Rake Landscape rakes

[flatius]

Howdy group, hey.........what is the "deal" with First Choice company? do they have a website? if they do i cannot find it. can anybody point me in the direction of a dealer ? thanks.

bob from michigan

[rancar]

Jim....

I got the LR1172 because I liked its combo functions, grader blade and rake combined. I figured this would save me a lot of time in the field rather that having to go back to the house and changing attachments every time I needed the blade as opposed to the rake. Having said this, I'm also cognizant that the ruggedness of this blade option may be somewhat lacking in comparison to a stand alone back blade. I also have a back blade and when doing tougher grading jobs, I will most likely just change the attachments so as not to damage the LR1172.

Bob

[WVBill]

Rancar:

How thick is the steel on the blade?
I have a Linebach landscape rake and I'm wondering how hard it would be to make a flip-down blade for it.

[rancar]

Russ...

<font color=blue>However on the LR1172 the vertical swing down mounts appear to be sort of weak. Could be trouble brewing, if you are swinging in tight arc, with a bunch of material against one of those end plates.</font color=blue>

Yep....I concur. I suggested as much to Jim and I'll be careful when using the grader blade in its lowered position.

<font color=blue>a higher moldboard with removeable end plates.</font color=blue>

This grader blade I have does have removeable end plates. It's an optional item but I added this as well and will leave attached or I'll remove them depending on the nature of the jobs I'm working on.

Bob

[JimMc]

First Choice may be contacted directly at 888/945-3102 or seen at their temporary web site at http://home.midwest.net/~jimmc/

[JimMc]

Most companies use the same hitch frame on their light duty rear blades and landscape rakes and many, at least in literature, offer the option of buying one complete and adding the business end of the other without buying the hitch. In other words, Joe buys a rear blade. Later, Joe decides he needs a landscape rake. Company sells Joe just the rake part and Joe switches the hitch between the two. What do you folks think?

[bnixon]

JimMC,

I like the idea of the interchangeable implements using a universal hitch. This should equate to a nice price savings on the addition of new implements.

The biggest thing to make this a viable solution is a quick and easy attachment design for the different implements. I would want to be able to change the implements in as much time or preferably less time than it would take to change a standard 3ph implement.

What type of implements do you see this setup working with?

[rdln]

Works for me! As long as your asking.

I have a Land pride 15 series thats 8ft wide. pretty disappointed in its quality. It never failed to work, but the bigger leverage tweaked the swiss cheese angle plate (holes were to close together and/or steel not thick enough)

[flatius]

Jim, thanks much for the "first choice" website.
i just called them and found a dealer right near the house.

[JimMc]

Right now our landscape rake and rear blades share the same hitch platform. Other companies may offer a greater variety of common hitches.