Landscape rake angled use...how often.

[AGTtactical]

Curious how often you guys use your landscape rake in an angled position...most of the time? 50 percent? Never?

What angle do you use the most?

 

[McCaskey]

Angled stress on the tines tends to break them, especially angled when turning.
Best to lift rake in a turn. Steel tines take a long time to decompose

 

[oldnslo]

Mine is angled whenever I use it to level the driveway. May be kidding myself but I believe it helps keep the crown on the drive vs having it straight

I only angle to the first hole so guessing around 15 - 20 degrees

This is a 6 ft woods with gauge wheels

 

[AGTtactical]

Angled stress on the tines tends to break them, especially angled when turning.
Best to lift rake in a turn. Steel tines take a long time to decompose

Thanks guys...anyone angle it at 45 degrees without problems? I'd like to be able to pull in gravel with it...if I can't angle it at 45 degrees, then I don't need as wide a rake.

 

[CADplans]

My rake would not angle as much as I wanted,,,

so,, I drilled extra holes to increase the rotation angle,,

 

[AGTtactical]

Nice...how far does it angle now roughly?

 

[CADplans]

Nice...how far does it angle now roughly?

I never measured the angle,, but, even before I increased the angle,, it would windrow rocks beautifully,,,

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Think about it.:scratchchin: Do you think that most of the implement manufactures would build the rakes to angle to 45* if there were problems?:confused2: I sort of doubt it. ETA's rake goes to 45*, get the 8 footer and be happy.

Just my :2cents:

 

[AGTtactical]

Think about it.:scratchchin: Do you think that most of the implement manufactures would build the rakes to angle to 45* if there were problems?:confused2: I sort of doubt it. ETA's rake goes to 45*, get the 8 footer and be happy.

Yeah Brian, I did think of that. But I wasn't the one who just posted that if you angle a rake, you would break tines. Maybe it is the quality of the tines in his case. Or maybe it happens to others too...have you used a rake with it angled at 45 degrees consistently and NOT bent tines?

I recently bought a high quality grapple from a famous farm implement company...I thought it didn't look like it had adequate gussets, but I was assured by them that their AR400 steel would never bend. After 10 hours of light use, I had 3 bent teeth. I would have thought that a company wouldn't sell a grapple with teeth that bend so easily, but they did.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Well, yeah Brian, I did think of that. But I wasn't the one who just posted that if you angle a rake, you would bend tines.

I recently bought a high quality grapple. I thought it didn't look like it had adequate gussets, but I was assured by them that their AR400 steel would never bend. After 10 hours of light use, I had 3 bent teeth.

This is true, you did not post about the tines breaking. My point was that about every implement manufacturer that builds landscape rakes builds the units to angle 45*. If breaking tines was a problem due to operating at steeper angles, don't you think that they would not build the units to angle that far?

Did the dealer back up the grapple bending, or what was their response?

I have also found that it is very common for people to use their implements in an unintended way. Good or bad, if the implement is not engineered to be used in a way that some might do so, then some sort of failure should not be unexpected.

Good luck with your ultimate decision.

 

[AGTtactical]

The manufacturer did fix it, and they also reinforced it for me, which was very good of them. I imagine there will a modification to it going forward to prevent such a thing. The upper jaw teeth, which are smaller and weaker, never bent because there is a reinforcing bar along the top. It was only the lower jaw with the big heavy teeth that bent, almost certainly because it lacked reinforcement like the upper jaw. Its a good unit over all ...cylinders are well protected, and you can tilt the jaw forward and touch the ground with the upper jaw first if you need to grab something next to an obstacle, like a tree (i.e. pull it back and grab, vice pushing it into the jaws). A simple bar like the one on the top jaw would make it perfect.

Yes, it is "very common for people to use their implements in an unintended way." But I think you can tell from the nature of my questions that I'm not one of those, or try very hard not to be. I flew fighters in the Marine Corps, and general aviation aircraft as a civilian, for 30+ years. That occupation teaches you to do things correctly...those that don't die. It's an unforgiving profession...pilots have the 3rd highest mortality rate of any profession, after loggers and king crab fishermen.

Anyhow, glad to hear your opinion on the matter. Have you used a rake personally with it angled at 45 degrees for many hours of use?

 

[GRTkub]

Curious how often you guys use your landscape rake in an angled position...most of the time? 50 percent? Never?

What angle do you use the most?

The one implement I use the most is my landscape rake. I have a 5 ft Woods rake with gauge wheels. I used it on a BX25 for 9 years and now I use it on a B2650. I use this rake to maintain my gravel boat launch, 1/4 mile of driveway and more than a mile of gravel road. The road has lots of boulders buried and angling the rake pushes the ones I dig up off to the sides. I have hundreds of hours on the rake and more than 50% of the time it is at max angle left or right. I am not near the rake right now so I can't tell you the exact angle. I can tell you that I have never broken a tine but I have never used it without the gauge wheels. I have bent the gauge wheel mounts by backing into a tree but I've always been able to straighten then out. I'm putting wheel spacers on the B2650 so the 5 ft rake is not going to be wide enough for this tractor when angled. I'll be looking for a 6 footer sometime in the future.

 

[AGTtactical]

Thank you GRTkub. Very helpful and detailed info, particularly that you find your rake the most useful, as I suspect it will be for me.

Is this your rake? Product Details
Very nice.

Looks like it angles at 0, 15, and 30 degrees, left and right (5 positions every 15).
https://www.woodsequipment.com/files/products/Manuals/MAN1047.pdf

 

[Fallon]

rfect.
Yes, it is "very common for people to use their implements in an unintended way." But I think you can tell from the nature of my questions that I'm not one of those. I flew fighters in the Marine Corps, and general aviation aircraft as a civilian, for 30+ years. That occupation teaches you to do things correctly...those that don't die. It's an unforgiving profession...pilots have the 3rd highest mortality rate of any profession, after loggers and king crab fishermen.

Anyhow, glad to hear your opinion on the matter. Have you used a rake personally with it angled at 45 degrees for many hours of use?

Misusing tractor impliments at worst tends to mean replacing the impliment, or more commonly a little bit of welding to fix things. Different penalties for failure by many orders of magnitude. A much lesser penalty for operators & manufacturers means much less concern.

 

[GRTkub]

That's it but mine is an older version. I think you are right about the angles. Max angle on mine worked fine for my purposes. I had to dig around but I found a picture. I bought used gauge wheels and adapted them to the Woods mounts.

 

[AGTtactical]

Thanks for the pics. Looks brand new!

 

[GRTkub]

Thanks for the pics. Looks brand new!

It did back in 2010. I painted over the woods yellow with Kubota orange. Today it is faded pink and rust colored. I actually have it disassembled and cleaned up in my garage at home waiting for me to paint it when we get home. It'll look good again.

 

[LouNY]

The manufacturer did fix it, and they also reinforced it for me, which was very good of them. I imagine there will a modification to it going forward to prevent such a thing. The upper jaw teeth, which are smaller and weaker, never bent because there is a reinforcing bar along the top. It was only the lower jaw with the big heavy teeth that bent, almost certainly because it lacked reinforcement like the upper jaw. Its a good unit over all ...cylinders are well protected, and you can tilt the jaw forward and touch the ground with the upper jaw first if you need to grab something next to an obstacle, like a tree (i.e. pull it back and grab, vice pushing it into the jaws). A simple bar like the one on the top jaw would make it perfect.

Yes, it is "very common for people to use their implements in an unintended way." But I think you can tell from the nature of my questions that I'm not one of those, or try very hard not to be. I flew fighters in the Marine Corps, and general aviation aircraft as a civilian, for 30+ years. That occupation teaches you to do things correctly...those that don't die. It's an unforgiving profession...pilots have the 3rd highest mortality rate of any profession, after loggers and king crab fishermen.

Anyhow, glad to hear your opinion on the matter. Have you used a rake personally with it angled at 45 degrees for many hours of use?

Oh heck an officer :laughing:
Marine Air Wing 70-74
A-4s Avionics IMA mostly line with VMA-211 :thumbsup:

 

[AGTtactical]

Awesome Lou! So you were in Avi where the smart guys hung out. Flew TA-4Js in VT-86 ages ago.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

The manufacturer did fix it, and they also reinforced it for me, which was very good of them. I imagine there will a modification to it going forward to prevent such a thing. The upper jaw teeth, which are smaller and weaker, never bent because there is a reinforcing bar along the top. It was only the lower jaw with the big heavy teeth that bent, almost certainly because it lacked reinforcement like the upper jaw. Its a good unit over all ...cylinders are well protected, and you can tilt the jaw forward and touch the ground with the upper jaw first if you need to grab something next to an obstacle, like a tree (i.e. pull it back and grab, vice pushing it into the jaws). A simple bar like the one on the top jaw would make it perfect.

Yes, it is "very common for people to use their implements in an unintended way." But I think you can tell from the nature of my questions that I'm not one of those, or try very hard not to be. I flew fighters in the Marine Corps, and general aviation aircraft as a civilian, for 30+ years. That occupation teaches you to do things correctly...those that don't die. It's an unforgiving profession...pilots have the 3rd highest mortality rate of any profession, after loggers and king crab fishermen.

Anyhow, glad to hear your opinion on the matter. Have you used a rake personally with it angled at 45 degrees for many hours of use?

Yes and no. :confused2: My main use of my landscape rake is not for road use, but for grooming the edges of my dry creeks. The tines bend a lot conforming to the varying terrain along the edges pulling almost a cubic yard of material along. They have always sprung back to the original shape once the load has been relieved. Spring steel does that you know. :thumbsup:

Because I do use my rake intentionally not how it was intended to be used or as severe as it is used, I have made modifications to it to deal with the load stresses put on it. One thing has lead to another and I now need to build a replacement hitch that won't bend. When I'm done who knows when, it should be close to the quality of the ETA unit you are going to be purchasing as well as having offset and angle hydraulic functions similar to those of the ETA unit.

I have been thinking, since you don't have a loader on the L6060, do you have front weights? You will need some weight up there when you start offsetting that rake.