Harley Rake--Bullets Or Teeth--Which is best?

npalen · Nov 23, 2015

Looking at building a 5 ft. power box rake for my Kubota B9200 similar to the Harley rake and planning to use 6" pipe (5/16" wall) for the rotor. My question at this point is, for general use, would the carbide bullets or actual teeth be better. I would use something on the order of 5/16" x 1 1/4" x 2" length steel flat for the weld-on teeth.
I can see that from a wear standpoint the carbide bullet studs would have some advantage. From a performance standpoint I'm leaning to the teeth as it seems they would be more aggressive in hard packed soil. I would give them a shape to where they would have some relief on the ends for free cutting and possibly hard face the leading edge for wear longevity.
I've not yet priced the weld-on carbide bullet type and almost afraid to.
Would there be any issues with weeds and vines such as bindweed (morning glory) trying to wrap around the drum with either type? Would the teeth do a better job of windrowing small rocks?
Any and all feedback is appreciated.

Edit: Should mention that the PBR will be used as a tiller sometimes as well as a leveler, stone windrower, pre-plant finisher etc.

Industrial Toys · Nov 23, 2015

My Harley PRO 8 has bars, but are not that aggressive. For lack of this, it has S tines that one can lower in front of the rollers. I am not sure how one could nicely level anything with teeth or carbides.

npalen · Nov 24, 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFlGyf4T1rM&feature=related
This is the first of four videos showing the bullet type teeth.

Tags · Nov 26, 2015

You can't beat the carbide teeth. I have a 10 year old MX7 rake for my track skid steer, I grade everything from rocky sub grade, hard packed gravel drives, existing lawns, etc, etc. I replaced about 10 carbides last winter that had been ripped off and worn down, mostly near the ends of the roller, the rest of them are in pretty good shape, the carbide part is fine but you can really see the wear in the base that the carbide is mounted to. They are EXPENSIVE, I think they were around 10 bucks a piece. For your project I would look into getting some AR400 steel and cut chunks maybe 1" wide by 1.5" tall and weld em to your roller, you could also hard face em for added wear protection as well.

npalen · Nov 26, 2015

Thanks for your feedback. The thing that I don't understand is the reason for the ball shaped carbide teeth as opposed to these:

New Full Case of 60 Sandvik Asphalt Cutter Carbide Grinder Milling Bobcat Bits | eBay

It looks like the asphalt milling teeth would be much more aggressive than the ball shaped. Maybe too aggressive?
I'm thinking that the abrasion resistant steel such as the AR400 will be more appropriate for my shop built Harley type rake. The trick will probably be figuring out how many rows and teeth per roll.

4570Man · Nov 27, 2015

If you used hard faced AR500 couldn't you re hard face them as the need arises without ever having to replace them?

npalen · Nov 27, 2015

I would think that the hard facing would wear quite well and, yes, they could probably be resurfaced if needed. Having the teeth cut out of plate on a shape cutting machine such as plasma or laser would also allow a radius in the end that welds to the pipe rotor for better fit-up. They could also have relief in the cutting end for better cutting action in hard soil conditions.
Laser cutting also leaves a thin hard surface on the cut edge that might provide a bit of initial wear resistance.

Stonehaller · Nov 27, 2015

npalen said:
Thanks for your feedback. The thing that I don't understand is the reason for the ball shaped carbide teeth as opposed to these:

New Full Case of 60 Sandvik Asphalt Cutter Carbide Grinder Milling Bobcat Bits | eBay

It looks like the asphalt milling teeth would be much more aggressive than the ball shaped. Maybe too aggressive?
I'm thinking that the abrasion resistant steel such as the AR400 will be more appropriate for my shop built Harley type rake. The trick will probably be figuring out how many rows and teeth per roll.

One of the things I like about my Harley rake (with the rounded carbide teeth) is how it will pulverize hard lumps of soil. Not sure if the sharp teeth would do the same - imagining smashing hard lumps with a hammer verses the sharp edge of an axe. I would also worry about the life of sharp teeth when windrowing rocks. If you are trying to break up hard packed ground, the sharp teeth would probably work better, but for finish grading I thing the blunt noised teeth will do a better job. I typically use the rippers on a box blade to break up hard ground and rough grade, and then use the harley rack for finish grading.

npalen · Nov 28, 2015

Does anyone know who makes the carbide "teeth" for the Harley type rakes? I guessing it to be someone like Sandvik who makes a lot of the industrial carbide tools. It may be a proprietary product for the Harley rakes.