Building gauge wheels..??

[MadReferee]

I may already have, somewhere on TBN. If I get home before dark I'll see what I can do. If not it will have to wait until the weekend as the wheel assembly is stored in the CoverIt shelter behind several trailers and other assorted stuff put away for the winter.

In particular I'm interested in how much angle and how you put the angle in. I'm guessing the verticals are angle cut at the top and the horizontal is welded to them which angles the post??

Yep.

 

[Sully2]

MadRef; 3RRL and all. Mucho thanks. Ive got enough info now to get my act together to get a set built. All I need now is the material ( no biggie) and the rake itself so I know what my baseline height will be.

My "plan" is to set the wheels high enough when totally "retracted" for the rake to act as if it never had any wheels ( normal "rake" type of thing) and down to contact the ground as "Zero" and to lift the rake about "2 stops" 1-1 1/2 inch apart. ( 3 inches clearance)

Thanks a lot guys

 

[MadReferee]

Hey MadRef - Could you post the particulars for the landscape rake axle forks? In particular I'm interested in how much angle and how you put the angle in. I'm guessing the verticals are angle cut at the top and the horizontal is welded to them which angles the post??

As best as I can measure it without moving alot of stuff, somewhere between 20 and 30 degrees. It's not really that critical and only needs to keep the wheels tracking without wobbling. I would guess that 45 degrees would be too much and less than 15 not enough. My initial build was just eyeballed.

 

[Barnboy]

Here is a pic of the gage wheels i made for my rake.http://www.tractorbynet.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/2048/sort/1/cat/all/page/1

 

[HomeBrew2]

Just a couple of comments now that the dust has cleared somewhat:

For the caster shaft, I just used 1"d. rod inside a 1" pipe ... no lube. It's not like a wheel bearing, it rotates very little, in real practice. I welded the 1" pipe in one quadrant of a piece of 2" x 2" tube.

Caster forks: I just went to a store with a protractor and measured the angle. I used 30°. Tech note: from a previous TBN post, I was informed that as long as the actual caster fork (non-pivoting) is behind the pivot shaft, no "angle" is needed, ie, wheel behind pivot via horizontal plate ... therefore, no angles need be cut, but an extra piece is needed.

5/8" axle: Gee whiz, it's just an axle with virtually zero "play". I just used the cheapest grade 2 bolts that had an appropriate shoulder. What's the shear on a grade 2 bolt? ... 20K# or more? I used nylock nuts to set minimul play of the wheel ... the nuts don't move

 

[Sully2]

Here is a pic of the gage wheels i made for my rake.http://www.tractorbynet.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/2048/sort/1/cat/all/page/1

Super! SUPER!!! And the tape measure in the pics!! SUPERB!!!!! Now I can start getting materials and as soon as the snow clears buy the rake itself ( I dont think they work on snow that well.......)