ScottAR
Veteran Member
Keep watching Reg. That seller has had some pto harleys before...
Rake PTO power rake
- Thread starter joes_427_vette
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OP
joes_427_vette
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2004
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- 1,273
- Location
- Midwest
- Tractor
- IH Cub Lo Boy, 955 John Deere , TC 55 DA New Holland, Bolens HT 20 and 1456
Dave; I have a free 7' chunk of 8" well casing that has a 1/4" wall. I have a 4' piece of 1 1/2" round stock and four plasma cut 8 " discs to place inside the roller. I am cutting the round stock in half, one piece will get a key way cut into it for a drive sprocket. I priced end bearings and sprockets today and checked on a formula for ratios. I'm going with 2" x 1 1/2" teeth on the roller. 4x4 by 1/4" frame with a limited swival base. I'm not sure on the right angle drive as to what brand or ratio. I was hoping to check to see if there was any surplus units to choose from.
Again, I don't think the balance is a big deal turning so slow with resistance across the entire roller.
I'm up to 35 dollars so far for the roller ( cylinder, discs, and round stock to center the bearings. ) Alot of parts to go but 6k is a long way off.
Let me know what you find out. Between the two of us we should be able to engineer this thing piece by piece. I think 270 might be too fast. Sprocket size from top to bottom can also gear it down.
Nortec goes to 8" on the 8' models. They said Bob Cat uses 8" on their 7' units.
Again, I don't think the balance is a big deal turning so slow with resistance across the entire roller.
I'm up to 35 dollars so far for the roller ( cylinder, discs, and round stock to center the bearings. ) Alot of parts to go but 6k is a long way off.
Let me know what you find out. Between the two of us we should be able to engineer this thing piece by piece. I think 270 might be too fast. Sprocket size from top to bottom can also gear it down.
Nortec goes to 8" on the 8' models. They said Bob Cat uses 8" on their 7' units.
Thanks,
Something ODD about "That seller" - maybe ?
On the chance that they have a web site outside of e-bay I did a search for
sweepsterattachmentsllc
It got parsed as Sweepster Attachments LLC (reasonable ?)
Searching for THAT got me to....
Well, anyone interested can do the search for themselves.
I think it answers the question about how they get them and are able to sell them for what they do - with a full factory warranty.
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About building one;
IF I had a) the skills and b) the tools - - I would probably start off with the widest KK tiller I could, take the tines off the drum and figure out how to make a built up roller with studs in it - assuming I would want studs. Plates bridged across tine disks would probably do it, though the problem of bolting them in place wouldn't be easy.
I might not have the confidence to weld it up.
Maybe just replace the tine shaft with a fab'd up roller ?
That requires work on bearings and drive train - more work.
Add gauge wheels, cut back the end plates, ...what else ?
The new harley rake arrived today and I put it on the tractor and spent a couple of hours running it.
I have a road built out of wood chips from local tree services; about 12' wide, 1000' long. Two passes erased 18" ruts and made it completely smooth. The chips on top were loose; driving a tractor on it afterwards made new ruts, but since it's pretty easy to make another pass, that's ok.
I have some gravel driveway that had some lumps in it. Unfortuntely I forgot I had landscape fabric underneath it and found that it'd wrap around the roller and I had to cut it off.
Had a pile of wood chips, maybe 10 yards. I drove through it with the FEL down, and pushed the pile ahead of me with the rake behind me, and spread the whole 10 yards 6" deep in about 10 minutes. Finished surface was perfectly flat after 2 passes. First pass was good enough, but I wanted to see how long it'd take to make it flat, not a low mound.
Ran it over some rutted grass in the front pasture. Grass was lawn length, maybe 3", due to cows and sheep grazing. First pass shaved off the really tall parts and some of the turf. Second pass shaved more, and both of the first passes filled some holes. Third pass was "pasture smoooth" -- plenty good enough for pasture, and noticebly smoother from my tractor seat. Fourth pass I encountered a roll of galvanized cable that someone dropped there 40 years ago, and it wrapped around the roller good, so I had to quit for the day so I could go get my cutting torch to cut it off.
My property used to be a junkyard, so I enounter metal all the time. it windrows the metal debries (bits of chrome trim, sheet metal, leaf springs, etc) nicely.
It does not move the dirt any farther than it needs to, which is good. I've used a box blade a lot for grading, and this requires much less attention and fiddling. With a box blad I'm lowering to shave, raising to dump, circle, repeat. With the grading wheels I pretty much just drive around and it does the work.
With a box blade I created areas where I'd scraped off all the topsoil, where the grade had been highest. With this even in areas where I'd lowered the grade 6", there was still a good amount of original topsoil mixed in with the hardpan, so I believe I won't have to do as much mitigation to get the grass to grow there again.
I have a road built out of wood chips from local tree services; about 12' wide, 1000' long. Two passes erased 18" ruts and made it completely smooth. The chips on top were loose; driving a tractor on it afterwards made new ruts, but since it's pretty easy to make another pass, that's ok.
I have some gravel driveway that had some lumps in it. Unfortuntely I forgot I had landscape fabric underneath it and found that it'd wrap around the roller and I had to cut it off.
Had a pile of wood chips, maybe 10 yards. I drove through it with the FEL down, and pushed the pile ahead of me with the rake behind me, and spread the whole 10 yards 6" deep in about 10 minutes. Finished surface was perfectly flat after 2 passes. First pass was good enough, but I wanted to see how long it'd take to make it flat, not a low mound.
Ran it over some rutted grass in the front pasture. Grass was lawn length, maybe 3", due to cows and sheep grazing. First pass shaved off the really tall parts and some of the turf. Second pass shaved more, and both of the first passes filled some holes. Third pass was "pasture smoooth" -- plenty good enough for pasture, and noticebly smoother from my tractor seat. Fourth pass I encountered a roll of galvanized cable that someone dropped there 40 years ago, and it wrapped around the roller good, so I had to quit for the day so I could go get my cutting torch to cut it off.
My property used to be a junkyard, so I enounter metal all the time. it windrows the metal debries (bits of chrome trim, sheet metal, leaf springs, etc) nicely.
It does not move the dirt any farther than it needs to, which is good. I've used a box blade a lot for grading, and this requires much less attention and fiddling. With a box blad I'm lowering to shave, raising to dump, circle, repeat. With the grading wheels I pretty much just drive around and it does the work.
With a box blade I created areas where I'd scraped off all the topsoil, where the grade had been highest. With this even in areas where I'd lowered the grade 6", there was still a good amount of original topsoil mixed in with the hardpan, so I believe I won't have to do as much mitigation to get the grass to grow there again.
jsboening
Silver Member
Any pics? We all lovvvve pics!
OP
joes_427_vette
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2004
- Messages
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- Location
- Midwest
- Tractor
- IH Cub Lo Boy, 955 John Deere , TC 55 DA New Holland, Bolens HT 20 and 1456
Reg; The dealers that have the franchise to market these products don't discount them very much. They have the don't care attitude when the opportunity to sell them exists. I would think the chance to provide warranty service and parts would be in their best interest. I wonder how this company can sell a couple grand under retail unless they bought up a large dealer stock that went under. Still can't figure how they would do any warranty if you were 300 miles away. I don't know if a tiller would be a good start. Too much modifications including proper rotation speed, how to angle the roller, windrow side plates, roller distance to the lower machine surface, bearings, sprockets, chain case and the list goes on. Starting from scratch and working the problems out seems like less of a task.
Bruceki; Good to hear your transaction went smooth. Sounds like your next investment is going to be a huge electromagnet to drag around and collect metal. In a couple hours one can master the hills and valleys to look like a lawn. Great invention from simple mechanics.
Bruceki; Good to hear your transaction went smooth. Sounds like your next investment is going to be a huge electromagnet to drag around and collect metal. In a couple hours one can master the hills and valleys to look like a lawn. Great invention from simple mechanics.
Rotational speed on a tiller seems to be slow enough way out at the ends of the tines, so I would guess it wouldn't be too high on a 6 or 8 inch roller - assuming it is tip speed that matters and even then it is more likely tip speed relative to forward motion, so adjusting tractor speed might make it all work out (-:
Agreed, angling the roller would probably be the biggest hurdle if one started with the base mechanical stuff from a tiller.
I would probably try to angle the whole thing - don't know how, but it seems a serious bend in the drive shaft's U-joint would be likely for any "simple" angling solution.
Maybe 15 degrees isn't TOO bad on it's own, but that plus whatever angle results from vertical alignment might produce an unacceptable resultant angle.
Agreed, angling the roller would probably be the biggest hurdle if one started with the base mechanical stuff from a tiller.
I would probably try to angle the whole thing - don't know how, but it seems a serious bend in the drive shaft's U-joint would be likely for any "simple" angling solution.
Maybe 15 degrees isn't TOO bad on it's own, but that plus whatever angle results from vertical alignment might produce an unacceptable resultant angle.
Ductape
Elite Member
Pics? Forget pics, i want video. I grasp the concept of what power rakes do, but i've never actually seen one used. Any possibility someone could make a short video of theirs so i can need a power rake too???
ScottAR
Veteran Member
I hadn't thought much about it... so I looked...
I'd guess overstock or some such... Kinda tells you some of the markup too.
Spudland_Dave
Veteran Member
Sounds like your on you way! I was planning on starting with the framework.... Great minds must think alike because I have access to free Well Casing Pipe as well, but I was thinking it might be a bit too big... I just made another post asking what makes one rake better then another, if the drum diameter turns out to be the thing, then you can bet I'll use the 8", same goes for the RPM, if the "Better" units turn faster or slower then I'd like to match that speed as well.
-Balance, spoke with my brother and he said at that diameter and that RPM, balance is pratically a non-issue...he said the actual dirt & rocks piling up and being moved by the drum will cause more vibrations/balance issues then the drum itself, and thinking about it logically, it makes perfect sense.
-Drum Speed, all the technical info I have shows the Chain Case to run at 1:1 ratio... all the brands I've seen use the same tooth # sprocket top & bottom, so down gearing at the chaincase is not happening on retail units....Couple that with my info showing the 2:1 Right Angle drive and thats where I got my 270 figure (1/2 of 540).
-Shoot me a PM if your interested, I'm 100% certian we can work out all the "technical issues" on our own rakes...Your correct, we're a long ways off from 6500 bucks....
