DIY Landscape rake questions

[DaveMueller]

The target is a 6' rake for smoothing tilled soil and spreading 2B stone in the driveway.

I have a bunch of 2x2 x .12" wall tubing. Will this be strong enough for the whole project? For for the bar that holds the tines, I was thinking of drilling one hole for a bolt and welding a short stud on the edge for the second hole in the tine to prevent rotation. I could weld two pieces side by side, but then I'd have to drill twice as many holes. From the threads I've read, that seems to be the tedious part.

A drop down blade option would be nice, is it worth using my R&D (rip off and duplicate) skills to copy a commercial product such as a Land Pride, so I can use their accessories?

I've noticed a lot of newer 3 point attachments have sheet metal to make the triangle instead of thick wide bars. Any advantage to one or the other? I'm assuming it's cheaper.

Thanks
Dave

 

[chim]

I don't know if I can explain this without a drawing, but here goes. You could avoid drilling altogether if you used the tines and U-bolts below. Take a piece of 3/4" steel pipe, schedule 40 or better and use the U-bolts to fasten the tines to the pipe. The U-bolts will prevent the tines from turning left or right. Weld the 3/4" pipe to the front of the 2x2 tube with small spacers at the ends and between some of the tines. The bottom of the pipe should be even with the bottom of the tube. As you drag the tines, they will bump up against the tube and that will prevent them from rotating on the pipe.

The rest of the framework and attachments would be like any other 3-point implement. I'm still thinking about how to enable it to angle. Sounds like a great project and something to think about with regard to details.


Two Hole Landscape Rake Tine | AGRISTORE USA

McMaster-Carr

 

[TractorGuy]

Here is a thread I did on rebuilding my cheap landscape rake. Not sure if it will help give you any ideas.
https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/customization/406957-rebuilt-my-landscape-rake.html

Consider the work involved and the cost of materials. You are going to have $200 plus shipping in tines.

Here is another source for tines.
Search Results | Agri Supply(R)

 

[DaveMueller]

I put 36 tines in a cart at Agri-Supply, I think with shipping it was about $265. If I spend another $200 on steel and hardware, I'm ahead of the game. Used 6' rakes around here are rare, most are $750 to $1000 and are buried in dirt and weeds. A local seller backed out at the last minute on an almost new Land Pride for $450 :-(