I think I need a Landscape Rake. Can you guys make recommendations ??

pharmvet · May 1, 2013

I think I would enjoy a landscape rake. I will be using it with a 100 hp fwa New Holland tractor. I will be using it on trails and shredded fields, downed limbs etc. Can anyone recommend a good heavy duty category II unit about 7 or 8 ft. wide? thanks

IslandTractor · May 1, 2013

I can only say that my standard duty Woods SR72 is a well made implement and well matched to a 40hp tractor so I would imagine that the Woods heavy duty line would be an appropriate option for you.

I don't find landscape rakes that useful for collecting downed limbs. Perhaps a heavy duty one would do a better job but mine collects them but then "jumps" over the pile at unpredictable frequency and leaves half the load of debris behind. Problem with tree limbs is that they can "catch" in the ground and then act like a pole vault to lift the rake over the now planted tree limb. Maybe that would not happen with a much heavier rake. I find the rake much better for leveling and spreading operations and also for collecting smaller twigs, brush and rocks.

Ken45101 · May 2, 2013

I find a rake (with gage wheels!) great for smoothing loose ground. But for leaves and trigs, etc. it just gets them tangled in the tines and isn't very useful.

MtnViewRanch · May 2, 2013

This is the best unit I have ever personally seen. If you were to use it "really hard" I doubt that it would hold up. None of the landscape rakes that I have ever seen in person or just pictures of are built to take much of a load for any amount of time. If you really want-need to work it hard, plan on making some improvements, no mater which unit you buy.

They are designed and built along the same principle of a hand used yard lawn rake. just not much there, but how much do you need for leaves and needles? Not much, but then there are those of us that use them for heavier use purposes and they just are not designed for that type of use and end up failing in some manner or another.

Good luck.

IslandTractor · May 2, 2013

Ken45101 said:
I find a rake (with gage wheels!) great for smoothing loose ground. But for leaves and trigs, etc. it just gets them tangled in the tines and isn't very useful.

I agree. These things are kinda misnamed as they really don't do anything close to what hand rakes do. If you try to "sweep" leaves and debris off turf you will almost always rip up the turf even if you have wheels. If you try to "rake" sticks and brush or roots they will either tangle in the tines and be difficult to remove and/or they will gouge the land as you drag them along collecting soil and turf as well as debris. The debris pieces often jam into the ground and even pop the rake up so it dumps half the load.

Landscape rakes are great for leveling soil and perhaps to collect some rocks and other debris while doing loose soil leveling. I use mine to repair areas where I have been digging stumps out and getting a smoother more level finish than I could get with just a bucket. They provide less precise grading than a back blade or boxblade but can be used more quickly and with less attention to exact settings when using guide wheels by going over the same ground several times at near travel speed.

If anyone has an implement that efficiently collects sticks and debris off turf/pasture without doing damage I'd love to hear about it.

davel8257 · May 2, 2013

Hire a teen-ager.

I've read about grapples, rakes, toothed bars, etc... Real life branches and sticks just don't line up, roll over and play nice. A helper that can walk along side and throw stuff into the bucket (or utility trailer or carry-all) could probably get a lot done in 2-3 hours.

Alternately, a wood chipper might be more useful to you -- mulch the stuff along the trail (or collect into a container of some sort).

Dingeryote · May 2, 2013

Woods.

LR800 Landscape Equipment

We use a LR700 for dragging half shattered and whole pruned canes out of the rows(Some get missed by the chopper), and it lives a hard life with no complaints, despite getting flogged by a 85hp tractor.
Drag up a pile untill the tires slip, drop 'em, and make another pile, then come back with the FEL to haul the piles out.
I have turned loose a couple of our hired hands with the thing, and they havn't managed to bend or break it yet, and they wait untill the rears are digging.
Woods stuff is overkill for most applications, but you wont run into the problems the lighter built stuff suffers.