PineRidge
Super Member
Couple of weeks ago my neighbor John (JASTN70D) and I got into a discussion about the best method of leveling a gravel drive. He had been using his box blade and most of my experience was with using the landscape rake in a reversed position so that it didn't dig in. Problem was that neither method was easy since both had a tendency to move too much material and make lots of whoop-de-doos (washboard appearance).
We started scribbling some ideas on paper and we came up with an idea to add a couple of 2 X 2 hitch receivers, one on each end of a landscape rake. That way we could build a set of carriers that would accommodate the gauge wheels that are normally used on my finish mower and use them double duty. We also wanted to widen the rake by 2 foot on one side so it could be used by either my TC-40D or John's TN70D and still cover one side of the rear wheels when angled.
So today (Sunday) we got cracking and did the modification to a KingKutter landscape rake that was sitting on my lot just begging for some attention. First John drilled the extra steel needed to hold the additional tines while I welded an extra 2 foot section of angle to the rake to widen it.
Once the rake had been widened and assembled I started to mount the 2 receiver tubes while John focused on cutting and drilling the heavy steel tube that would later accept the wheel spindles.
After I finished up the receivers, John cut the 2 X 2 square tube so that I could fashion the dropped L-brackets and as I was finishing up the welding John was doing his thing cutting gussets so that we could strengthen the whole assembly.
Then it was just a matter of assembly to finish the rake off. Later in the afternoon John attached the rake to his TN to see how it would work on our drive. Our drive really takes a beating from trucks coming and going all the time and it quickly takes on a washboard appearance.
John and I were impressed with the way the rake smoothed the gravel right out and the solid foam filled gauge wheels kept the rake from being too aggressive giving a nice smooth appearance with just a few passes of the rake.
We haven't yet had the opportunity to use the rake in the reverse mode but the tubes can easily be reversed in the receivers if and when we feel the need. Now that we have had an opportunity to try the rake out we'll now throw a coat of paint on it to protect it from the elements. That is if Junk gives up another quart of that Kubota satin black that he likes to use so much on his implements. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
We started scribbling some ideas on paper and we came up with an idea to add a couple of 2 X 2 hitch receivers, one on each end of a landscape rake. That way we could build a set of carriers that would accommodate the gauge wheels that are normally used on my finish mower and use them double duty. We also wanted to widen the rake by 2 foot on one side so it could be used by either my TC-40D or John's TN70D and still cover one side of the rear wheels when angled.
So today (Sunday) we got cracking and did the modification to a KingKutter landscape rake that was sitting on my lot just begging for some attention. First John drilled the extra steel needed to hold the additional tines while I welded an extra 2 foot section of angle to the rake to widen it.
Once the rake had been widened and assembled I started to mount the 2 receiver tubes while John focused on cutting and drilling the heavy steel tube that would later accept the wheel spindles.
After I finished up the receivers, John cut the 2 X 2 square tube so that I could fashion the dropped L-brackets and as I was finishing up the welding John was doing his thing cutting gussets so that we could strengthen the whole assembly.
Then it was just a matter of assembly to finish the rake off. Later in the afternoon John attached the rake to his TN to see how it would work on our drive. Our drive really takes a beating from trucks coming and going all the time and it quickly takes on a washboard appearance.
John and I were impressed with the way the rake smoothed the gravel right out and the solid foam filled gauge wheels kept the rake from being too aggressive giving a nice smooth appearance with just a few passes of the rake.
We haven't yet had the opportunity to use the rake in the reverse mode but the tubes can easily be reversed in the receivers if and when we feel the need. Now that we have had an opportunity to try the rake out we'll now throw a coat of paint on it to protect it from the elements. That is if Junk gives up another quart of that Kubota satin black that he likes to use so much on his implements. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
