TractorGuy
Elite Member
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2013
- Messages
- 4,591
- Location
- N. FL
- Tractor
- John Deere 4310 CUT, Ford New Holland 575E Industrial Backhoe, John Deere F725 Front Mount Mower
I have an inexpensive landscape rake I purchased from Agri Supply. It didn't have any gusseting on the angle the tines are bolted to and I bent it early on. Also the main square tube is thin gauge and I have broken both the pivot bolt section and later the angle support off on it. The later were previously repaired.
I had also added the cheap gauge wheel set sold by Pallet Forks dot com. The gauge wheels didn't sit far enough behind the rake to be of good use and wouldn't make a full circle so they hit the tines if you backed up with the wheels on the ground.
The other day I backed it into a pile and the gauge wheel bent the angle like a pretzel so I had to rebuild the whole thing. I decided to gusset the angle for the tines to bolt to and extend the gauge wheel mounts to make the rake stronger and more useful. I'm sure I will find the next weak point in the near future.
The ID of the gauge wheel tube was 2" so I just cut those and added 2" x 1/4" wall square tube to extend them. I drilled 1/2" holes and bolted the extensions like a trailer hitch receiver. I may add some 2" ID receiver tubes to my grader blade so I can switch these back and forth.
Here is how it looked before.
This is how the angle bent.
I had to cut the pad off that mounts it to the main frame.
The metal supplier I use only sells 10 or 20 ft lengths. I left it the full 10 ft while I welded the gussets in. I cut the gussets from the straight part of the old angle.
Here is the finished product.
Finally, instead of having it swing loose on the pivot with a locating pin I bolted the pivot bolt down tight and added a 3/4" bolt to the locater hole and tightened it for added strength. If I want to angle it I will just loosen the pivot bolt and relocate the locater bolt and tighten it all back down.
I'm pretty happy with the finished product. I was able to set the tines right at ground level and use it as a rake on the first test. Before it grabbed and pulled a lot of soil no matter how I set it. It should be more useful for grading at a lower setting also.
I had also added the cheap gauge wheel set sold by Pallet Forks dot com. The gauge wheels didn't sit far enough behind the rake to be of good use and wouldn't make a full circle so they hit the tines if you backed up with the wheels on the ground.
The other day I backed it into a pile and the gauge wheel bent the angle like a pretzel so I had to rebuild the whole thing. I decided to gusset the angle for the tines to bolt to and extend the gauge wheel mounts to make the rake stronger and more useful. I'm sure I will find the next weak point in the near future.
The ID of the gauge wheel tube was 2" so I just cut those and added 2" x 1/4" wall square tube to extend them. I drilled 1/2" holes and bolted the extensions like a trailer hitch receiver. I may add some 2" ID receiver tubes to my grader blade so I can switch these back and forth.
Here is how it looked before.
This is how the angle bent.
I had to cut the pad off that mounts it to the main frame.
The metal supplier I use only sells 10 or 20 ft lengths. I left it the full 10 ft while I welded the gussets in. I cut the gussets from the straight part of the old angle.
Here is the finished product.
Finally, instead of having it swing loose on the pivot with a locating pin I bolted the pivot bolt down tight and added a 3/4" bolt to the locater hole and tightened it for added strength. If I want to angle it I will just loosen the pivot bolt and relocate the locater bolt and tighten it all back down.
I'm pretty happy with the finished product. I was able to set the tines right at ground level and use it as a rake on the first test. Before it grabbed and pulled a lot of soil no matter how I set it. It should be more useful for grading at a lower setting also.
