Pine needle rake

[mrfu]

I wanted a way to rake up pine needles and saw the commercially available units that are for sale, They looked nice but the least expensive one would cost $350 shipped to California. So I looked at one others had made and came up with my own design. It seems to work well. I first tried it with 18 sets of the red single tines in place and it worked just OK, then I remembered we had an old hay rake in the back part of the property. The rake teeth on it had double tines and are made of thicker metal so I replaced half the teeth with these and it works way better now. My total cost was about $80 so I'm happy
Thanks for looking
Tom

 

[TimberXX]

Nice job.

How often do you have to rake the needles?

 

[mrfu]

Around the house I rake up needles a couple of times in the fall and then once in the spring. out further maybe once a year.
Tom

 

[Agent Blue]

I have tons of pine needles in my yard. I tried a 3 point rake, pull behind trailer with vacuum and was not satisfied with either. On the projects list I am building a high speed vacuum pto powered that will attach to my mid mounted mower. I am going to gator blades also to get more lift also. Those needles are very hard to contain and it seems they just fly around with a small percentage ending up in the collection bin, especially when wet. I have to get this project in motion because I hand raked again this year and have no intention of repeating this process.
I could break down and buy a Cyclone Rake....... but that would not be a challenge.

 

[Short Game]

Nice setup.

Since your tractor is red, I'm guessing that is an old Case IH 1140 or, more likely, a newer Mahindra, as it is the same Mitsubishi built tractor as my yellow '96 Cub Cadet.

If you don't mind me asking, how much did the chains cost you and where did you get them?

 

[mrfu]

It's a Mahindra 2615. The rake doesn't get all the needle but it does get the bulk which is a great help. The chains came from Tire Chains by TireChains.com and cost around $250 delivered 8 years ago. I originally bought them for my Ford 2n so they are a little narrow but they stay on and I had to cut them to length. They make all the difference in the world, our snow tends to be pretty wet and heavy. One neighbor used to have a blower for the snow but it really didn't work that well so the best option is a plow.
Tom

 

[Short Game]

Thanks. It looks like they don't have that chain pattern for my size of rear tire. I wonder why.

 

[mrfu]

Look around, I remeber not seeing the correct size for my fronts and finding it listed under lawn tractors. Or email them there are so many various sizes that they could probaly figure it out.
Tom