How to clean a landscape rake?

[Eagleview]

Just thinking out loud......If you were to weave a piece of 5/16" wire rope with eyes on each end through the tynes a couple of times and secure the ends to the rake . When you need to clean the rake , lay the rope ends on the ground and back the tyres onto the ends while lifting the linkage . In theory as you reversed , it would pull the debris out .

 

[IslandTractor]

Just thinking out loud......If you were to weave a piece of 5/16" wire rope with eyes on each end through the tynes a couple of times and secure the ends to the rake . When you need to clean the rake , lay the rope ends on the ground and back the tyres onto the ends while lifting the linkage . In theory as you reversed , it would pull the debris out .

I'll have to see if I can find some wire rope and give it a try. I'd score the idea A+ for creativity but note that it does require dismounting so there will be a deduction for style points which lowers the final score to a solid B.

Now, if we can figure out a way to use the wire rope idea but have it run by a hydraulic ram.......

 

[Rara Avis]

Just thinking out loud......If you were to weave a piece of 5/16" wire rope with eyes on each end through the tynes a couple of times and secure the ends to the rake . When you need to clean the rake , lay the rope ends on the ground and back the tyres onto the ends while lifting the linkage . In theory as you reversed , it would pull the debris out .

Geez...you beat me to the punch...

IslandTractor, IronHorse gave you a real nice solution...

The only reason I was going to suggest a similar solution was that my son made me watch Ax Men and the use of chokers...

 

[Redbug]

That's a pretty good mess you got there, Paul. I don't let my rake load up with that much debris before cleaning it. Usually I use my shovel handle and start on one end to pull the stuff down and off the tines.

Just thinking out loud, I would imagine the debris would be easier to pull out if the tines were angled...by getting narrower at the ends.

 

[john_bud]

Have you thought about getting a bottom plow or tandem disc and turning the soil over (plow) or cutting up the debris so it rots down (disc)? If you can wait a year, the nutrition from that junk may help the soil quite a bit.

 

[Redbug]

One other idea, (which I have not tried), would be to remove every other tine? That would make the gaps wider between the remaining tines, and possibly not collect as much junk between them. Wonder if that would work?

 

[IslandTractor]

IslandTractor, IronHorse gave you a real nice solution...

Well guys, I just went out and looked at the rake. The problem with the wire rope solution is that you'd need to figure out how to keep the wire rope from riding up past the vertical part of the rake tines as otherwise the rope would just be pulled forward tight onto the rake tine attachment points rather than down and off. It also occurs to me that once you'd successfully "dethatched" the rake that you'd need to reweave the wire rope again. Perhaps there are ways around this problem but it doesn't seem quite as good a solution as it did at 4AM.

I suppose I could just not use the rake for this application as suggested by John Bud but that would leave me trying to mow weeds in an area that still had a fair amount of wood debris and would also have stump holes that would require filling and leveling by some other method. I have thought of getting a disc to deal with the roots/canes but that won't solve all the issues. I guess I could use a box blade for leveling but I'd prefer not to leave larger chunks of wood or rock to hit with my mower.

 

[rayh76]

Well, sounds like a hydraulic comb should be designed! I bet it would only require a few "teeth" to clean the rake since your material is so long. Come on, build it so the rest of us can copy your design. Good luck with your problem.

 

[Arkaybee]

How about trying this: temporarily clamp a flat bar across the width of the rake with several clamps to keep it snug. Position it at the apex of the curvature of the tines or maybe just below the apex. You will still have the "pick-up" ability of the points of the tines and the material can still roll up on the inner surface of the tines but the bar should prevent the material from being driven up the entire length of the tine interspaces, thereby making it much easier to back up and reverse-rake the materials out.

Now, if you had TnT on the tractor so you could tilt the leading part of the rake up (the leading tine points would go forward) and then reverse the tractor with the rake engaged on the ground or brush pile, etc. this theoretically make it possible to "clean" the tines without leaving the tractor seat (high priority):

Then. if this works you could permanently weld the bar at the optimum level or develop a slip-on and off attachment method; e.g. with a few eyelets to slip over selected tines and having set screws or set-bolts to hold the bar in place on the back side of the tines.

I wonder if these alterations would work

 

[jbrumberg]

IslandTractor: I just use a crowbar . Jay