DKCDKC
Platinum Member
My TSC only had the shorter RatchetRakes in stock, but my 60" bucket would not have worked well with a 72. I used some coupons and the funds from the sale of an antique camera I had kept in the closet for decades to go on and buy a 68" rake. I've had it three or four days and it has been about as promised.
I have tons of multiflora rose and autumn olive here in fence rows and along forest edges. Those things are truly insidious. The FEL alone just pushed them around. A friend with a sharp toothbar could cut them off pretty good, but this Ratchet Rake pulled them up by the roots, and then let me drag them to a pile. I tore into an old fence row today. The rake tore out all the brush and trees up to 2 inches. It did hit its match with the old fence wire - but that was more the limit of the tractor than the rake. I have a 38 hp JD 3038E. I did uproot a 4 inch diameter autumn olive bush/tree - thanks to the rake and soft ground.
Overall I am delighted to finally be able to tear out this doggone brush and vines and pile it. I am very happy with the purchase. I also found - running up and down my mile-long gravel drive - that it pretty quickly wipes out washboarding on slopes.
The RatchetRake video is a bit antiseptic compared to my work with a tractor - not a bobcat. You don't get stuff out that neatly in real life... But it gets the job done.
And for somebody who uses the FEL for many other things, the cable/band mounting system is great.
It ain't perfect, but it's a good tool.
I have tons of multiflora rose and autumn olive here in fence rows and along forest edges. Those things are truly insidious. The FEL alone just pushed them around. A friend with a sharp toothbar could cut them off pretty good, but this Ratchet Rake pulled them up by the roots, and then let me drag them to a pile. I tore into an old fence row today. The rake tore out all the brush and trees up to 2 inches. It did hit its match with the old fence wire - but that was more the limit of the tractor than the rake. I have a 38 hp JD 3038E. I did uproot a 4 inch diameter autumn olive bush/tree - thanks to the rake and soft ground.
Overall I am delighted to finally be able to tear out this doggone brush and vines and pile it. I am very happy with the purchase. I also found - running up and down my mile-long gravel drive - that it pretty quickly wipes out washboarding on slopes.
The RatchetRake video is a bit antiseptic compared to my work with a tractor - not a bobcat. You don't get stuff out that neatly in real life... But it gets the job done.
And for somebody who uses the FEL for many other things, the cable/band mounting system is great.
It ain't perfect, but it's a good tool.
