Want/need a bigger/better landscape rake. Help me pick.

[EverythingAttachments]

Well I placed my order for the Severe EXtreme rake today. Now I just have to be patient and wait for it to ship and get here. Thanks to Rick and Travis at Everything Attachments as well as all the forum folks who chimed in with comments and advice.

Patience is not one of my virtues.

Why isn't it here yet?

Thanks Phil. We'll get it down there. Did I mention we're having the busiest Spring ever?
Thanks to all the EA Customers out there! :thumbsup:
Travis

 

[jenkinsph]

So I have a Land Pride LR1572 that I have been using but there are times when it doesn't do what I want it to do. This could be just in the way I am using it however.

I use it for two things. Raking up the loose rock that magically appears in the driveway (~0.45 miles) as well as other areas of the property and then tidying up a portion of the road leading up to our area. This "road" is really a wash (or arroyo) and when we get heavy rains it often runs with water cutting little channels and spreading rock in it.

The roads (and my driveway) here are all native material. Which is to say no base course and no gravel other than what occurs naturally. A grader comes through twice a year to blade the roads and whenever a road gets so tore up by runoff that it can't be used. Some pics for clarity.

Entering the wash.
View attachment 464179
At our turnoff.
View attachment 464180

A week later cleaned up with the rake.
View attachment 464181

The problem is that while a 72" rake angled 30 deg still covers the width of the tires (60") at a 45 deg angle it is now ~10" shy of covering the tires. With the sheer amount of rock to be moved off I need to run at a 45 which means I can't get as close to the road/driveway edge as I would like. At a 30 deg it is just barely outside the edge of the tires. This leads to my driveway getting narrower.

View attachment 464182 View attachment 464183

I'm thinking of going to a 84" rake which would give me 59.4" at full angle and would be close enough to covering the tires. Am looking at the EA XTreme Duty Compact Tractor Landscape Rake which has the forward pivot and would allow me to offset and get outside the edge of the tires on one side. With the offsetting rake I could potentially stay with a 72 or even a 60 inch rake. Or maybe go with an 84" anyways. I do plan on picking up the gage wheels in any case so that when I do clean up the sandy road I don't end up with all the little whoops in it.

Is the 84" rake just too much rake for my little tractor especially given that is used to move rock primarily?

Phil,
The new landscape rake should help, hope you can get it soon.

Another suggestion and what I have done on some of these roads is use a rock bucket to gather the large rock leaving the smaller stuff in place. Since there is a lot of piles of usable gravel or fractured rock along the edges you might gather some of this in piles with the fel bucket and screen it with a rock bucket tossing out the larger stuff. Then spread the smaller rock on the road.

I would start on your property first and work my way down to the shared road. This will take some time but is something you can do at your own pace. There is a lot of material to work with, you need a way to sort out the bigger rocks. A rock bucket with 2" space between the tines will work when the ground is dry (which is 10 months out of the year) and allow the smaller rock and fines to fall through.

If you have a ssqa fel I can lend you my 66" rock bucket to try out. Pictured below. Mine has 3 inch spacing but that would help reduce the amount of large rock to fight with the landscape rake. I also have a 4 ft lpgs you could try out to smooth the road over after raking. That might help you figure out the best way to resolve your road problems and I could lend them to you for two months as I have other work to do right now.

 

[pwright]

Another suggestion and what I have done on some of these roads is use a rock bucket to gather the large rock leaving the smaller stuff in place. Since there is a lot of piles of usable gravel or fractured rock along the edges you might gather some of this in piles with the fel bucket and screen it with a rock bucket tossing out the larger stuff. Then spread the smaller rock on the road.

That's my next goal. When I get the larger rake in I'll be able to windrow it down the middle of the road and then come along with a rock bucket to scoop out the bigger pieces. Once screened as best as can be done with the rock bucket spread it out again with the rack.

A rock bucket with 2" space between the tines will work when the ground is dry (which is 10 months out of the year) and allow the smaller rock and fines to fall through.

Yeah I've been wanting a rock bucket for at least as long as I've wanted a better rake. I just hate ordering stuff like implements online and then waiting for weeks for what I've already paid for to get to me. Once something crosses the $200 or so threshold I want to touch it before I hand over the money. I kept hoping I would run across one or the other at an auction or on Craigslist but never found any. Every place I stopped at around the state with implements only had the low end implements and wanted full retail money up front for the privilege of ordering something better for me. So I waffled and kept delaying until I finally just didn't want to wait any longer.

If you have a ssqa fel I can lend you my 66" rock bucket to try out. I also have a 4 ft lpgs you could try out to smooth the road over after raking. That might help you figure out the best way to resolve your road problems and I could lend them to you for two months as I have other work to do right now.

Thanks Steve. I really appreciate the offer. One of my neighbors just got an ssqa 72" rock bucket and though a bit big for my tractor I'm going to borrow his and see what I can do with it. I may want to take you up on the LPGS however as I've been wanting to see if one of those could be useful here on roads/driveways with only native material.

I also keep hoping I'll run across some old, used crusher screen that I could use to screen my own gravel out of the washes but so far no luck.

 

[BufordBoone]

I have the EA Severe Duty Landscape rake. Buy with confidence.

FYI, don't expect the tines to all remain straight. This is true for any rake that gets used. I had minor bending, sent EA an email and they advised that they thought it not unusual but were willing to send me three free tines if I paid shipping.

I declined as I don't think their rake to be defective, at all.

I showed the same photos to a friend that has more tractor experience and he said "Any rake that is actually used will have minor (1-2") bending of tines. Let me know if you ever see one that doesn't".

So, even though they didn't have to, EA offered to send me three free tines. What a great company!

 

[sdef]

pwrite: It sounds like to have the right equipment available and a good plan. I had similar but my soil would not allow me to be as productive as you may be and was far more laborious than expected. Now it will just take time.

 

[pwright]

Buford - Thanks for the words of assurance. I'm sure the rake will be great and given that I haven't managed to tear up the little Land Pride rake I'll probably never hurt the EA rake even a little.

sdef - Time I got. After buying the rake it will be mac-n-cheese for dinner for a while though. lol May have to stop eating entirely in order to get a nice back blade.

 

[BufordBoone]

I've recently used my EA Severe Duty Landscape Rake a lot and bent a lot of tines.

As surprised as I was at how easily I bent them, I was also surprised at how easy it was to straighten them back. I used a small section of square tubing I had laying in the scrap pile.

I think tines should just be expected to bend. When they do, bend them back.

I'm very happy with my EA rake. I think it was a good purchase. I'm also happy with their Customer Support.

Had I accepted the free tines they offered, I'd feel very guilty right now.

 

[pwright]

Got my rake in and made a new thread to show it off in.

See new rake here.