Landscape Rake, need opinion !

[Scrambler82]

I'm thinking on buying a Landscape Rake.
Looking at the "Tarter 6 Foot Landscape Rake 200 Series !

Wondering if anyone had a comment, please feel free !

Thanks
GOD Bless

 

[Thomas]

Check out York rake with drop down grader blade.

 

[Sportsman762]

The Tarter / King Kutter / Countyline rakes are all economy rakes. York rakes are considered the best of the best they are built heavier and have more options.

York Rakes, Dethatchers & Landscape Equipment | York Modern Corp.

York Rakes, Dethatchers, Rotary Brooms, & other landscape equipment are some of the most integral designs on the market. We build our equipment to last and back it with service.

www.yorkmodern.com

Not sure what your doing so it makes it hard to provide advice. Economy rakes could work for a low volume user or one doing light duty activities such as windrowing river rock in loose dirt. But if your using it on miles of roads then a york might be better.

Same can be said for options. Gauge wheels are common options as they help reduce undulations. Scarifiers, or drop down grader blades are less common options and only available on the HD rakes.

 

[steve tym]

I had an economy rake (different brand) and used it about 1200' (yes, I measured it). It was bent like a smiley face and some of the tines were bent like they didn't make them out of spring steel. The manufacturer said I put too much down pressure on it (I can't control that, it's a gravity thing). They refused to warranty my brand new $1,200 rake. I threatened the dealer I would never do business with them again if they didn't take it back, they did and I felt bad for them. Replaced it with a land pride I paid four times as much for. If the dealer hadn't taken it back, I would been stuck with $1200 in scrap iron.

 

[chris the wrench]

Reviving this thread.

I need a rake for cleaning up pine needles and small sticks. I don't need it for dirt, rock or soil work. Our property is not level and not a consistent pitch(lots of dips and rises). Would the tractor supply $800 rake work, or will i be cussing that purchase. Perhaps adding some gauge wheels…

 

[oldnslo]

If doing pine needles and small branches a pine needle rake may be a better choice than landscape rake.

 

[rScotty]

Reviving this thread.

I have a Woods Landscape Rake with gauge wheels and the flip down grader blade. This is the heavily built one, and is solid quality. Only problem with it is so far I haven't found anything it will do well - but I bought it used for such a good deal I keep trying. l did loan it out to a guy trying to improve his roping arena & he didn't find it useful either. There has got to be something it is good for, but so far nobody I know has found what that is.

My feeling is you won't get much use from it unless your land is level. Otherwise it will just scalp the high points and dump trash in the low areas. Now if you did that long enough on bare dirt I still think it might help level things out. But you need a large area to work it like that. An acre or two at least. The longer the better. If you are maintaining a horse track like the Kentucky Derby, I bet it would be just the ticket.

Warning.... rakes will hit a stone or root every now and again - it's the nature of the implement. They need to be seriously strong or they well get bent up quickly. The good ones have heavy spring steel rake teeth, and they will chuck a rock at you occasionally, so be aware of that. To avoid throwing money away, get a good one. They start at about 3K for a seven footer.

Let me know how it works out.
rScotty

 

[Scrambler82]

Reviving this thread.

I need a rake for cleaning up pine needles and small sticks. I don't need it for dirt, rock or soil work. Our property is not level and not a consistent pitch(lots of dips and rises). Would the tractor supply $800 rake work, or will i be cussing that purchase. Perhaps adding some gauge wheels…

I purchased the 60" version of the Tractor Supply Landscape Rake.
Purchased it on sale plus Military Discount, got it for under $800.00.

All I can say about this tool is why didn't I buy one long before this. This tool work great at clearing low brush, leveling the driveway, leveling dirt, and I used it to clean up the bottom of a large pile of stone that had settled in the ground. The stone had imbedded the lower stone in the ground and a hand rake wasn't doing anything, shoveling brought up too much dirt. I decide one day to try it on the bottom of the stone pile... WHAM>>> BAM, it did a great job pulling stone that I didn't even thing was left behind.

Overall light weight or not, it does the job I needed to get done and so much more.

p.s. This is the second tool I have purchased from Tractor Supply, the first is a Brush Cutter, both tool have over produced, great tools and I work these tools beyond what they have been designed for.

 

[nyone]

I have about a 10yr old tractor supply rake. It was starting to bend due to the way it's made. When the pivot connects directly to the bar that holds the rake teeth this is bound to happen. I welded a section of angle across the top. Not allowing the bar to bend. Yes I keep the 100lb suitcase weight on there full time and have every other tooth removed.

 

[Jrasband]

Land Pride makes a good sturdy rake too. I had a rake I used on my 32 hp LS and it was one of my favorite implements. I have missed it since my LS died. Great at bringing the gravel back up in the driveway - amazing at clearing brush and brambles - excellent at prepping cleared land for seeding - excellent at leveling land as well.

 

[Jrasband]

Reviving this thread.

I need a rake for cleaning up pine needles and small sticks. I don't need it for dirt, rock or soil work. Our property is not level and not a consistent pitch(lots of dips and rises). Would the tractor supply $800 rake work, or will i be cussing that purchase. Perhaps adding some gauge wheels…

I would wait till you could get a decent used one not the piece of crap at tractor supply. If you never took it off the driveway than piece of crap will do fine

 

[bdhsfz6]

+1 on York rakes. I've had mine with scarifier, gauge wheels, hyd. angle and grader blade for over 20 years. Not one broken part or repair in all that time while maintaining 1.25 miles of private road.

Prior to the York, I had several cheap rakes which didn't last long doing this heavy work.

If the work you do isn't rough, you could get away with a cheap one though. Keep in mind, you get what you pay for with this type of equipment.

 

[scootr]

My neighbor bought a rake and now he thinks its the right tool for every job, wrong.
But neighbors do as neighbors do

 

[jfsawatzky]

+1 on York rakes. I've had mine with scarifier, gauge wheels, hyd. angle and grader blade for over 20 years. Not one broken part or repair in all that time while maintaining 1.25 miles of private road.

View attachment 2905479

Prior to the York, I had several cheap rakes which didn't last long doing this heavy work.

If the work you do isn't rough, you could get away with a cheap one though. Keep in mind, you get what you pay for with this type of equipment.

York rakes are pricey but worth it in my opinion. I found an hd with scarifiers, blade, wheels and hydraulics at auction so I cannot tell you how it was used previously but it had a couple broken teeth and a broken arm for the blade. I suspect it was pushed past its breaking point. So while the features are great it’s not as strong as a dedicated box blade.

 

[Scrambler82]

I'm thinking on buying a Landscape Rake.
Looking at the "Tarter 6 Foot Landscape Rake 200 Series !

Wondering if anyone had a comment, please feel free !

Thanks
GOD Bless

I should add, although I too have started thinking this tool does more than people think it can.

My uses, light raking of fields, some heavier brush, grading my 1/4 mile driveway; the driveway grading was a discovery, I tried it to straighten out some stone I laid out on the driveway and to my surprise it did a decent job with less clean up than my grader scraper.
Overall, a great tool for he tractor.

 

[nyone]

I should add, although I too have started thinking this tool does more than people think it can.

My uses, light raking of fields, some heavier brush, grading my 1/4 mile driveway; the driveway grading was a discovery, I tried it to straighten out some stone I laid out on the driveway and to my surprise it did a decent job with less clean up than my grader scraper.
Overall, a great tool for he tractor.

Grade scrapers sound like the right tool to touch up a driveway but in all reality there to destructive and move stone around to much. A box blade does prety well touching up a rutted road.

I have a gravel driveway with a turn. Generaly I run the rake angled to bring in the loose material from the edges then hit everything with a box blade. I dont own a land plane.

 

[nyone]

+1 on York rakes. I've had mine with scarifier, gauge wheels, hyd. angle and grader blade for over 20 years. Not one broken part or repair in all that time while maintaining 1.25 miles of private road.

View attachment 2905479

Prior to the York, I had several cheap rakes which didn't last long doing this heavy work.

If the work you do isn't rough, you could get away with a cheap one though. Keep in mind, you get what you pay for with this type of equipment.

That thing is 20yrs old and maintains over 1mi of road? It still looks like 98% of the paint is on the rake teeth.

 

[bdhsfz6]

That thing is 20yrs old and maintains over 1mi of road? It still looks like 98% of the paint is on the rake teeth.

Sorry to mislead. The pic is 15 years old.

The rake has wear on it now but is still fully functional with most of the paint intact. I'd post another pic but it's put away for the winter season.

 

[therrien]

I made a heavy Landscape rake years ago and it worked great for spreading hundreds of yards of loam and cleaning up stone from fill but it was too heavy for cleaning sticks and small branches off of the lawn etc. i then purchased a Pine straw rake and that was great for pine needles But that was terrible for the sticks on the turf also. My cure is I dethatch and then suck up and chop up what I can with a scag tiger cub with a peco collection system tweaked with 8
" hoses. This will chop and collect any branch 1.5" and smaller without clogging.
There is no other great attachment that I found for the tractor for the sticks and branches. When my son moved out and got married I had to find some way other than raking by hand.

 

[Scrambler82]

I like the Grader/Planer, I don’t find it takes too much,in fact with a little adjustments the Tractor / Land Plane more right a long… but the Landscape Rake is a good quick fix.