Hydraulic Angle Rake UPDATED!

[dirtworksequip]

For anyone that was following the hydraulic angle landscape rake project thread I had, here is the latest.When I originally did the hyd angle on my landscape rake I really didn't think too much about ever spinning the rake 180 degree's as I had only used it two times in 12 years of in the reversed. So, I didn't design the hydraulic cylinder brackets so that this could be done. Some of the rakes that have factory cylinder brackets are set up with a bracket on each side so that you can indeed spin the rake 180 degrees and then move and pin the cylinder to the opposite side of the rake to give you the hydraulic angle even with the rake spun around backwards. I had originally thought about cutting off the small piece of L shaped steel that held the pin when the rake was still angled manually but didn't do it when I was installing the brackets and cylinder. Today I cut that piece off and the light bulb came on! Now the rake could be spun 180 degrees manually and also be pinned manually in any of the reverse positions if I ever needed it. Better yet, it could also be used with the hydraulic cylinder either straight or angled right. It will not angle left as there isn't enough stroke on the cylinder. The only thing I would need to get are two longer pins and maybe two bushings to make the rake work in the hydraulic reverse position.

Heres a pic of the rake in the reversed straight position and the cylinder extended. By closing the cylinder it will angle the rake to the left.

Sincerely, Dirt

[art]

Nice addition to the york rake!

[dirtworksequip]

Thanks Art, it actually worked out better than I had anticipated. I have not put it to work yet. I was pleasantly supprised at how smooth the hydraulic cylinder moves the rake from maximum angle left and right.

Sincerely, Dirt

[MJPetersen]

Dirt,
If you put a bracket on the other side of the 3pt mast you can get full reverse function. The additional bracket should look just like the one that is on the left side now. Then with two pins you could move the cylinder over to the other side and have full travel.

Putting the cylinder on the outside of the bracket like your picture puts a lot of additional twist strain on the cylinder ends and the brackets. On a rake it should not matter too much, but there is an increased risk of breaking something if something should catch the end of the rake; say a tree or the corner of the house.

Mike

[dirtworksequip]

MJP, yea I thought about another bracket. 90 percent of the rake use for me is in snow removal on stone roads,so I really don't have any intentions on using the rake backwards. If I do, I will probably remove the hydraulic cylinder which only takes a couple of minutes and just manually pin it in the reverse position I need. The only reason I posted this thread was to show that it was capable of limited hydraulic angle in the reverse position. Thanks for the warning about the extra strain on the cylinder ends with the clevis above the bracket.

Sincerely, Dirt

[IXLR8]

DWE- I have been trying to figure out an easy way to add hydraulic angle to my rear blade... you just gave me the answer on how to do it! Thanks, love these forums. What did you use for a cylinder? Did you do anything to limit the speed of the cylinder movement? Is your "arm" just a piece of flat stock?

EDIT: I just found your original thread, which answered most of my questions, except did you do anything to limit speed of cylinder movement? After playing with this for a little while, do you see any advantage with using a cylinder with a check valve like CCM's top link?

[dirtworksequip]

IXLR8, if you do a search for hydraulic landscape rake here on the TBN site you should come up the the thread that I posted that shows the hydraulic landscape build. The brackets I used were from a broken 3pt draft link, because I had it laying around and wanted to incorperate it into the rake design. It worked out well, but I did have to remove the ball in the draft link ends and install a bushing for the 1 inch pin in the cylinder clevis ends. As far as cylinder speed, I just move the rear selective valve lever enough to move the rake slowly. I've never tried to pull the lever completely rearward or forward to see how fast the cylinder would actually move the rake. The cylinder was a 3 inch bore with 12 inches of stroke which I purchased on eBay for $69.00 plus $30.00 shipping. If I had to do it over again I probably would go with a 2 or 2.5 bore cylinder. The 3 inch weighs in at 30 pounds. Although it does not look out of scale once it was installed. It does move the rake effortlessly. If take time and design your brackets correctly you should be able to use your blade in both the forward and reverse positions by simply moving the cylinder to an additional bracket on the opposite side of the blade. Check out some of the factory blades with hyd. angle and you will get a better idea of how your brackets need to be set up. No need for a check valve on the cylinder that I could see, works fine.

Sincerely, Dirt

Heres a new pic of the rake complete with decals.I also installed a grease fitting at the cylinder pin pivot points to keep the bushings well lubricated.
This has been the BEST custom add-on to an attachment I have done in a long time.

[LBrown59]

Originally Posted by dirtworksequip

Thanks Art, it actually worked out better than I had anticipated. I have not put it to work yet. I was pleasantly supprised at how smooth the hydraulic cylinder moves the rake from maximum angle left and right.

Sincerely, Dirt

How did you come out on the trctor accident ?
Did you get it repaired.?
Who was found at fault?