mounting spacers. Compare to parts list.

Continue using the process of elimination to further reduce the year window on unique castings identified in parts listing that contain a year range.

Once done you will likely have it down to a year or two if you put forth enough effort (that's why I said roughly in my pervious comments). Of course this will assume that no parts have been changed out over the years, but you can kinda sorta even audit for that. Identify the castings that have multiple parts of the same thing. Say there are 4 total parts of the same thing on the rake. 3 of them fall into a year range that makes sense for all other parts on the rake and 1 falls into a range that makes zero sense. Likely that part may have been replaced from a donor unit and consider it an outlier.

It all boils down to how much effort you wanna put into it and whether or not you like solving a mystery.