has anyone ever widened a landscape rake? and best placement for gauge wheels?

[disney]

Greetings. not a lot of used attachments in my area, but I found a decent and reasonably priced 6ft rake, wondering if anyone has ever extended/ widened theirs? I can cut/ weld/ & drill/punch holes with no issues. I understand that it would place increased 'leverage' on the main angle iron beam, but it would not cost much to widen it, and my tractor is already over 6ft wide. I am not really worried about not being able to spin it around, unless a lot of people find it useful to run it backwards, and even then I could just unhook, spin, and re-hook.

also I had previously picked up a pair of gauge arms&wheels for a rake, and wanted to know if there is an ideal place/ spacing for the wheels? i.e. 1ft from each end, or just a certain distance apart, almost regardless of rake size?

thanks to all who offer advice & experience. and yes if I ever see a heavy duty 7 or 8 ft that can offset at a reasonable price, I will add that to the fleet and sell this one.

 

[RjCorazza]

I cut down a 7' rake years ago to 6'. Not sure how you would widen one without a donor, but I'm sure it's possible.
I still had about 6" of rake past the gauge wheels, so they were a foot in on a seven foot rake. I doubt it makes much, if any difference.

 

[scootr]

I don't see a problem with adding 6" to each end of the rake. I added a cylinder to my 7 ft rake to change the angle from the seat. Been helpful as I mostly rake rocks or leaves into a big windrow for removal.

 

[nyone]

The light duty rakes are hardly even up to the duty of raking idk if I would widen one with out making it stronger.

My TSC rake had a big twist in the C channel that holds the teeth. It's really a design flaw with alot of light duty rakes but also easy to fix.

I have also found that for my needs removing every other tooth and keeping a 100lb suitcase weight on the pivot point really helps it rake better and not act like a back blade.

 

[scootr]

I guess I assumed OP had a descent implement not Chinese crap that twisted up under normal use... remember it's a rake. If you need a shovel don't use a rake.