Rake Proper use of a "York rake"

[Cletrac]

Proper use of a \"York rake\"

I own a 6" landscape rake without gage wheels which in my opinion is about useless. I borrowed a very heavy duty rake from a neighbor with gage wheels and hydraulic angle capability (Both the rake "Head" will angle but stay directly behind the machine or the whole rake will angle in a big arc that will put the head out to one side or the other behind the tractor) This was slightly better but still worthless. How do you go about raking rocks out of a pasture that has been plowed and disked? All I seem to be able to do is hook the rocks, pull them a few feet and the rake jumps over and leaves the rock behind. I have been unble to windrow them or do anything other than make a bunch of little piles all over the place. If I push the rake down more all I do is dig. To me a "york rake" looks like the biggest joke ever unleashed on the tractoring public. What am I doing wrong?

Frustrated in MA

 

[FL_Cracker]

Re: Proper use of a \"York rake\"

It's the way your holding your mouth when pulling the rake, that's what I tell everyine that can't seem to catch a fish when I killing them. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

On a more serious note, I'm not sure but I just purchased one and plan to use it to rake loose tree branches in the pasture. Also I was going to use it to level the lawn around my new house. I hope to here the dang thing does something right. If not I'll have a fresh out of the box, never used landscape rake for sale.....

Charles

 

[bczoom]

Re: Proper use of a \"York rake\"

Cletrac (& Charles).

The York rake I have is the pull behind unit with gage wheels but I have encountered the same issues.

The biggest thing/trick I've found when using the rake is to go faster. When the blade is angled, you'll want more speed to get the rocks rolling and off the windrow side of the teeth faster. It's like pushing/pulling snow with a plow. If you go slow, it'll build up in front of the blade. Faster and it'll roll off the side.

The dryer the ground, the better. If it's wet, the dirt may/will have a tendency to build up in front of the blade as opposed to break up and go through the teeth. When this happens, it's acting more like a blade than a rake and will allow the rocks to accumulate.

Watch out for rocks that are 3/4 buried. If a rock is buried where the top is exposed but not enough for the rake to grab it, that'll cause jumping. These, unfortunately, will need to be dug up by hand.

Lastly, is be patient. It'll take a couple (or more) passes (depending on what you want for the finished product). As the rake goes over a plowed/disked area, it'll continue to smooth it out as well. The smoother it is, the easier the rocks will roll off the edge of the rake. Mine is a 4' and I tow behind an ATV. For a lawn area, I may go over it 5 or 6 times but it's still a heck of a lot faster than hand raking.

Brian

 

[KiotiJohn]

Re: Proper use of a \"York rake\"

Play with your top link adjustment to make the teeth more aggressive. It could be that you have them angled too far back, making it easy for them to jump over the rocks.
Just start adjusting the top link, and watch the way the tines move so you can see where they should be to get the most bite without having to lower the whole unit.
John

 

[BadDog]

Re: Proper use of a \"York rake\"

Speed shouldn't matter if your angle is right... also, most of the decent rakes I've seen have a flat area on the top of their frame that will allow you to load on some weight. Put a couple of cinder blocks on there and you'll see a big improvement.

Weight (force) + digging angle are the most important things; absolutley no different than using a regular garden rake, just bigger.

If your place is really rocky, I'd use a grader blade first to loosen all the rocks and rough-grade the land... dig the biggies out with a BH if necessary. The rake is a final or near-final step; however you will still end up picking small rocks by hand.

 

[DMF]

Re: Proper use of a \"York rake\"

You don't mention the size of rocks you are trying to move. In my experience, grapefruit size rocks and over will make the rake jump as you are describing. I've used York rakes with great success if:
1. You gotta have gage wheels, no doubt.
2. You wind-row the rocks.
3. You use it as intended, which IMO is for smoothing areas suitable for planting lawns including the removal of small rocks (smaller than grapefruit size)

When I think of removing rocks from a "pasture that has been plowed and disked" I think of my fields in which there is considerably more work to be done, some of it unfortunately by hand, before I would ever attempt to york rake it out.

My MO is:
1. Plow
2. Disk
3. Remove as many stones as possible with stone bucket.
4. Hand pick large flat stones that fall through the bucket's teeth.
5. Drag area with a large screen
6. York rake (several passes)
7. Repeat #'s 5 & 6 until "clean"
8. Seed
9. Roll

 

[tcrider33d]

Re: Proper use of a \"York rake\"

Before I use my landscape rake, I always boxblade the area with the rippers down. Most of the larger (softball sized) rocks will be popped to the top and can then be collected with the rake. Most of the time I run without gauge wheels, but it takes a lot of practice with the 3-point lever. I like the flexibility of going a little deeper with the teeth if i need to.

I have personally found the landscape rake to be a great investment.

 

[SCB]

Re: Proper use of a \"York rake\"

I think the rake is agreat tool. However, the area needs to be smoothed out before you can have any real success with picking rocks. I use a boxblade to smooth and then begin making passes with the rake. On the last couple of passes I adjust the angle to just skim the surface. I took some pics last week of myself raking an area I am prepping for seed. I will try to post them soon. Here is a pic of an area we already seeded a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Junkman]

Re: Proper use of a \"York rake\"

I have found that the drier the material the better the rake will work. The last time, I tried to roll the area first and then I raked it. Problem was that there were more rocks than I cared to deal with. I had a hydro seed company do the prep with a Harley Rake and then they seeded it. Even with them doing the Harley Rake on the entire area, there are still rocks that are coming to the surface after last winter. Rocks are like potato's in New England. They keep growing every year after you harvest the first crop. That is why we have so many stone walls... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[kingoflawns]

Re: Proper use of a \"York rake\"

We use a landpride 1560 with gauge wheels. The attack angle of the teeth seems to be the trick I M O. For finish grading of screened loam set the rake in the straight position,set the gauge wheels so the rake is only digging into the top inch or so, put the tractor in low gear, lower the rake and push it over the area in reverse! You will be amazed, better finish rake than a rockhound or a harley! Scott.