matching landscape rake and HP

[keegs]

I found a Landpride LR2584 rake that's rated up to 50 hp. I have a 56 hp tractor. Can the rake take it?

 

[countrybumpkin]

A lot more comes into play than just horse power with a attachment like that, tractor weight , type of use also.

They changed the design of the tine bar during production of that model, not sure which your looking at but if it were me I’d prefer the early version.

 

[keegs]

right now I'm looking for something to groom my gravel driveway. Other uses might be leveling off low spots around the property and maybe a path through the woods. Thanks.

 

[Thomas]

I know of some owners like least foot of rake be on tire at 45 degree angle...drop down grader blade comes in very handy.

 

[keegs]

I rented a York rake last week that had both and scarifiers. At about $4k new it is the swiss army knife of landscaping attachments. I'm not a rich man though.

They do /did sell a blade attachment for the Land Pride LR25 series rakes. I don't think 7' will cover the width of the tractor on a 45 degree setting. I think I can deal with it though. The asking price on this one is pretty reasonable. Just not sure if it will keep up with my tractor.

 

[Birdhunter1]

A Landscape rake like that is not a heavy tillage or heavy grading item, I think I could tear one up with a 30 hp tractor if I tried.
On my gravel driveway which is 1/4 of a mile long it works good to drag rocks out of the grass and back into the driveway but I find using it in the driveway it kicks rocks at me and back into the grass with its spring action tines.
It works well to clean up sticks after storm damage or tree removal, grading loosened up dirt and picking debris out of worked dirt.

Can your 56 hp tractor tear it up? Yes it can.
Will you tear it up with your tractor? If you use it like a heavy grading blade yes you will, if you use it for the lighter work I described you probably will not.

To give an idea I have a Landpride 35 series 6' blade on my 55 hp 2 wheel drive tractor, I will lose traction pushing downed trees around with it before bending anything, at least 12 years of using it this has proved to be the case, and when dragging it behind me I can stop the tractor before breaking anything, at least so far.

The best scenario would be to have both, but if I had to choose I can do all the things I've described with a regular grader blade as long as I keep it from digging too much.

 

[keegs]

A Landscape rake like that is not a heavy tillage or heavy grading item, I think I could tear one up with a 30 hp tractor if I tried.
On my gravel driveway which is 1/4 of a mile long it works good to drag rocks out of the grass and back into the driveway but I find using it in the driveway it kicks rocks at me and back into the grass with its spring action tines.
It works well to clean up stick after storm damage or tree removal, grading loosened up dirt and picking debris out of worked dirt.

Can your 56 hp tractor tear it up? Yes it can.
Will you tear it up with your tractor? If you use it like a heavy grading blade yes you will, if you use it for the lighter work I described you probably will not.

To give an idea I have a Landpride 35 series 6' blade on my 55 hp 2 wheel drive tractor, I will loose traction pushing downed trees around with it before bending anything, at least 12 years of using it this has proved to be the case, and when dragging it behind me I can stop the tractor before breaking anything, at least so far.

The best scenario woudl be to have both, but if I had to choose I can do all the things I've described with a regular grader blade as long as I keep it from digging too much.

Thanks Bird. The driveway hadn't been graded in the 11 years I've owned the property and I don't think it would be a stretch to say it'd been more than 20 years. I ran a box blade over it with the scarifiers down to tear up sod that had grown over it and to bring up some of the base. That process revealed a pretty nice base of bank run, fines. and loam. The stone material is a mix of various sizes anywhere from softball to golf ball and smaller. After the box blade I used a York rake to smooth out the dips and divots and bring up some more of the base material. It came out so nice I thought I'd maintain it like this from now on. I think you might be able to get a blade attachment for this rake. My guess is that York rake was probably a lot more rake than this one.

 

[/pine]

One caveat about using a landscape rake is that it will tend to separate heaver gravel from the fines...i.e., you might end up with a payload of loose rocks that will tend to leave windrows at either end of the rake as passes are made...

 

[keegs]

One caveat about using a landscape rake is that it will tend to separate heaver gravel from the fines...i.e., you might end up with a payload of loose rocks that will tend to leave windrows at either end of the rake as passes are made...

It seemed the larger stones mostly kicked out the ends of the rake... the rake process mixed and distributed the smaller stones with the fines. If I raised the rake that would throw what I just said out the window. In general the rake was more of a finish implement in my view...but I'm a novice at this. I don't have any photos of the finished product but I do have a thread on the box blading that does have photos of the material.

 

[/pine]

It seemed the larger stones mostly kicked out the ends of the rake... the rake process mixed and distributed the smaller stones with the fines. If I raised the rake that would throw what I just said out the window. In general the rake was more of a finish implement in my view...but I'm a novice at this. I don't have any photos of the finished product but I do have a thread on the box blading that does have photos of the material.

Working material that has a decent moisture content makes a big difference in keeping the fines and gravel together...in my experience the drier the material the more it wants to separate...