"Limited" Cat 1 landscape rake

[Will_C]

I have had the Woods with the wheels for 4 years. I am very satisfied with it. I have since traded my BX for a B2620, and the rake stil works fine with the bigger tractor.
Will

[adirondacktrac]

Thanks to one of the other members, I was able to locate the guage wheels for my landscape rake from TSC that I purchased used. I ordered the wheels from King Kutter (?). The arrived in a coulple of days. As winter is almost on us, I have taken the rake off the JD to put on the back blade in anticipation that I will have to use it for snow removal purposes. That said, from my use of the rake earlier this year on a 3/4 mile dirt road that I am working on by default of any of my neighbors, it was easily up to the task. While it lacked the integrated blade of the York units, it did the job reasonably well. I expect the addition of the guage wheels this spring will make the job easier still. I would think that the KK rake would serve you well and at a reasonable price.
BTW, I am unclear of the advantage of turning the rake 180 to its usual position. What is the advantage or rationale?
Thanks.

[dcyrilc]

Originally Posted by jim2210

Thanks for the replies! My Woods dealer also sells the Bush Hog rakes. As stated, they do not offer the guage wheels for them. I looked on the Landpride website and saw the 05 series, but I thought it said it was a cat 1 with the option of making it a cat 0 spacing. There's a dealer about 40 min. from me, so I may take a ride to see them.

Anybody use the Frontier rakes? They seem similar to the Woods, but a little more $$.

I have a frontier LR1184 which came with the tractor I purchased week before last, but I know nothing about rakes beyond what the name implies. I can teel you that it's heavy and solid.

[bp fick]

Originally Posted by adirondacktrac

Thanks to one of the other members, I was able to locate the guage wheels for my landscape rake from TSC that I purchased used. I ordered the wheels from King Kutter (?). The arrived in a coulple of days. As winter is almost on us, I have taken the rake off the JD to put on the back blade in anticipation that I will have to use it for snow removal purposes. That said, from my use of the rake earlier this year on a 3/4 mile dirt road that I am working on by default of any of my neighbors, it was easily up to the task. While it lacked the integrated blade of the York units, it did the job reasonably well. I expect the addition of the guage wheels this spring will make the job easier still. I would think that the KK rake would serve you well and at a reasonable price.
BTW, I am unclear of the advantage of turning the rake 180 to its usual position. What is the advantage or rationale?
Thanks.

Turing the tines 180, to do fine work, without loading the rake is an old trick of the pro landscapers and is common. I love the method myself.

[JDGreenGrass]

Originally Posted by bp fick

Turing the tines 180, to do fine work, without loading the rake is an old trick of the pro landscapers and is common. I love the method myself.

BP....Are you driving forward in your second picture.??.....Or, backwards.??

[bp fick]

Originally Posted by JDGreenGrass

BP....Are you driving forward in your second picture.??.....Or, backwards.??

Oh, I am driving forward, just lookin' back. Same here.

[dcyrilc]

I am familliar with Cat 0, Cat 1, Cat 2, etc...

But, what is a "limited" Cat 1?

[Couple of Achers]

Originally Posted by dcyrilc

I am familliar with Cat 0, Cat 1, Cat 2, etc...

But, what is a "limited" Cat 1?

The way it has been explained to me is that your lift pins or cat1 size, but the geometry of the lower lift arms and top link has the spacing of a cat0 3pt. The Kubota BX23 for example has a limited cat 1 3pt. Because of the power in these little subcompacts, cat0 equipment would be ruined. So they need to put the heavier cat1 pins, and build the attachments to handle the HP. But do to the limited ground clearences and over all spacing on the little tractors, they came up with the limited cat1 3pt hitch.

[bp fick]

Limited Cat 1 has several possible meanings, depending on who is stating it and why. Sometimes it the narrow 21" spread of the 3 pt arms, sometimes it is a way of saying the 3 pt has a somewhat limited weight lifting capability or both.

I do not believe Kubota lists their BX's as "limited" in any way, either by weight or by spacing. That said, yes, the maximum lift height of a BX is somewhat limited, because the tractor is rather low to the ground, but the operators have gotten rather used to understanding this limitation.

The BX family of Kubota's are NOT limited Cat 1's by definition. Kubota makes no reference to this, AFAIK.

[Couple of Achers]

Originally Posted by bp fick

Limited Cat 1 has several possible meanings, depending on who is stating it and why. Sometimes it the narrow 21" spread of the 3 pt arms, sometimes it is a way of saying the 3 pt has a somewhat limited weight lifting capability or both.

I do not believe Kubota lists their BX's as "limited" in any way, either by weight or by spacing. That said, yes, the maximum lift height of a BX is somewhat limited, because the tractor is rather low to the ground, but the operators have gotten rather used to understanding this limitation.

The BX family of Kubota's are NOT limited Cat 1's by definition. Kubota makes no reference to this, AFAIK.

That's interesting. I owned both a BX22 and currently have a BX23 and I can tell you, that a lot of cat1 equipment will not fit on the 3pt because of the spacing and length of the 3pt arms and top link. This is why most manufacturer's have come out with complete lines of equipment for the limit cat1 hitch. King Kutter for example has the XB line of equipment. This is a quote from their brochure. "All XB equipment is manufactured with category 1 pins ad category 0 spacing to fit today's sub-copact tractors" They even show a BX2230 on the cover. Woods has also come out with an entire line of equipment for the same reason. BushHog as well. For example the BushHog rotary cutter. I own a SQ420. It would not work on my BX23 until I lowered the lower lift pins and turned them inwards. They now have specifically designed a new 42 in cut rotary mower. The SQ142, that has the capability of either cat 1 for the standard cat1 geometry or for the cat 0 geometry for the limited cat1 spacing such as, what is on the BX23. So call it what you will. But if you are buying cat1 equipment for either a BX22 or a BX23, you better make sure it is designed for a sub-compact tractor. I'm not saying there isn't some cat1 attachments that may work on the 22 or 23, but you better measure it before you bring it home.

Also, no where in my OP did I say anything about the BX series of tractors. I specifically stated the BX23. I know on some of the follow on tractors they reconfigured the 3pt to accommodate regular cat1 attachments because of the complaints they received on the limited cat1 hitch on the predecessors.

I also realize that Kubota did not advertise that the BX23 has a limited cat1 hitch. It is not exactly a selling point. Most buyers find out the hard way, when they have to trade their old equipment in on ones specifically designed for a sub-compact with the limited cat1 hitch.

I know I will probably not change your mind. So I guess we will have to agree to disagree as to what constitutes a limit cat1 hitch and whether or not the BX23 has one.