Rocks and rocks

[johnnylight]

I been at it for the past year trying to get rid of these rocks on 3.7 acres.
For the past 4 months am using the Landpride 1572 rake the rake pick up the big rocks, but the 1 to 2 " rocks are killing me.
even after one area is clear the rain always turns up more rocks.

My question how do I get rid of these rocks?

Is there another attachment I need to buy?

sorry one more diff subject --I have a Landpride fdr 1672 mower how many rpms do i need to run it at it's best?

Thanks

 

[sandman2234]

Do what everybody else is doing, move to Florida where we have nothing but sand...
Just kidding!!!

Daddy had a rock problem on his property in SW Arkansas, and he cured it by buying a 10 year old pickup and putting his two teenage sons to work on the project. Makes my back hurt just thinking about it. Did get to learn to drive a stickshift. Plus the truck had one of those funny buttons on the floor that you stepped on to engage the starter (remember those???)
1958 GMC pickup.

 

[Egon]

There are commercial made rockpickers of varying size. Others have made forks for their buckets spaced to pick up rocks.

 

[rixtory]

I have my 5 year old son and teh neighbor boys all come down for an hour a day and fill buckets which I then take a dump. They get a dollar or 2 for every 5 gallon bucket and can use it to buy toys. Has worked great so far - at least 35-40 buckets of rocks so far and the ne lawn is really starting to look good.

 

[Dmace]

Fence in the area and get a couple of pigs. In about 2-3 years they will push all the rocks to a pile and grub up the rest of the area. They are great workers and will move some large rocks.

 

[johnnylight]

I guess I'll get back out there -and keep at it.
Trying to look for a easy way..
35HP and I still can't get rid of these rocks

 

[RonMar]

Does your rake have an adjustable angle? If so, you might try running it at an angle to try and windrow the rocks and other debris. This will at least make them easier to pick up as you can use a shovel into a bucket or the loader. If you are good with the FEL, you might even be able to pick up a bunch of these rows with the loader bucket without getting too much soil. These bucket loads you could dump over a sifter/separator(search the forum, there are many threads on homemade sifters) to reclaim what little bit of dirt you do pick up in the bucket.

Do you have gauge wheels on your rake? If not I would reccomend adding them. This will keep the tines from going too deep into the soil. The more you disturb the soil, the more rocks are brought to the surface. You want to remove the ones on the surface without disturbing the soil.

As for your mower question, most PTO driven mowers are geared such that the proper blade tip speed is achieved at rated PTO RPM. Different tractors have different specs but there should be a mark on your tachometer to indicate the required engine RPM to get the rated PTO RPM

 

[JJT]

I guess I'll get back out there -and keep at it.
Trying to look for a easy way..
35HP and I still can't get rid of these rocks

The easy way - buy enough screened topsoil to bury the existing rocks. Sorry, I couldn't resist....

I enlisted my kids, but after a few hours spread over a week or two they lost interest, even though I was paying by the bucket. I winrowed mine out and then used a manure fork, (tines spaced less than an inch apart), to shovel/scoop up the winrows.

 

[johnnylight]

Thanks RonMar,

I'll try the angle and your right The TC34DA has a mark it's on 20 RPM
I was thinking about adding some wire mesh screen type to get the smaller rocks. I like your wheel add on idea, I'll have to look into buying one.

Oh JJT,
I did buy top soil about a 100 yds filled alot of areas plus.
Too many @#$#$$% rocks

 

[dirtworksequip]

johnny, rent yourself a track skidsteer with a rockhound. It will mechanically pick the rocks leaving behind the soil. It also dumps what you have collected.It will solve your problem. After getting the rocks picked up seed and mulch the area immediately thus preventing the topsoil from getting washed away when it rains. I know you want to use your tractor to do this job, but sometimes the tractor with rake is just not enough.