Good landscape rake - cheap (Part 2 - Daver1963's attempt)

[Daver1963]

Back in December I saw this thread Good landscape rake - cheap. To summarize, if you don't want to read this thread, member RedDirt built a landscape rake from hay rake replacement teeth, a piece of pipe, and some angle iron. I decided I could do something similar and attach it to my King Kutter carry-all. Here are the results:
1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7)
Pictures:
1. Yard rake on saw horses
2. Close-up of the rake teeth and clamp
3. Tractor with Carry-all on.
4. Tractor with rake - side view
5. Tractor with rake - back view
6. View of clamps on Carry-all
7. Closer view of clamp.
Parts:
1. Rake teeth 15@ $1.99 each
Herschel Adams Universal Rubber Rake Teeth T16-0182 by Herschel Adams for $1.99 : Rural King

2. Steelworks 4-ft x 1-1/4-in Plated Steel Perforated Angle 1@ $14.08
Cut into: 2 - 5 inch; 2 - 19 inch
Shop Steelworks 4-ft x 1-1/4-in Plated Steel Perforated Angle at Lowes.com

3. Steelworks 3-ft L x 1-1/4-in W x 1-1/4-in H Plated Steel Perforated Square Tube 2 @ $17.24
Shop Steelworks 3-ft L x 1-1/4-in W x 1-1/4-in H Plated Steel Perforated Square Tube at Lowes.com

4. 5/16 bolts, 2ｽ" long, qty: 15
5. 5/16 bolts, 5ｽ" long, qty: 4
6. 5/16 bolts, 2" long, qty: 4
7. 5/16 nuts, qty: 23
8. 5/16 lock washers, qty: 30 or so
9. 5/16 flat washers, qty: 60 or so
10. 5/16 fender washers, qty: 4


Construction:
1. The two 19 pieces of angle were used to hold the two square tubes together. Four 5/16" - 2" bolts were used to connect the pieces. I had to adjust these as I put the teeth on.
2. The hay rake teeth were spaced every 5 holes on the square tubes. The spacing of the holes on the tubes and angle iron were 1 so that the teeth are space at 5 intervals. The hay rake teeth also have a slight dogleg bend at the bottom and I made sure they all faced the same direction. The flat washers and lock washers were used to take up some space between the bar and hay rake teeth as needed. Except for tines that were on both the angle and square tube every other tine was double lock washered and used 4 flat washers.
3. The 2 pieces of angle iron cut 5" long, the 5/16 bolts - 5"?ｽ?ｽ long, 4 fender washers, 2 lock washers, 2 5/16 nuts were used to make clamps to hold to the King Kutter Carry-all. The clamps were spaced to fit the carry-all.
4. The rake was connected to the Carry-all with the dogleg of the tines facing inwards toward the tractor.


Performance:
I determined how low I wanted it to go and set the stopper on my draft control to that. To try it out I used it on some pine needles that were on a slope. Results:
1. The rake was pulling the pine needles along, but it was also digging into the ground. I'm going to try flipping the rake 180?ｰ so that the dogleg of the tines faces away from the tractor.
2. After the tines had raked all the needles it could rake I needed to lift the tines out of the pile, but the Carry-all would not raise it high enough. This is just due to the dimensions of the Carry-all. To fix this I'm going to have fabricate a 3 point hitch that will allow me to lift it higher. I will post pictures of that when I get it done. The plan is to use angle iron.

 

[deezler]

Hmmm... cheap, for sure, and clever construction method. Just try to never hit a rock, or root, or anything frozen, or really any other debris... That thing is gonna twist up like a pretzel.

 

[Daver1963]

Just planning for raking pine needles mostly. If one side does twist I only have to replace one piece of steel tube and maybe the angle iron.
Also, the hay rake teeth have rubber boots between the tooth and the mounting and that lets them flex pretty good. What little I used it I was watching the steel tube and it didn't look like it twisted and I examined it afterwards and it still looked straight.
.....but time will tell.

 

[PhysAssist]

Hi Dave,

Nicely done.

I have been contemplating something similar, but for leaves stones, sticks, and branches.

The comments about "immoveable objects" causong damage may be spot on as it sits, but what if you made the rake attachment to the carry-all via a vertical pivot, with or without a spring or springs to apply down-pressure?

The carry-all frame I made has pivots for the horizontal arms so that they can be folded up, and I was envisoning having my rake or rake bars attached across as yours are, but allowing them to continue to pivot upwards to self adjust themselves over uneven ground and to pop up over solid objects.

Do you think that the rake tines you used are stiff enough to pick up stones and sticks?

Thanks forsharing.

Thomas

Just planning for raking pine needles mostly. If one side does twist I only have to replace one piece of steel tube and maybe the angle iron.
Also, the hay rake teeth have rubber boots between the tooth and the mounting and that lets them flex pretty good. What little I used it I was watching the steel tube and it didn't look like it twisted and I examined it afterwards and it still looked straight.
.....but time will tell.

 

[Daver1963]

Hi Dave,

Nicely done.

I have been contemplating something similar, but for leaves stones, sticks, and branches.

The comments about "immoveable objects" causong damage may be spot on as it sits, but what if you made the rake attachment to the carry-all via a vertical pivot, with or without a spring or springs to apply down-pressure?

The carry-all frame I made has pivots for the horizontal arms so that they can be folded up, and I was envisoning having my rake or rake bars attached across as yours are, but allowing them to continue to pivot upwards to self adjust themselves over uneven ground and to pop up over solid objects.

Do you think that the rake tines you used are stiff enough to pick up stones and sticks?

Thanks forsharing.

Thomas

Thanks for the compliment. I don't think the tines will pick up stones. The whole point with them being somewhat flexible is that they would bend over or around stones. Now, in my trials with it so far it will rake small branches up that are loose on the ground.
I went the other day and bought more tines so I can get them about 3" apart in the hope that it would also work for leaves. Also I have picked up the angle iron and other hardware to make a 3pt hitch to get the elevation needed to get out of the pile I just raked. However, since I've picked the stuff up its been a little cool to be outside building stuff and my shed doesn't have heat. Right now it is 16F with a wind-chill of "OH HE** NO, I'M NOT GOING OUT THERE."
The pivot point and using springs is an interesting idea, but I don't have to stuff to fabricate something like that.

 

[PhysAssist]

Thanks for the compliment. I don't think the tines will pick up stones. The whole point with them being somewhat flexible is that they would bend over or around stones. Now, in my trials with it so far it will rake small branches up that are loose on the ground.
I went the other day and bought more tines so I can get them about 3" apart in the hope that it would also work for leaves. Also I have picked up the angle iron and other hardware to make a 3pt hitch to get the elevation needed to get out of the pile I just raked. However, since I've picked the stuff up its been a little cool to be outside building stuff and my shed doesn't have heat. Right now it is 16F with a wind-chill of "OH HE** NO, I'M NOT GOING OUT THERE."
The pivot point and using springs is an interesting idea, but I don't have to stuff to fabricate something like that.

Hi Dave,

You are totally welcome, it is cool.

Thanks for the feeback, I may need some stiffer tines, I'll have to look around.

If I can come up with a pivot, I know that you can, but only if it will work for you.

Thanks again,
Thomas

 

[Wyobuckaroo]

Neat.... Some times things made quick and dirty seem to work the best....

If you decide to add another bar and row of teeth, staggered with that set....
Let me tell you from my experience to space the rows at least 10-12" or so...
I tried 6" the first time and it plugged up too quickly and tightly....

Good luck
===

 

[PhysAssist]

Thanks for the information.

How do you get the wheels up out of the way to rake with that setup?

Thomas

Neat.... Some times things made quick and dirty seem to work the best....

If you decide to add another bar and row of teeth, staggered with that set....
Let me tell you from my experience to space the rows at least 10-12" or so...
I tried 6" the first time and it plugged up too quickly and tightly....

Good luck
===
View attachment 356727

 

[gtrippleb]

Thanks for the information.

How do you get the wheels up out of the way to rake with that setup?

Thomas

Looking at the picture it looks like you can pull the wheel out and then turn it 180 degrees and put it back in. Or, the wheels are at the right height so that the tines just touch the ground and then the removal of the wheels might not be necessary.

 

[PhysAssist]

Your eyes must be better than mind, I couldn't see that at first, but I think you are right, pull those pins and take off the wheels, turn them up, and go to it.

Thanks,
Thomas

Looking at the picture it looks like you can pull the wheel out and then turn it 180 degrees and put it back in. Or, the wheels are at the right height so that the tines just touch the ground and then the removal of the wheels might not be necessary.