John Deere 350 Rake

Hi all, well a buddy of mine was bouncing around the country side, and his wife spotted "something orange" (he is a MAJOR AC fan)

Upon inspection she had spotted a very early AC All Crop Combine with a couple of trees growing through it!! Next to it along another smaller road is a VERY nice John Deere No.5 mower, converted to 2 point (did a great job), and a very early John Deere 350 rake. It is PTO drive, and SUPPOSED to be 3-point, but someone went and made a BOLT ON bracket, that converts it to pull behind!! They even put a top link on it, and mounted it to the frame they made, so that the angle of the rake could be adjusted depending on what was pulling it!!

He thinks that the lady will sell him all 5 things (also a horse drawn sickle mower and dump rake) for only $200 or so, I would pay half of what ever he can buy the stuff for, and I get everything but the combine.

Right now, I have a very nice JD No.5 Mower, and two more for parts, but I would like to have another back up one, just cause!

The rake is what I feel I need to be interested in though... It just so happens that the neighbors have a 350, and JD's "over the top frame" pull behind one. I have raked with both behind a 3000 Ford, and I thought that the 350 was AWESOME, but here are the questions!

Would my 2n/TO-30 handle it?
Would it be better to leave it as a pull behind?
Are parts easy to find?

Are they a good rake?

Right now I have a JD 594 Rake that has some MAJOR problems, and a very nice McCormick Deering Rake on tires, but is needs tires... This one will probably need the two little ones in the back, but that is no big deal... What do you guys think?? Bryce

Do you have an operator manual for your NO 5 mower.
I have one I would sell.

I have an original operators manual, and the sleeve it came in. And I have a attachment manual, showing all of the ways too attach the mower to different tractors, and a parts break down of the mower...

I have a JD 350 pto rake. I like it. I can see if I can post some pictures later today of it. Ive used it with a ZA MM. Im betting your tractor would handle it as the Ferguson rake would have been similar.

That is kind of what I figured, because as you said, Ferguson did make a 3 point pto rake...

Even though it looks kind of large, I would say that it is all probably open round tube and just air space!! Probably only 400-500 lbs huh?

I was thinking that someone on here had a little Massey 35 of something like that and they bought a nice sickle mower, JD 350 rake, and a NH 68 Baler?

Was that Clinton Camp Farm?

I think if the Ford/ferguson would handle the old original ford/dearborn rake,it would handle the JD. I have observed that the 3point pto rakes seemto have lots more problems. seems the driveline is frequently 'broken'.They seem to need constant maintance. For that reason I prefer a ground drive pull behind. They just seem to be lots more trouble free.But you seem to be getting a GREAT deal. go for it! good luck.

No,It wasnt Clinton Camp farm(Adirondak Case Guy).But it is from that part of the country.The Jd rake will be heavier.And it will probably hang further back. Your frnt end may be pretty light!You may have to improvise some kind of front end weight.Just my opinion,take with lots of salt! lol

I do like the smaller pull behinds, but those are in VERY high demand around here... I figured that this one would be way better than the huge old style trailed rakes, plus I can always back up with this one, and get into tight corners, which on a 1 1/2 acre field, that can come in handy!!

I do think that I am going to try to get it, whether I need it or not?!?!

Go for it! If it doesnt work out,sell it and make some money!

I think the first 3 point rake was a Ferguson.

I have a ferguson 3pt side rake, and that makes my te20 light on the front end. If the jd350 is any heavier i would leave it as a trailed unit.

I bought a JD350 rake this summer. Mine is a 4 bar rake and the only thing it needed was a new belt, which I got at NAPA.

We used it to rake 12 acres of hay and did that two times at least on our only cut - late summer. I bought a manual from ebay and in it there is a provision for this rake to be used as a pull behind - that might be what you are seeing. Mine is also a 4 bar rake, but can be converted to a 5 bar rake too.

3 point is nice as is the PTO as you can lift the rake over windrows and adjust your PTO independent of the ground speed. Mine is a perfect match width wise for my 7ft sickle bar mower.

Good luck,
Bill

YOU were the guy I was thinking about below... Not sure why I didn't remember that???

That is what I wanted to hear that it works good following a 7 foot bar... All of my mowers are 7 foot, and I really like them.. Run really well behind my Super C...

It would be very cool if it was a factory thing to be able to swap it over to pull behind... I could see it having pros and cons both ways.. But like you said, when I was working at the neighbors, I could just pick it over and go over the windrows with out having any trouble, can't do that with a trailer rake... Thanks for the pictures, really appreciate it!

I have a JD 350 that my Dad bought new, it had the hitch on it from the factory, and then the back wheels are pinned so they don't swivel, the adjustable top link is how you set the depth or a hyd. cylinder can be used. Only bad I can say about the rake is the small rear wheels just have bushings and their kind of mickey mouse, they should have had timken bearings. This one is a 5 bar and I always thought is was a hay rakin SOB until I ran across a Massey Ferguson 6 bar a dozen years ago, now there's a hay rakin SOB!! I use em both but the Massey will do a nicer job, especially in light hay. But to answer your question it is a good rake and one in good shape would bring 4 to 5 hundred at auction around here.

With this pto rake you can back into the middle of the field at an angle with the take running and not screw up the rows, I have done that many times. You can't do that with a ground drive, always liked the pto rake.

I bought a JD350 last year and used it this year behind my JD320. Could have used a little more ground clearence on tractor but handled fine. There were different operator manuals for older sn and newer one. I bought the newer one on ebay then found the older one which was for my rake. Only issue I ran into with parts was on the LH end, I wanted to replace shaft that reel runs on and I couldn't get part as it updated to later sn style. Rake seems heavier than ford or ferguson but works good.

Bryce, I own a 350 with the optional draw bar hitch. A person can replace the manual crank on the hitch with a hydraulic cylinder to raise and lower the rake.
In a rough, gopher infested field, that is where those pull type pto driven rakes shine. Either way, at that price, you should be able to get your money back out of it.
Mike

That looks exactly like what the hitch looked like if I remember correctly... I remember seeing the pins for the lift arms, and thinking how neat of a job someone had done making this bracket that actually used those pins, rather than just welding it on!!!

Even more excited now that it may be a JD thing... COOL!!

We have a 350 rake three point and a Ford three point rake. The 350 is a good rake but the Ford rake is I think is ten times better. We ran two point all the time instead of three, but you can't back up with the 350 that way the you can. Plus the Ford does not have strippers (or whatever you call them) for the hay to get caught in. Plus the Ford had longer pto. Had the 350 come apart a couple times.

Was this the way the hitch is on the 350? I would grab any old machinery you can if you can afford it. One day most all of it will be scrap. I just like tinkering with old machinery When the rake is used with the front hitch you can lock the two dolly wheels in the back. When it is mounted on the 3 point then you remove the locks to allow them to rotate. Just to add, if you need a drive belt you can go through A&I Products at a JD dealer and save about $80-100. If I remember right the JD belt was about $110-120 where as the A&I belt was about $25-30.

BAM! Thats it right there! The long square pto shaft looks familiar too!! Thanks so much for the picture!!

I would really like to have it... I think that it would look and work really nice behind my 47 B... Would work much better if it was all painted up too!!

My buddy is on vacation for a week or so, but where it is, NO ONE will ever find it... I was a little scared going back in this place to be honest... Wouldn't have driven through the neighborhood without him!! :

We have used a 350 JD rake for 50 years. On the second one now. Used it on a 8n in the late 50's. Use a Compact 4320 JD. now. Had the factory pull type hitch. Way better on 3point. We use a loose top link. Vic

I may have a manual for that