Adding guide wheels to blade or rake

[Mosey]

Has anyone added guide wheels to a grader blade or landscape/yard rake? If so, can you post a picture? I've thought of using 2 trailer jacks, such as these from <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=6970&langId=-1&catalogId=4006970&PHOTOS=on&TEST=Y&productId=425936&categoryId=0>Northern Tool</A>, so I could easily adjust the height and pivot them up out of the way when I don't need them. They don't need to be real heavy duty like the caster wheels on a finish mower or something. I'll just use them for making the last few passes over before seeding grass and for pushing snow off my paved driveway.

 

[Hoeman00]

I've been looking at doing same thing.
Northern has some 12" caster wheels that would work nice .
I thought about using 2 1/2" tube on blade and slide 2" tube inside,
so they can be reversed,then mount wheel to jack.
W/ the jacks on the end of 2" tube it could be switched to other tools.
Fixed jacks will work for this.
I just checked the jacks u are looking at and IMO the swivel set-up
won't last long (need grease).

 

[djradz]

You could even use a 2" trailer hitch receiver, one on each side to make it easy to take the wheel assembly on and off.

However, I would be a little concerned about the wheels. Most of these are just a hard plastic with no bearings. If you could come up with some way of installing ball-bearing wheels, I think you'd be all set. Otherwise, especially behind a rake, my guess is the wheel hub won't last long. Let us know what you come up with as me and my neighbor are thinking of doing something similar, vs the $80/ea plus kits from KK, Woods, etc.

 

[Hoeman00]

The 2" tube is same as receiver tube,I get 24' joints to make many
misc. projects, it comes in really handy and cheaper too.
The wheels I was talking about are pnuematic and have ball bearings.
Northern #18977 for the casters.

 

[Mosey]

I didn't realize a trailer jack would not have bearings in the wheels. I guess that makes sense now that it's been brought to my attention, since they aren't designed for continuous rolling. So much for the easy way out! Although there might be a way to add grease zerks. For my purposes they won't get much use, maybe 4 hours a year total. I need to find a place besides Northern that sells trailer jacks so I can look at some instead of just pictures.

 

[Hoeman00]

I was talking about the swivel, looks like 1 tube inside of the other.
w/weight and side load it may not turn.
Look at the casters on northern web site ,they could be bolted to bottom of
jack.
8" or 10" could be used but I was going bigger so they roll over larger junk w/o
skidding.

 

[djradz]

Looking at those wheels, I can't tell if the ball bearings are sealed or not. Do you know? TSC also sells quite a few and also carries a good selection of trailer jacks, with and without wheels.

I see Northern also sells a jack with a 10" pneumatic tire, but I can't tell what it has for bearings, (part # 147392). Or else, maybe buy one with a rigid wheel and change it to one with bearings. Lots of options, but trying to keep the cost down is key.

 

[Von]

I added a set to my rake. (see attached photos) Got the wheels from Harbor Freight for $12.00 and the rest is made from scrap steel I had on hand. I use spacers to adjust the hieght of the rake. It works very well and I don't have alot of money into it.

 

[Mosey]

I came up with an idea that might work. See attachment (not to scale). It would use a regular caster wheel with bearings, preferably greaseable. The T handle bolt would allow infinite height adjustment over a range of a few inches. This could be directly welded to a grader blade. And landscape rake would have to have another bracket of some sort.

 

[Mosey]

Nice set up Von! Did you just weld a piece of tube steel to end of the bracket for the caster to go in? Those casters look similar to the ones on my finish mower. Do you have the part number at Harbor Freight for those casters? I just went to their web site and couldn't find any of that type.