Unpowered rake or harrow?

[CodeMonkey]

When I was a kid we would pull an unpowered chisel tooth harrow behind the tractor after we plowed and then disced, to smooth out the ground, remove/breakup clods and stones and other debris (grass/etc. would get caught in it) and sometimes pull a section of chain length fence behind the harrow.

I just finished leveling some of my acreage which had ruts and holes from thinning the forest. I also removed a lot of older stumps (from a clear cut 60 years ago). The purpose was to make it easier to mow the underbrush with my flail mower that would get stuck in those holes and ruts.

There is only so much you can do with a dozer and a brush rake (especially since I suck at it, not being a pro) - I removed the big stuff, but even after taking off the rake there are still some areas that need smoothing and there is still a lot of loose debris, especially grass.

I would like to smooth it out more, enough for easier mowing, but I don't need to work the ground for a garden, I just want to get rid of the dozer artifacts and it is 4 acres so I don't want or need to use a power harrow IMO. I want to pull something behind my 2 wheel tractor. I could rig something up with a section of chain link fence, but is there an unpowered rake/harrow I can get?

 

[leonz]

Hello Code Monkey,

I would check with a local equipment rental place. Small landscape rakes for garden tractors are still a popular item to homeowners that want to do their own work after dozing or excavation work.

I have no idea how much a new York rake for a garden tractor would cost to buy.
they have a hitch for a garden tractor hook up and I suppose if you have a sulky you could hook up a
receiver of some sort to hook up a trailer hitch that only uses a small pin to hold it on the tractor.
I would imagine your going to collect a huge amount of debris with it though.

Have you given any thought to investing in a stone burrier?? I realize you have four acres but it may be
the better option simply by pulverizing and burying any debris and being done with it.

you would be able to have a garden of course with no issues.

 

[CodeMonkey]

Thanks. I found I could order an inexpensive (under $300) drag harrow that might work with my Grillo on Amazon. I will give it a try and if nothing else I can pull it behind something like an ATV or a neighbor's Kubota

 

[boggen]

TractorHouse.com | Used Tractors For Sale: John Deere, Case IH, New Holland, Kubota.
craigslist: chicago jobs, apartments, personals, for sale, services, community, and events

make sure you enter your zip code. and search by distance in both websites.

your kinda bad time of year to find stuff. early spring normally when i see a lot of stuff for sale by regular folks. though you may still find a deal

also check your local auctions, should be some website that handles majorty of all your auctions near you. just search for "farm" or "agriculture" or "tractor" and it should bring up some listings. though normally it might require a large multi consignment auction. to find something.

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to note it, we are coming in mid summer, and everything is dry as a bone, and hard as concrete. trying to work any dirt like this, and you are just wasting extra time. dirt that is slightly wet is much easier to move and deal with. if you can get past the initial couple inches of hard crusted concrete dirt. you have a chance.

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with 4 acres, not a lot of acreage. i might suggest a potato plow / middle buster. if you are wanting to dig deep and pull up roots. normally these 2 have some of "shear pin" if you snag something, shear pin goes, and lets everything hopefully rotate out of the way. pending on how hard the dirt its, it may take a couple or more passes to get to depth you want.

a box blade, would be next thing to "level" stuff out. moving dirt from high spots to low spots. with the rippers / scraficer teeth on it. you can not get much cheaper and easier to use than anything else.

if you are getting picky, there are some DIY motor graders, were folks modify a rear blade or box blade, and toss it under a really long beam, between rear end of tractor, and some gauge wheels clear on the end of the beam. the much higher costly version would be a land plane. normally only seen for larger 60HP plus tractors. at least of what i have found.

hhhmmsss "dr" something make a lot of attachments and equipment for atv's/utv's, pull behind trucks, etc.... they have a trailer that is like a motor grader, with a water tank on top of it. just pull it behind your truck or tractor.

moldboard plow / bottom plow. digs in and turns / flips over the dirt. putting sod upside down into the dirt. makes a big mess, but then like ya said a disc or chisel plow or like to finish tilling it up and smoothing it out.

i honestly do not think a chisel plow, or a disc, or like, will dig in deep enough this time of year. if you can break it all up then use disc, chisel plow, or like. then ya.

if you had a skid steer, more likely options for a "tiller" for a skid steer.
possibly renting a larger "walk behind" maybe a 3pt hitch tiller for tractor as well for renting.

i doubt you going to like the cost of a de-rocker, and amount of HP for tractor needed to run it. on other hand. you might find someone to rent or pay someone, its kinda of one use thing and done thing. or less you have a business or a lot of farm land to re-use it.

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for me, i tend to dig out area were ruts area. and the area around rut. and then re smooth it all out.

just bringing in dirt to fill rut. leaves compacted dirt levels, and does not really fix issue in my experience. just fill a hole. on other hand digging it all up and regrading seems to do much better job "long term" with smoother yard/trails

 

[CodeMonkey]

My land is forested so the dirt is still moist once you break through the top few inches - which I just finished doing with a dozer. The ground is mostly level now, but I want/need to smooth it out further to make it as easy to mow as possible.

I actually have about 17 acres, but I only work on the 4 acres near the house - the rest of it I leave alone.

 

[boggen]

contact a local farmer. see if one them might be willing to stop by for a couple hundred bucks or more. to drop there plow in and maybe disc as well. most of there time going to be hooking up, prepping tractor and equipment, and then drive time to your place. if it was late winter. it would be prime time to ask around. so they could just hope in and out, while they go off to one of their other fields when they get out and start preparing the fields before planting. if they have a disc or chisel, see about having them run over it a couple extra times, not to till it, but to help smooth out more area. you will still have a couple lines here and there but *shrugs* there larger and more so wider equipment, would more likely smooth much bigger areas out. vs a little 4 to 6 feet something.

every now and then. end up seeing a drag harrow section come up on craiglist not much to them beyond a couple sections. toss some chains on to it. and drag it. if you have a 3pt hitch boom. use that as well. so you can dump the clogs and clumps into a central spot to clean up later. just keep running it over, till most of the garbage is no longer building up on the drag harrow.

for me, plow it, disc it a couple times till smooth, toss drag harrow on to clean out the clogs, and like, toss seed, and then disc it slightly to work the grass seed just a little bit under the dirt. if need be toss some straw out for erosion.

for you, rent a tiller, walk behind, to tow behind, to tractor mounted,
find what ever you can chain link fence, rebar mesh panels (thicker stuff). to help break up clods.
run a lawn roller over it a couple times.
seed it
good old manual garden rake. or use some 2x4's or what ever scrap lumber you have laying around, get yourself some spikes (for say a 6x6 timber retaining wall) drive them through and let them poke out the bottom. and use what ever scrape lumber you have to fix to 3pt hitch on tractor. figure out a way, to add some weight. make it concrete blocks, scrap metal, or what ever you have laying around.
use the spikes like rippers/scraficers on a box blade, or tines of some 3pt hitch rake. ya the lumber not going to last. and you most likely tear it up after a couple uses. but *shrugs* are you going to keep re-using it a lot more?

TIP: 4x4 put spikes through, then use a 2x4 over the heads of spikes, and use some screws to fasten 2x4 onto 4x4. this way spikes will not back up and out of the 4x4 during use.

 

[CodeMonkey]

Thanks but I don't think any farmer will want to plow 4 acres of forest, and I don't want them to - nor do I think they would be able to. It was bad enough with the dozer - I was often catching roots of live 60 year old fir trees that I did not want to damage. It rather amazed me that the roots went out horizontally that far just a few inches down and I was dismayed when I caught them with the rake.

 

[joecoin]

I'm clearing about 6 acres of brush with my Grillo 107d using the brush mower. I also have a Steiner 20hp four wheel drive tractor that I bought a Brinly box blade for. I cannot use the box blade in any areas where there are small (1 to 3 inch) stumps. And that is almost all of the area.
The box blade catches on the stumps and breaks the shear pin. I had the use of a mini backhoe for a week so I pulled a bunch of those stumps out using that. Then I was able to drag the box blade around and level out the low/high spots.

You say you have a lot of loose debris, if it is just loose on the surface a box blade should work.

 

[CodeMonkey]

I used the dozer to remove most of the debris and the old stumps. The newer stumps from 3 years ago remain. Right now any debris is grass/etc. - nothing would cause problems with a box blade. But I am going to get a drag harrow - I think for what I have that will work best as the ground is mostly leveled now and I don't need to do much more.

 

[CodeMonkey]

Maybe a few pics will help:







Just ordered a drag harrow.