Ratchet Rake

[joemd11]

I think I'll ask Santa for a RR. I am tired of attacking jagger bushes with my hand held loppers and coming out looking like a bear attacked me.:laughing:

 

[IslandTractor]

I think I'll ask Santa for a RR. I am tired of attacking jagger bushes with my hand held loppers and coming out looking like a bear attacked me.:laughing:

RRs are good for that type of work. Not so efficient if you have acres to clear but cleaning up around edges and getting in between trees and places where a landscape rake cannot easily go is where they excel. They complement a grapple nicely too as the grapple can get the bigger stuff and the RR can come in afterwards to clean up the ground level residual. The RR also works nicely paired with a bush hog. Hog an area to cut down the growth and then use the RR to rip up the bush stumps and briar/vines etc to get out the roots. Worked nicely for me.

I also used mine this past summer to rip out some old asphalt walkways. Was much more efficient and quick than using a backhoe. I was able to just rake the top off rather than disturb the ground underneath too. Only difficulty was that I couldn't scoop up the debris after raking it out as the RR prevents you from using the bucket to scoop as long as it is attached.

 

[CHDinCT]

The BIL will want to borrow the RR too.

He doesn't know I have it yet, and I ain't rushing to tell him. :laughing:

 

[TXCYCLE]

Island Tractor, sounds like you've used the RR quite a bit. I was going to buy the 72" for my tractor mainly to remove & scoop up prickley pear cactus. You prob. don't have a lot of cactus in RI but do you think it would work for that? They are very short rooted. Also, with the attachment I won't be able to scoop any of the pear up? Anyone using a RR for cactus please chime in as well. Thanks.

 

[IslandTractor]

Island Tractor, sounds like you've used the RR quite a bit. I was going to buy the 72" for my tractor mainly to remove & scoop up prickley pear cactus. You prob. don't have a lot of cactus in RI but do you think it would work for that? They are very short rooted. Also, with the attachment I won't be able to scoop any of the pear up? Anyone using a RR for cactus please chime in as well. Thanks.

I would think the RR would work well on a shallow rooted plant. Does well with vines and brambles.

The issue with picking up debris is easy to understand if you imagine an attachment sitting just below your cutting edge that extends two or three inches directly down. When you try to scoop up a load into the bucket you are actually digging with the RR. Look at a sideways profile of a mounted RR and you will see what I mean. The solution is either to comeback later with the plain bucket or, at the end of the clearing remove the RR and secure it to the top of the bucket to get it out of the way.

 

[TXCYCLE]

OK, that makes sense. From other things I've read on the internet about the RR I was envisioning the STRAPS from letting the loader fill which didn't make sense. BTY, went out to Watch Hill out your way a couple of years ago-beautiful place.

 

[Robert6401]

I ALSO plan to purchase the RR when I get back from this deployment overseas in order to "scrape" the cactus off of the ground. If it leaves most of the grass, thats great. If it takes it down to dirt, that's fine too as long as the cactus is gone. TXCYCLE, please let me know how well it works for you if you get one. I probably won't get mine until sometime this spring.

 

[Fixemall]

I got to use mine yesterday to grade part of one of my driveways, it worked very well for the task in reverse and left a nice level grooved surface, I can tell from the gravel performance it will definitely work great in dirt.

 

[TXCYCLE]

Robert6401-I sure will. Will try & get some pics too. I use a couple of sprays that require an applicator's liscense to buy, there is not a quick, cheap or easy way to get rid of them. Always looking for a better way. You take care of yourself-we all appreciate your service!

 

[Tact]

As I posted in another RR thread, I just picked mine up today from TSC. I bought the 72" and it was on sale for $199. I can't wait to try it.

Just a thought as I have concerns with the straps being exposed to debris and how they would hold up. Wouldn't it have been better to have the ratchet and straps exposed only to the back of the bucket, and using the two cables, one on the top and the other on the bottom, keeping the ratchet and straps in the back of the bucket and out of the way of debris? I think the cables could stand the beating much better that the ratchet and straps.