Bucket mounted root rake

[Anonymous Poster]

The top section of the cradle will extend from the top 2" tube, forward (up in these pix) at about a 45 degree angle. Actually, at the same angle as the back of the bcuket, which is easier seen in the first pic. I have no actual plans escept what's in my head, and a lot of it will be made up as I go along.

I have a lot of grinding to do as a result of my butcher job to get it cut off. The rest of the cutting will be done on my chop saw with an abrasive blade.

Guess I moved the camera on this shot - it was starting to get dark.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I'm not real happy about the scarifier bar sticking out in front of the bucket, but I want it to be 6' long (my bucket is only 4'), and there's really no other way to do it without getting a lot fancier than I want. It will make emptying the bucket of any dirt that get's in it a little harder, but I can live with that.

I plan to weld a piece of angle or a strip of steel to the bottom of the scarifier bar to catch the underside of the bucket and reinforce the edge. There's probably no real reason to do it because the tube was strong enough to handle the scarifiers on the box blade, but it will make it easier to line it up for mounting, if nothing else. I can "catch" the angle with the edge of the bucket and it should seat itself.

In this picture, that's one of the noxious pepper trees (sometimes called Florida Holly because it gets red berries in December) directly across the street. All the ones that size and bigger were removed with the big tractor and rake. The one's I'm after with this rake are the ones that were too small or too hard for the big tractor to get at. The only way to get them is to get under the roots, otherwise they grow back (quickly) stronger than ever.

The rest of the work for this rake will be moving brush piles. Hopefully, the teeth will catch the brush and allow me to curl it back into the cradle.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: Bucket mounted root rake - finished

It's done. Looks pretty good to me.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: Bucket mounted root rake - finished

Another shot.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: Bucket mounted root rake - finished

And another.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: Bucket mounted root rake - finished

Driver's eye view.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: Bucket mounted root rake - finished

We tried it out a little before it was painted to make sure nothing was going to bust loose.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: Bucket mounted root rake - finished

This was all at my shop in Port St. Lucie; tomorrow it's going back to Okeechobee and get a real workout with the brush piles, wild grape vines, small pepper trees, and roots left by the big tractor. More action pictues will follow.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: Bucket mounted root rake - finished

These were without any weight on the back; it tended to lift the back wheels if I tried to really unroot anything. I'll have the box blade back on tomorrow and it should work better. I'm really pleased, so far. It's the perfect way to break up the soil without constantly looking over your shoulder.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: Bucket mounted root rake - finished

I forgot to get some shots of how it mounts to the bucket. I
'll try to remember tomorrow.