80" Landscape Rake

[rswyan]

80\" Landscape Rake

This past winter a friend hooked me up with a fab shop where he used to work as a source for reasonably priced steel. While we were over there picking up some 10" c-channel I bought from them for a dump wagon I'm building I noticed they were cleaning the place up and had a large dumpster out back that they were tossing alot of drops and scrap in so I asked the manager if it would be ok to go dumpster diving for anything we might find useful. He said "Sure, go ahead." We wound up picking up around 750 lbs or so of steel of varoius shapes and sizes - pipe, box, plate, angle, etc.

One of the pieces was an 81" piece of 4" x 1/4" angle. I thought this would be a good piece to make a landscape rake with. So using the drill press I drilled eighty 3/8" holes in it on 2" centers to mount the rake tines, which were sourced from Agri-Supply.

In talking to another TBN'er about constructing this, he mentioned to me that this size angle is what Woods uses for their landscape rakes (at least the lighter-duty ones) and that he had recently worked on a friend's Woods rake that had gotten bent up pretty good, straightening it out. As a solution to that I decided that I would try and make mine a little less prone to bending. The difficulty was doing so and still having access to the bolts for the tines. What I did was using short sections of 4" angle to reinforce the backside of the angle the tines mounted on, making the angle a box tube in spots. While that beefed up the spots where the additional angle was welded on (and gave me a place to attach a set of gauge wheels), it didn't do anything for the spots where it wasn't, so I took some smaller angle and used that to span the open sections between the boxes. The image quality isn't the greatest but here's a picture with the 4" angle welded on and four of the eight "spanners" welded on.

 

[rswyan]

Re: 80\" Landscape Rake

Another shot of the tine holder from a different angle showing a little more detail. Hope it don't make ya dizzy. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[rswyan]

Re: 80\" Landscape Rake

Start of the 3 point. The angle is 4" x 6" x 3/8" and the box tube is 3" x 3/16" - kinda light .... but hey it was free. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

You can see some of the additional components in the background.

 

[rswyan]

Re: 80\" Landscape Rake

Another angle, showing the upright for the 3 point (3"x 2" x 1/4" tube) and the angle (4" x 4" x 3/8") which will form the box for the lower link pins and some other components in the background.

 

[surfran]

Re: 80\" Landscape Rake

Lookin good, keep the photo's coming. Sounds like you hit a gold mine in the dumpster /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[rswyan]

Re: 80\" Landscape Rake

Big jump in progress here. The 3 point is basically complete except for capping the stubs in the rear (in front of the index plate) and adding a little bit of plate at the top link to reinforce it..

Because it was suggested to me that using 3/16" x 3" for the main tube was a little light, I used a couple of pieces of 2" x 2" x 1/4 box tube running back at an angle from the lower bar on the 3 point to the rear to hopely prevent any twisting. The rear of the box tube where the index plate is also has two pieces 3" x 1/4" angle welded around it to beef it up.

The index plate was made from 1/2" plate and the hole for the pivot pin is 2". The index plate is drilled for angles of 0°, 20º, 40° if memory serves me correctly. This probably should have been 0°, 15º, & 30° but it seemed to me at the time that this would have not left enough metal between the holes as I would have liked, given the diameter of the circle I was using. ..... in hindsight ...... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[rswyan]

Re: 80\" Landscape Rake

Another angle. The pin mount for the top link is set forward from the upright so that I could use a Quick-Hitch - it's basically a guess ..... since I don't have a Quick-Hitch yet. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[rswyan]

Re: 80\" Landscape Rake

Last one of the 3 point from another angle.

 

[rswyan]

Re: 80\" Landscape Rake

I used a piece of 2" x 6" cold rolled steel for the pivot pin. Image shows the pivot pin welded to the angle adjustment pin plate and ready to be welded to the tine holder.

I drilled a 2" hole in the angle pin adjustment plate and then welded the pin on the bottom side (slightly recessed) This in turn, was welded to a piece of 4" x 4" angle which will be welded to the tine holder. I drilled a 1 1/32" hole (biggest S & D bit I had) in 4" x 4" angle so that I could weld the 4" x 4" angle directly to the pin, as well as welding it on the sides to the angle pin adjustment plate.

 

[rswyan]

Re: 80\" Landscape Rake

The pivot pin assembly from the other side.

 

[rswyan]

Re: 80\" Landscape Rake

I struggleed with this for quite awhile - how to retain the pivot pin in the 3 point mount ? Iniitially I was going to drill a down into the pin from the top and tap it to take like a 3/4" bolt and use a piece of plate larger than the hole. Here's what I came up with instead - it ended up being much easier to execute and will not be prone to unthreading itself with repeated angle adjustments of the rake, which a bolt down from the top might have been.

The pipe is some 3" O.D. with 1/2" walls. Because the pipe was undersized and the pivot pin was oversized I had to machine them to fit them together. I chucked the pipe up in the drill press and ran a 2" Lennox bi-metal holesaw down through and then used a cylinder hone to clean it up a little. Ain't exactly precision machining but it's close enough for my needs. I cut a shallow slot in the pin with a 3" cutoff tool (grinder) so that the grease would have an easy path. The 3" box tube on the 3 point that the pin fits through had a piece of schedule 80 pipe stuffed into it and welded in to capture the grease.

 

[rswyan]

Re: 80\" Landscape Rake

Image of the rake (with 6 of the 8 "spanners" now welded in) and the pivot pin in place to be welded.

Hmmmm ...... think I need to get ahold of the shop maid and schedule a clean up ...... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[rswyan]

Re: 80\" Landscape Rake

Front side welded, albeit kinda sloppily.

 

[rswyan]

Re: 80\" Landscape Rake

Back side welded, doing a little better here.

 

[rswyan]

Re: 80\" Landscape Rake

Shot of the entire tine holder with the pivot pin/angle plate welded in place ...... sitting on top of another project. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[rswyan]

Re: 80\" Landscape Rake

Randy,

Thanks. Yeah, we did ok that day ...... I need to find about 4 more of those places though. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[surfran]

Re: 80\" Landscape Rake

Lookin awesome. Those dumpster dives can be hard to come by. I can't wait to see the finished product! Of course I still want to see the progress as she goes. Keep up the good work. I see you have a trailer project also. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[radair]

Re: 80\" Landscape Rake

I realize this is an old thread, but how about a photo of the finished product and an update on how well it works? Please?

 

[rswyan]

Re: 80\" Landscape Rake

Rob,

Sorry for no updated pics .... but I haven't managed to totally "finish" it yet - got sidetracked with finishing up our new driveway and putting in a polebarn (attached is pic of the pad just before they started to put it up.) I've also been trying to finish up a three point logsplitter that I actually started before the rake.

On the rake, I still have to weld on the attachment points for a hydraulic angle cylinder, the tube for the stand/foot to hold it upright when off the tractor, and get the whole thing painted.

I did however get it to the point where I could use it - I did the final grading and smoothing on the drive with it as well as cleaning up the polebarn pad. It worked great for the most part - it's plenty heavy enough that I don't need to add any weight to it. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

One thing I would do different is to weld the index plate for setting the rake angle on the bottom of the 3PH hitch assembly instead of the top. With it on the top as it is now, and with there being a little slop in the pins and holes on the index plate, the rake will pivot a couple of degrees. Ultimately it won't matter to me, since I'm going to put a hydraulic cylinder on it to control the angle.

I'll see if I can snap a photo of it in the next few days - won't be real pretty - but at least it will give some idea of what the finished product will be, when I finally do finish it.