Rake Rake for FEL followup

   / Rake for FEL followup #1  

TraderMark

Gold Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2001
Messages
387
Location
Southeast Georgia
Tractor
Ford 1720, 2910 John Deere 970, Case 1845
Harv....
I promised some pics if I came up with anything that worked for a rake on my FEL.
Well.... here's what I made and so far it works pretty darn well.
I was hoping to use the same scarifiers that came with my Tufline box blade but I found the 90 degree shank to tooth angle was too much and I had trouble getting the rake to "dump" properly so I used scarifiers bought from Agri-Supply that have only a slight bend in the shank itself.

I used 2X4X1/4 tubing for the main bar and 3/8X4 flatbar for the ends.
 

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   / Rake for FEL followup
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#2  
With the bucket dumped all the way over, the teeth will lean back toward the tractor just a little to let the rake drag more than dig.
 

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#3  
With the bucket rolled all the way up I can lift and carry several small trees at the time, or if I'm lucky, I can get a good wad of vines that will roll over into the bucket off the teeth when I roll the bucket back.
 

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#4  
I used standard pins with R-clips to hold the scarifiers from dropping down through the tubing.
 

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#5  
And on the bottom side of the crossbar, I used a 5/8 bolt with a collar on each side slightly larger than the bolt head and nut.
I did this for two reasons. I thought that if I got just one tooth on top of a tree and tried to put down pressure on the bucket, that straps welded on top of the crossbar might pull loose, and also the bolt and spacers under the crossbar give more area of contact and help protect the head of the bolt and the nut from getting battered. And I can still use the scarifiers for other things. In fact, I plan on building a 3pt rake, much like a pasture renovator and will use one of the two designs of scarifiers with it.
 

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   / Rake for FEL followup #6  
How did you attach your device to the bucket?
Its well built thats for sure,and the uses I bet will be endless. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
 
   / Rake for FEL followup
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#7  
Thomas...
The crossbar rests right on the lip of the bucket and I drilled a hole in each side of the bucket and in the 3/8X4 flatbar that extends from the ends of the crossbar into the bucket so I can just take out 2 bolts and be back to the normal bucket.
 
   / Rake for FEL followup #8  
Very nice work. I hope to get some of the same utility from my bucket tooth bar, but I can see your custom set-up seems more suited to the task of clearing underbrush and small trees. I would be very interested in seeing the 3 point unit when you get to it.
I am sure Harv will reveal his welder-envy on this project as well...ditto for me. My late dad was a real good stick welder. The equipment is available to me, but the few times I used it left me wanting for lots more skill. I am told gas shielded mig is a bit more forgiving. On my wish list as well.

Let us know how it continues to function for you.

18-30461-BillSig.jpg
 
   / Rake for FEL followup #9  
I can see how your tooth attachment bar could be very useful. One thing you might want to consider are the loads you are putting into your tilt cylinders and into the bucket itself. I'm a little concerned you're going to rip out the end of your cylinders.
If you look at your bucket with the teeth on it in the
fully dumped position, think of the distance from the hinge pin to the end of the tooth as "a big pipe wrench". This long length times your tractor drawbar plus some impact factor when you hit a root that doesn't move, must be resisted by
your tilt cylinders times the short distance from the hinge pin to the cylinder line of action. I don't know what your dimensions are, but you are greatly increasing the force your cylinder has to hold. If the cylinder is not bottomed out, then the line relief will protect the cylinder. If you are at full
cylinder extension then there is no "fuse". You might want
to avoid full tilt cylinder extension condition.

Buckets are so much stronger when the bottom of the bucket is kept nearly parallel to the ground. I hope it doesn't bend your cutting edge in the middle.

Hope I'm wrong and you don't have any trouble.
Brent
 
   / Rake for FEL followup
  • Thread Starter
#10  
BrentB...
I understand what you're saying. Believe me... I work on logging equipment and have seen many times a skidder that had blade too low and hit a stump to rip out the ends of the cylinders.

When pushing or piling the brush I have, I never get the engine over 12-1500 RPMs and I use 4th gear out of the twelve I have available so I'm just creeping along. There is another reason for the creeping..../w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif.... it gives me a longer reaction time to make adjustments to bucket height and get a smoother finish..../w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif....

Once I get a load in the bucket or on the rake teeth, and start the 150 yard trek to the pile over much smoother ground, I shift up to a higher gear, just for transport.

Also, with the bucket rolled all the way over in the dump position, there are mechanical stops on the bucket that hit the loader arms to limit the travel of the bucket and prevent cylinder rip out.

As far as bending the bucket... that bucket is an old light duty bucket that came with the tractor when I bought it used. The edge of the bucket looked like ocean waves when I got it and the whole thing was a bit twisted, that's why I decided to put the rake on it instead of the good bucket I have.
 
 
 
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