Rake How effective are rakes?

[2549]

Simple question.

I just bought 4 acres that the previous owner started to clear. I've since bush hogged it and have started cutting up several of the other storm damaged trees. I've got a lot of debris remaining. Be it tree roots, twigs, sapling scraps, grassy leftovers, etc. I'd like to just push it all into one large burn pile. I just don't know how effective these rakes are. Most of the threads in the attachments forum are people using it for finish grading after seeding or driveway maintenance. I'd appreciate any insight.

Land info... 417 feet square. Sits on a ridge line between two hilltops. 10 to 15 feet drop in elevation from the center of the property to the sides. Some ruts in the soil from the heavy equipment the previous owner used to partially clear the land. Rocky. Several large rocks breaking the surface of the ground.

Tractor info... JD 790. 2005 model with 350 hours on the clock. 2WD with turf tires. No implements other than the bush hog.

 

[MarkV]

I am thinking you are talking about a landscape rake which sometimes is called a York rake. They will help gather twigs and other clearing scraps. It may take multiple passes if you are trying to get to seed bed quality. They are not for raking leaves on a finished lawn. I found the addition of gauge wheels to make mine more effective.

I have to ask though, in your land info you say you are dealing with "417 feet square", your not talking square feet are you? If so I would use a hand rake. Our bedroom is a bit bigger than that.

MarkV

 

[Verticaltrx]

A landscape rake works well at what you describe. It will take a while to rake all that up, but it is the tool for the job. I just did 2ac last spring that had been cleared and it took me a day or so. Got up about 20-tons of various size rock, lots of roots, etc. After all that was cleaned up I disced it and planted. I'm using a Leinbach 6' landscape rake behind my B3200 Kubota and it works well, but it is 4wd (sometimes needed with the rake.)

 

[XSKIER]

I use a 5' countyline landscape rake from TSC. It is REALLY light duty. It is pulled with my JD 425 lawn tractor and I've managed to tweak the rake bar where it swivels in the frame. I'll take some pics and post them when I have it mounted next time.

However, it REALLY takes the work out of cleaning up brushy debris. One suggestion is to have a helper standing by at your destination to remove the branches that get stuck in between the tines. Otherwise you really get a work out doing it yourself.

 

[ninefinger]

I do not know how easily a high dollar name band rake will bend/tweek but I have an old rake that is pretty well built that I did tweek. I have since made it bulletproof with a full length piece of 2"x2"x1/4". Not saying I could not bend it but I would have to do something really stupid to bend it. Some angle movement was lost because of the welding of the 2x2 but nothing that I really miss or even used. Sounds as though you need a quality rake or one that you can at least beef up.

 

[magicheater]

Simple question.

I just bought 4 acres that the previous owner started to clear. I've since bush hogged it and have started cutting up several of the other storm damaged trees. I've got a lot of debris remaining. Be it tree roots, twigs, sapling scraps, grassy leftovers, etc. I'd like to just push it all into one large burn pile. I just don't know how effective these rakes are. Most of the threads in the attachments forum are people using it for finish grading after seeding or driveway maintenance. I'd appreciate any insight.

Land info... 417 feet square. Sits on a ridge line between two hilltops. 10 to 15 feet drop in elevation from the center of the property to the sides. Some ruts in the soil from the heavy equipment the previous owner used to partially clear the land. Rocky. Several large rocks breaking the surface of the ground.

Tractor info... JD 790. 2005 model with 350 hours on the clock. 2WD with turf tires. No implements other than the bush hog.

Does your tractor have a loader? 3PT Rakes normally only engage loose material. If you aim is to remove roots in the ground and the like they may be lacking. Having a loader would give you more options with the correct attachment.

 

[foggy1111]

I've got a Ford Industrial Landscape rake from the 60's - a real oldie but goodie. The tines seem bullet proof. I've used mine to rake newly cleared land and its a time and back-saver. Biggest problem is cleaning the debris from between the tines. I've never seen a need for wheels as some have said.

I think mine is a seven footer....and before my current tractor I used it with a JD 790 - like yours.
I like it for grooming our roads and trails. Even does a pretty fair job at leveling dirt after discing and tilling on my sandy soils.

When used in heavy debris.....it will gather large loads of material and pull it into a pile....but some will pass through. I normally need to make 3 or 4 passes on heavy debris to get a good clean up....but I go pretty fast and furious and my land is pretty rough.

The landscape rake is not an essential tool to me.....but I only have $200 invested in mine.....and it has saved lots of hand work.

 

[2549]

No loader. I may have misled some saying tree roots. The debris I'm talking about is all loose surface debris. Most of the threads on this forum regarding rakes are for people grading gravel drives, smoothing newly seeded plots, etc. Before I pull the trigger on one I just wanted to make see how efficient they are at collecting debris.

Reinforcing the tines with some angle iron sounds like a good idea. I'm sure to snag a good size rock or two. All in all, sounds like I was hoping. I don't expect it to be 100% perfect. Some pass through is expected. Some. I just wanted to make sure that it would gather and collect loose debris and not just pass everything through.

Thanks for the responses. Keep 'em coming if you've got anything else. I reckon I'll pick one up.

 

[old fool]

I just bought a rake from Everythingattachments.com. No problem ordering it. The price included shipping to a freight forwarder about 30 minutes away. It came on a pallet. The forwarder loaded it in the back of my one ton. At home had no trouble getting it out of PU with my BX25, a chain and the front loader. Only assembly was attaching wheels. Some of their welding mistakes made that harder than it should have been but I got it together. Then I tried to use it. Still donʼt know it it was me, the rake, or the 3 point but every time the rake would get little load of roots and junk, the tines would dig deeper. The deeper they went the more junk they collected. The more they collected the deeper they went etc., etc., etc. When I raised the 3 point a little the whole thing would spring up and drop most of the load. That is one problem. The other is the design of the wheels. If you look at a picture of a yellow York rake you will see that the vertical shaft that the wheel turns on, comes down almost in front of the wheel. It has no choice but to caster. The vertical shaft on the Everything rake comes down almost on top of the wheel. The axil is only a couple inches behind the vertical shaft. You try to make a turn, the wheel stays turned when you straighten out and then plows a nice half moon furrow down each side of the rake as you move forward. I sent an email asking if there was something I was doing wrong. I got an email saying that they got my email. Then nothing. I donʼt know if their policy is youʼve got the problem but weʼve got your money or if they knew there was a problem but didnʼt know how to fix it. Iʼm having a triangle welded to each side of the wheel bracket and mounting the axil an additional six inches behind the vertical shaft. I expect that problem will be fixed. Still donʼt know about the other one. Maybe I just need more practice. To dig up the roots I mounted my box blade leaning way forward, (hydraulic top link would have helped) extended the scarifiers, and drove around trolling for roots and rocks. Didnʼt get any trophies but did get a few keepers. One rock was about 200 lbs so I kept it in the bucket for added front traction. Who ever said it, you are right. It seems that most people just use their rake to spread gravel on the driveway.

 

[ragkar]

Many rakes, like my York rake, have options which really help.

Wheels - These are a real help when the area includes ruts.

Scarfer - The times will likely ride over half buried three inch rocks. A scarfer will scratch these rocks up and then the times will pull them along.

Blade drop down - I generally found this useless. But last year I dumped some gravel on the shoulders of my 600 ft drive and then used the rake tines to level it. I was having difficulty until I tried dropping that blade. To my delight the combined blade, tines and wheels leveled out the gravel in a single pass.

 

[dex3361]

I used and bent a TSC landscape rake so make sure and get a stout one. That aside they do a good job of raking up loose debris and rock. If the rake picks up to much soil you can remove every other tine to get mostly big stuff then add the tines back in to get the fines. This was a recommendation that I read here on TBN. Lots of good advice to be found here on TBN.:thumbsup:

 

[Small farm guy]

I have been slowly clearing and converting 11 overgrown creek bottom acres into pasture land the past 2 years. I have been doing the exact type of cleaning you are looking at. I have a 6 foot york rake (Bush hog brand). It does a good job of snagging and dragging limbs and cut brush and junk. I also used it today as a poor man's cultipacker. I tilled the garden yesterday to prep for planting the fall garden. Tiller does a great job but the soil is too fluffy for planting. I read on here somewhere to turn the tines around backward and drag the tilled area. Sure enough, it made a nice firm planting bed and also levelled out any ridges the tiller left. Thanks for the tip, whoever it was on TBN!

Joel

 

[XSKIER]

Here is couple of pictures of my rake setup. The first shows the nice tweak I've developed in the last three months. Upon further inspection it looks as though the rake bar is still straight, but the frame itself has the tweak.

I fell a long since dead tree into the road, and of course it exploded on impact. I needed to get the road cleared quickly, so I used the rake to pull all of the twigs into my driveway. Now I could pick them up without having to fear getting run over by a car. Normally I just drag the twigs to a burn pile, turn around, and "doze" them into the pile by backing up. I think this is what you're trying to do.

 

[DwightD123]

I just got a rake this weekend. I may have expected too much but was a bit dissapointed in the job it did. Lots of limbs gettng snagged in the tines and seemed like it took several passes to get a good cleanup. Maybe I need to practice some more or adjust differently..time will tell. I was going to order one from Everything Attachments but they sure didn't want to take the time to sell me one so I just went down to TSC and got one there. Seems pretty sturdy but I am sure I will break or bend something...I just do that. All in all it seems like a good landscaping tool and maybe with some practice I will be more happy with it as a cleanup tool.

 

[2manyrocks]

Don't expect the same finish job you'd get from hand raking. If you had to pick up a bunch of limbs by hand, you'd quickly develop an appreciation for your tractor rake even though it's not 100% tidy. I used mine to clean up an area that had been logged, and the rake broke the ground up enough that I was able to seed it and get a good stand of grass growing pretty quickly. I think you'll be pleased if you give it a chance.

 

[jmc]

The other is the design of the wheels. If you look at a picture of a yellow York rake you will see that the vertical shaft that the wheel turns on, comes down almost in front of the wheel. It has no choice but to caster. The vertical shaft on the Everything rake comes down almost on top of the wheel. The axil is only a couple inches behind the vertical shaft. You try to make a turn, the wheel stays turned when you straighten out and then plows a nice half moon furrow down each side of the rake as you move forward.

Off topic but that sounds like my Woods brushbull. One thing that helped is keeping that pivot shafted lubed. Still, it looks like it needs more castor.

 

[rambler]

I just got a rake this weekend. I may have expected too much but was a bit dissapointed in the job it did. Lots of limbs gettng snagged in the tines and seemed like it took several passes to get a good cleanup. Maybe I need to practice some more or adjust differently..time will tell. I was going to order one from Everything Attachments but they sure didn't want to take the time to sell me one so I just went down to TSC and got one there. Seems pretty sturdy but I am sure I will break or bend something...I just do that. All in all it seems like a good landscaping tool and maybe with some practice I will be more happy with it as a cleanup tool.

Just the nature of the beast. If you go do it by hand, you will go back to appreciating what the rake actually is doing for you....

If you hand rake it, look how often one has to pull the rake over an area to get it cleaned up. You have to stop often to load away the debris that piles up.

Same with a 3pt landscape rake - it is doing a lot, even if it seems slow & it jams up with debris a lot and it doesn't do a perfect job of cleannig up.

It's still getting the job done. Just don't expect perfection on the first pass - or even the 5th pass. Cleanup is messy & imperfect, but better than doing it by hand.

They do tend to jam up with longer sticks and roots.

--->Paul

 

[nickel plate]

I have to ask though, in your land info you say you are dealing with "417 feet square", your not talking square feet are you? If so I would use a hand rake. Our bedroom is a bit bigger than that.

MarkV

As it is written and given that one acre = 43,560 square feet:
417' x 417' = 173,889sf divided by 43,560sf = 3.99 acres.

 

[MarkV]

As it is written and given that one acre = 43,560 square feet:
417' x 417' = 173,889sf divided by 43,560sf = 3.99 acres.

Thanks, I got it now. Never heard it put that way before.

MarkV

 

[bjr]

I've a 6' KK rake and I use it for tumble weeds a other weeds and keep getting a lot of dirt mixed in the mess. The dirt filled weed pile was very hard to get the weed separated from. I kept playing with the top link to get the rake angle to sort of float over the dirt surface and still collect the loose weeds. My two cents is to play with forward to back tilt the top link provides and see if that helps. bjr