Good landscape rake - cheap

[RedDirt]

I built this rake years ago as an alternative to more expensive, heavier rakes. My little Wards garden tractor just couldn't lift the commonly available 3ph cut rakes.

The the key ingredient of the rake are the haying replacement teeth I found by chance one day at TSC. There are several styles for different equipment but these were the most reasonable, $1.85 ea as I recall. The beauty of these for rake tines is the rubber mount which allows them to flex over obstructions.

The first generation rake had a wood 2x6 arm to hold the tines. It worked well for several years until I found out how much more material I could push (rather than pull) and the 2x6 just wasn't up to the task.

This second generation replaced the 2x6 with a 1 3/4" OD pipe and added the diagonal braces. The framing is 2x2x1/8. The framing is a bit light gauge but that's what I had in my scrap bin. Its lightness turned out to be a benefit as it allows some flex on uneven terrain.

The hitch to my tractor is just a single pin on the drawbar. I made the "U" hitch "receiver" a little wider than the drawbar and made the bottom hole elongated. This allows the rake to self rotate on uneven ground. With modifications a hitch could be made to fit any number of hitch styles.

This rake has tines spaced 3 3/4" apart. They could be any spacing depending on the best spacing suitable for the raked material with 2" on center being the minimum spacing. The 3 3/4" works well for me for primarily Black Oak leaves and Ponderosa Pine needles. It does a supreme job when there is a combination of leaves and needles or needles alone. When I rake leaves only I'd like a more narrow spacing.

The overall width of this rake is 6'-5". With proper bracing overall width would be any that suits your needs. The trade-off is between production and maneuverability.

Despite its small appearance this has been a workhorse implement. What use to take two days of hand raking I can now do in two hours. And it has made my raking fun instead of a chore!

 

[jmc]

Nice job. Thanks for posting it.

John

 

[MJPetersen]

Well done. That is making use of existing materials to accomplish a task that you have to do.

Normally the tines on a rake are closer than those you have--Do you think that it wold be better a bit closer together, or does it gather enough with out the extra cost and bother?

Mike

 

[RedDirt]

Well done. That is making use of existing materials to accomplish a task that you have to do.

Normally the tines on a rake are closer than those you have--Do you think that it wold be better a bit closer together, or does it gather enough with out the extra cost and bother?

Mike

If I was to build it again I might space a bit closer.

The 3 1/2" spacing works really well on pine needles and when there is any mass of oak leaves. See the bottom photo. This is the second raking of the year. The first big drop was raked and burned a month previously. The circle around the burn pile is two rake widths wide, about 10ft. The pile accounts for raked ground in the foreground. I'd say that's a fairly clean job. The area beyond the circle has not yet been raked.

What happens is the first few feet of raking fills in the gap between the tines then more of less "sweeps" as you go along. With a big load I occasionally need to stop, raise the rake a couple of inches. back up 6" and "grab" the load again because the teeth will flex I'll begin to loose some. As soon as the tines are re-engaged with fresh raked ground the result is an almost perfectly clean path. With HST this is not hassle.

Where the rake falls down is on sparsely covered oak leaves. Then I wish the teeth were closer spaced. But my leaf/needle drop is so intense and volume so great I just need to be patient and wait with a semi dirty yard until enough leaves are on the ground before I rake. If I need to clear sparsely covered ground I use a leaf blower. Sometimes I'll use the leaf blower to get the leaves into windrows then use the tractor rake to pull or push these into burn or mulch piles.

Heres a link on moving big leaf piles:http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/kubota-owning-operating/112402-big-bucket-leaf-moving.html

I'm not a fanatic about always having the grounds spotless. It would drive me crazy. As soon as I've raked, newly fallen leaves already begin to replace the raked ones. I normally rake two or three times in the fall/early winter, then, once in the spring to get rid of the winter "trash".

The rake has been a really efficient tool for me, easy to build and at a reasonable cost.

 

[Aquaman]

Great job! Cheap, easy to build, and it WORKS.

 

[SkunkWerX]

Great job, straight-forward and simple!!

Could you explain in a bit more detail how it raises and lowers?

manual? hydro?

 

[RedDirt]

Great job, straight-forward and simple!!

Could you explain in a bit more detail how it raises and lowers?

manual? hydro?

The lift is hydraulic. The late 70's vintage Wards "garden tractor" differed from the "lawn tractors" in that it came equipped with a 1 1/2" x 6" x 1/2" hydraulic cylinder mounted horizontally below the tractor. It communicates with front or rear implements via a "L" lever arm then a rod connecting arm. The hydraulics are powered from the Eaton HST. The spool valve is the smallest I've ever seen!

It looks like modern garden machines no longer have hydraulics, at least none of the ones I've seen. Instead they seem to use an electric raise/lower mechanism. A manual operation similar to the old Gibson tractors would also be an alternative.

 

[Aussiebushman]

Yes thanks Bruce

Strong and simple to make. I'll get some tines first and make a frame to suit.

I'd still like to work out a way to attach the unit to either of the existing blades - I have a blade on the front as well as the scraper on the back. and actually the rake would be better on the front than the rear so it can push the fallen branches etc rather than drag them or drive backwards. It would be a different matter if just raking leaves

There is no way I would want to dismount the front blade that weighs a couple hundred Kg

Thanks guys

Alan

 

[beeforty]

Yes thanks Bruce

There is no way I would want to dismount the front blade that weighs a couple hundred Kg

Thanks guys

Alan

There's your excuse for a quick connect on the the front blade, to make life easier for you:thumbsup:

 

[Daver1963]

I think I may have to buy some parts and try this. I might change to a piece of square tubing and use some u-bolts to mount it to my King Kutter carry-all. It sure would be a lot less expensive than those $400 TSC landscape rakes.