Fired Road contractor. Build it myself?

[Ford850]

Landpride has a nice one as an option. Look at the parts diagram for better details: http://www.landpride.com/ari/attach/lp/public/manuals/301-360p.pdf

 

[airbiscuit]

Would a landscape rake be better off with one or two wheels? I'm thinking of adding some to mine for the driveway.

They often seem to have two wheels

 

[ovrszd]

So I took the picture of your rear blade and crudely marked it up with Microsoft Paint.

I would take a 1/2" or 3/8" plate the same dimensions as your back end of your blade frame and drill and tap holes for 7/16" bolts (yellow in the pic)
To that I would weld a vertical piece of heavy wall square tube (2" or 2 1/2") (Blue in the pic)
I would "ears" on the top and back pf that to make the equivalent of a clevis or pivot point (gray round holes)
Another piece of square tubing back to the tail wheel (blue violet in the pic)
A 3pt top link on the top for adjustment (gold in the pic)

I admit that my mark up is crude, but if you start with attachment point to your blade and kind of fit it up and fab it up from there it should be fairly straightforward. They get $300, $400 plus to buy these as accessories if they are available at all. You might also want to make the horizontal and vertical square tubes welded on to your attachment plate to be the equivalent of receiver hitches. That way the tail wheel would be quick attach and you could put a trailer ball on it when not using the wheel.

Nice!!! I agree concerning using a receiver hitch. Whatever you use, it needs to be easily attached/removed. Preferably without the need for wrenches.

 

[Billrog]

That's what I used a piece of receiver tubing for quick attaching and removing. Would love to post a pic. but I'm in snow plow mode and the wheel is under 4' of snow. My plow is in the shop in pieces getting a repair seems I hooked to big a frozen in rock and did some damage to the hydraulic swivel mechanism.

 

[teg]

Or you can go nuts with wheels

View attachment 498433

 

[airbiscuit]

On Ebay the have omni hitches that look like this. If you welded something like this on the plate on the back of your rear blade, you would be about 1/2 done. Plus it would be nice to have a receiver hitch on the back of your blade.

 

[Cat_Driver]

You were a LOT more patient than I am. I never ever give anyone a second change PERIOD. If you're late once, that's it you're fired. HE would never have a second chance with me. If someone disrespects my time, and I take the time to be somewhere on time or early - buh bye. Listening to your gut was right. If you get jerked around with bad communication during the bid process - it will only get worse from there.

 

[Cat_Driver]

EXACTLY - if there is a "clear pattern" with customers and add on, simply calculate the "pattern". next step id "communicate" the pattern, tell each customer in advance about patterns educate them to what they might expect from you and how you will "communicate" that. Tell each customer what to expect and what not to expect. Tell them in advance that you will plan on a start date, but will "communicate" regularly as the start date gets closer on what to expect either on time or a delay, and if the delay is too long let them elect to pull out without any hard feelings. Seriously how hard is all this, its like most contractors are immature and afraid to actually talk to customers.

 

[CADplans]

Would two wheels, one on each side, work better?

Would a landscape rake be better off with one or two wheels? I'm thinking of adding some to mine for the driveway.

If I ever add wheels to the blade, they will be identical to the wheels on my landscape rake,,,

Heck, I guess I could use the landscape rake tires, wheels, and spindles off the landscape rake,,,
it is pretty tough to pull BOTH attachments at the same time!! :laughing:

Simply remove 2 hitch pins, and the wheels come off.

 

[Tinstafl]

I put a wheel behind my blade and only have one hydraulic arm on it. I don't use it enough to justify the full setup but the wheel makes it work much easier for controlling depth