Blog

Apr 12, 2024

Choose Your Harrow. RiteWay 5 Bar or 7 Bar.

If you’ve heard good things about RiteWay tine harrows, and you’re thinking of buying one, you might be wondering if the HH8200 5-bar or MH7200 7-bar model is right for you. 

Both are designed to best serve the needs of customers but in different ways to suit different purposes. Let’s start by looking at the most important working feature of both harrows.



Tines
The five-bar harrows are equipped with 25 28” tines –longer than the 26” tines you usually see in competitor models. The HH8200 offers two tine thickness options – the standard 9/16” or the stouter-than-usual 5/8”. Whichever thickness you choose, you can upgrade your tines with Riteway’s “Max-Life” high-wear edge. 

The MH7200’s carbide-tipped tines are smaller than the 5-bar at 24” long and ½" thick, but with two more rows, there are 49 of them – almost twice as many as the HH8200’s 25. They’re also closer together, with only 1.43” of space between them, as opposed to the 5-bars 2.64”. Last but not least, they come standard with the high-wear edge. 

Which is better for you? The answer depends on what you need to do with your harrows.



Two Harrows. Two Purposes
The 5-bar model is a heavy harrow, designed to endure tough going. If you stand the harrows straight up, those thicker, more durable tines can dig in like a chisel plow. They can also help remove certain weed seedlings and enhance your herbicide penetration. You can also fill in ruts and level your field, but you may lose moisture doing it. 
 
The 5-bar's main feature is its aggressive approach to crop residue management. It shatters heavy straw for more even re-integration back into your soil. The RiteWay HH8200 excels at raking and disturbing the soil, blackening your field, and leaving a firmer soil pack.
 
If you’re mission is better trash management, the 7-bar is your ultimate seed bed prep tool. Its more-numerous ½" tines produce more whipping action than the rigid 9/16” or 5/8” of the five-bar, doing a better job of breaking up of your soil’s top crust. You’ll free up more soil absorption, clear the path for plant emergence, and create a more uniform dispersal of crop residue, seed, and chemicals. 

More tines, more flexibility, and shallower harrow depth also mean less “down pressure.” Because its down force is more spread out, the Riteway MH7200 leaves the soil less compacted and easier to penetrate. Some users prefer that feature because it allows them to reduce the pressure setting on their seed drills.  

Once you’ve decided what kind of field work you need to do, RiteWay offers the harrow to get it done. 

Flaman is the right place to find your Riteway Harrow
You’ve just read a few of the features and benefits of the RiteWay MH7200 and HH8200 harrows. There are many more you can discover by calling or visiting your nearest Flaman location. Our tillage experts will be glad to tell you about RiteWay’s heavy-duty construction advantages, its downforce-enhancing parallel linkage system, and more.