Light duty adjustable gauge wheels

[MadReferee]

I'm finally getting around to posting pics of the light duty gauge wheels I built over the winter for one of my dethatcher customers. Although the wheels themselves are fairly heavy duty, the adjusting mechanism is light duty, meaning that for this application, (a dethatcher) they are more than adequate.

The basic design consists of a moveable arm that is connected to a fixed tower by a 3/8" turnbuckle. The tower has 2 height settings which gives a large overall range of adjustment. There is some play designed into the mechanism so that the long and heavy dethatcher can easily deal with slight bumps in the lawn.

 

[MadReferee]

Here is a picture of the dethatcher frame (without the removeable 3pt hitch) and wheels.

 

[MadReferee]

Here is a picture of the adjustable mechanism. It's just a simple, yet functional design.

 

[MadReferee]

This final shot is another view of the mechanism.

The wheels came from Harbor Freight, the 3/8" turnbuckles and hardware were purchased locally, and the 3/8" steel flat bar and 1" and 1.5" square tubing came from my stock pile. The spacers for the wheels, which had the inside cupped to allow for the wheel bearings, were custom made on my lathe. Total cost for all parts and steel was close to $50.

 

[RonR]

Mad, Great Job as usual.

My guess is you've tweeked this some, but in your last pic, it appears to me that unless you "close" that upper adjustable bolt some, the ground pressure will work it out of the hole.

I sure liked viewing this--I need to make some arms similar to this for my pulverizer roller........ HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

Ron

 

[MadReferee]

I don't think any of the bolts or nuts are going anywhere. For the final delivered product, the bolts are grade 5 (and the correct length) and the nuts are nylock. The nuts on the turnbuckle get torqued down when the position is correct. The hook on the turnbuckle that connects to the tower is a real tight fit due to the radius of the hook. It's not going anywhere either.

As I mentioned earlier some slop is designed into the system. The slop comes from the loose fit of the tower to the tower holder, roughly 1/8". The nyloc nuts can aslo be left loose to allow for some additional movement but I dodn't recommend it. Hopefully the TBN'er who owns the dethatcher will soon get to try it on his lawn and report back.

 

[MadReferee]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I need to make some arms similar to this for my pulverizer roller. )</font>

For something that heavy that is a ground engaging attachment, I would recommend that you use a spring over a heavy steel threaded rod. Much nmore heavy duty. Now if you could find an industrial quality heavy duty turnbuckle...

 

[RonR]

THKS.

I agree. I plan to make it similar to a factory made pulverizer.

Have fun,
ron

 

[Henro]

MadRef,

Looks very good!

I must say I was surprised to see gage wheels on a dethatcher though. ONLY because I have no experience with dethatchers... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

I would have guessed that just pulling the dethatcher with not much weight on it would be all that was needed.

What is the reason wheels are needed? I would like at sometime in the future to build a dethatcher and am clueless, really, as to the advantage/need for gage wheels.

 

[MadReferee]

Bill,

According the the user, the wheels are needed because the dethatcher is too heavy for a really nice manicured lawn. The tines were digging into the lawn and making a mess and setting the 3pt at a fixed height wasn't helping. I would have never guessed it because I always thought the dethatcher was too light and designed it to hold 12" x 12" patio blocks for weight.

The wheels should allow a precise depth setting and also allow the dethatcher to more closely follow the contours of the lawn. The person I did this for posts here so maybe he will chime in with his comments.

When you are ready to build one just PM me and I will send you the plans.