Rake Using landscape rake...backwards

[raykos]

Hello all,

Because of the recent ice storm here(central Pa.) I have more than the usual amount of twigs & branches down. Usually I hook up my landscape rake(from Tractor Supply) to my 3pt hitch and go around raking up twigs & branches; of course this means the tractor must first go over the twigs & branches and then the rake gets them.

However, these branches are a little bigger than usual, so I was thinking of turning the rake around and going backwards; that way the rake gets the branches first and gets them out of the way of the tractor(JD 2305). Yes, I know I could probably just go around and pick up the biggest ones and rake normally...but that's no fun!

So, has anyone ever used a landscape rake going backwards? What are are possible do's and don'ts?

Thanks,
Ray

 

[greg_g]

No problem, I do it quite often. There's a lot of run-off slashes on my 30 acres of hillside. When I rake and row debris - in forward gears of course - I'll often pull the windrows right up to the verge. When it's all staged, I'll index the rake to 180 degrees, and shove all the stuff backwards into the depressions. Helps stave off erosion, and is quicker than standing around waiting till it's safe to leave a burn pile.

One thing though, you might have to adjust the toplink somewhat when the rake is indexed in reverse.

//greg//