Forks Brushfork w/5 mini Stick-Rakes (on a BX24)

[Sodo]

Brushfork w/5 mini Stick-Rakes (homebuilt attachment - BX24)

Combination landscape rake and brush forks; an attachment for an attachment.

Homebuilt brush fork vastly increases the amount of brush that I can move to a burnpile with my BX. For now it bolts to the bucket sides with 4 bolts but someday I will make a quick-release for it. The brushfork tines are 4 feet long and are made of 2 x 1 x .120 rectangular steel.

To clean up the ground better and gather more sticks I started looking into landscape rakes, but they all attach to the 3-point, so you do it with reverse. Facing forward and pull a pile backing out makes more sense in my woods. The tips of the brush fork extend far under a low canopy of a tree or bushes, so thats where I want to gather the sticks from. A 3-point rake can't reach very far under a tree (backing) due to the ROPS.

So I decided to build 5 little 4-tine rakes (quick-attach), one for each tine of the brush fork. It's very quick to remove them (one pin each). Or just remove 1 or 2 to narrow it up. After scraping up a pile you can remove the rakes and take the pile away. They are so far out on the fork that using the bucket float feature there's not a lot of pressure on the ground and they drag without tearing the grass up (not too much).



If I have to stick it between some narrow spaced trees or bushes a set or two can be removed.



Cost about $300 in materials for DIY. (20 tines: $230 delivered; Steel: $35; Bolts & pins: $24.) So about $60 per rake for DIY. Of course there was a LOT of 3/8" HOLES to drill on this project and lots of welding too. I did all the drilling and cutting at home. All the welding was done out in the woods with a pair of EU2000i generators.

I'm real happy with how it works, how far you can stick it under a bush, and out comes a BIG pile of sticks! Once the pile starts to get bigger (and not easy to back over it) I was surprised how well pushing the mini-piles into the main pile works (driving forward, pushing "backwards" on the tines).

 

[Sodo]

Re: Brushfork w/5 mini Stick-Rakes (homebuilt attachment - BX24)

Been using the brushfork rake today, and I am very happy with how it works. It allows me to work around my trees and get so much more done in less time, and without disturbing the trees (much).
Can stuff it way back in the bushes and pull out a big pile of sticks!


5 small separate rakes are much easier carry around than a 3-point rake attachment. I can toss them in the bucket and head out into the woods.


So easy to feed a fire with a brushfork.

 

[Xfaxman]

Looks good. :thumbsup:

More versatile than mine.


Bolted to the forks, pictures from 9-21-2005.

Does't work in float when pushing forward.

Works good in float turned around and using reverse, like yours.

 

[Sodo]

Thanks xfaxman you are creator I see. There doesn't seem to be a lot of enthusiasm for a front mounted stick rakes.:confused3: You guys are making me do self-replies :ashamed: get recognition for my project from myself!

Which does surprise me, seeing how well this thing works up front. Plus you can waggle it back and forth with the front wheel steering, while on the 3-point you can only follow the rear axle and get a crick in your neck too. Also when they come off they are about 20 lbs each, much easier to move around, and store, as compared to a landscape rake.

My place is a tree farm, it was lightly logged in 1998 and I have many acres to clean up. I only clean up where its visible from the road though. I like to leave it looking natural so have been real motivated to find a better way than by hand. I would think that lots more than just me are landscaping similarly. Another searchable name for this attchment might be "FEL Brushfork mounted Landscape rake".

 

[madmax12]

Thanks xfaxman you are creator I see. There doesn't seem to be a lot of enthusiasm for a front mounted stick rakes.:confused3: You guys are making me do self-replies :ashamed: get recognition for my project from myself! Which does surprise me, seeing how well this thing works up front. Plus you can waggle it back and forth with the front wheel steering, while on the 3-point you can only follow the rear axle. And get a crick in your neck too. Also when they come off they are about 20 lbs each, much easier to move around, and store, as compared to a landscape rake.

My place is a tree farm, it was lightly logged in 1998 and I have many acres to clean up. I only clean up where its visible from the road though. I like to leave it looking natural so have been real motivated to find a better way than by hand. I would think that lots more than just me are landscaping similarly. Another searchable name for this attchment might be "FEL Brushfork mounted Landscape rake".

Looks great!

creativity makes easier work :thumbsup:

 

[Sodo]

thx madmax, you are kind!

I saw a TBN thread called ratchet rake, it works similar in that it's FEL bucket-mounted and you can see what you are doing up front. I don't think the ratchetrake will gather sticks like this thing does, it has teeth on the bottom for breaking up the dirt. In my case I don't want to dig up the grass, just pull the sticks off and pile them up. And I need a farther reach under the trees.

I can see a lot of other uses for a ratchetrake (ratchetrake.com). A good low-cost and quick-attach item and maybe even more useful for a compact tractor that doesn't have much weight to break up the soil surface.

Here's DrDaves pic (yellow "ratchet rake" attachment) repeated. (and not a compact tractor!)

 

[rich bx]

Thanks xfaxman you are creator I see. There doesn't seem to be a lot of enthusiasm for a front mounted stick rakes.:confused3: You guys are making me do self-replies :ashamed: get recognition for my project from myself!

Which does surprise me, seeing how well this thing works up front. Plus you can waggle it back and forth with the front wheel steering, while on the 3-point you can only follow the rear axle and get a crick in your neck too. Also when they come off they are about 20 lbs each, much easier to move around, and store, as compared to a landscape rake.

My place is a tree farm, it was lightly logged in 1998 and I have many acres to clean up. I only clean up where its visible from the road though. I like to leave it looking natural so have been real motivated to find a better way than by hand. I would think that lots more than just me are landscaping similarly. Another searchable name for this attchment might be "FEL Brushfork mounted Landscape rake".

I love it. I wish I could weld, that attachements looks very creative and also very useful.
Good job.
You should think about building and selling, I bet then you would see a lot of interest...

 

[JackIL]

Re: Brushfork w/5 mini Stick-Rakes (homebuilt attachment - BX24)

Very clever concept and execution! You mention that you sometimes "push backwards" on the the tines when making a big pile. These tines were not designed for that mode of loading and are much more susceptible to breaking that way. However, all you have to do is remove the pins securing the tine mounts to the forks and REVERSE them. It appears they will mount either way. It requires you to get off the tractor and reverse the 5 fork brackets to complete building the pile, but that won't take long and will ultimately save you money by not having to replace broken tines.

JackIL

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

Very creative. One of the good things about the way you built it is that the landscape tines are far enough out front that you can actually see what you're doing.

 

[Sodo]

Re: Brushfork w/5 mini Stick-Rakes (homebuilt attachment - BX24)

You mention that you sometimes "push backwards" on the the tines when making a big pile. These tines were not designed for that mode of loading and are much more susceptible to breaking that way. However, all you have to do is remove the pins securing the tine mounts to the forks and REVERSE them.

thx jack. I have pushed backwards only 3 short runs so far, which were right at the pile. In those 3 pushes I was surprised how well it worked (saves getting off and reversing the rakes). If a BX24 could break a tine doing anything these tines would never survive a big tractor; they are the same tines for real rock rakes. I suspect your advice is prudent for a bigger tractor. But I did buy 2 spares so I guess I'll see.

Richbx I do think of building and selling but dont have the time. Making one is fun though otherwise I wouldn't have done it. If I had a different design to avoid drilling 85 holes I'd think about it. And there are a few other design problems I'd address, but my first concern was to "prove" the stick-gathering function of the attachment.

I'm planning to do a lot of 'fuels reduction' which is removing bushes and the lower branches of trees. Its time-consuming to gather the cuttings, and you have to get the wood that was already on the ground too, and for that it seems to work very well. The little BX is so maneuverable its really perfect for this kind of job working in and around young trees. My ideal tree spacing is 4 feet minimum (the width of the BX). This way you can just cut the branches, let them fall, cut into 4 foot sections then drag ALL the fuels into the open, into fork-able piles. I haven't really "gone at it" yet but from basic testing it's looking like i have a good tool.