Rake New (to me) York Rake (pics)

257NH · Apr 21, 2008

I've been looking to pick up a lanscape rake and actually was in the process of ordering a heavy duty 84" king kutter from TSC but they were going to charge me freight because they deal with farm force up here in NH.I told him to suspend the order and the next day I found this one.
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r287/257nh/yorkrake2.jpg
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r287/257nh/yorkrake.jpg

Its in pretty good shape,3 or 4 bent (straight back) Tines. Can you straighten spring steel without heat or do I need to replace them?I'm really impressed with how heavily built it is.Its also got the flip down grader blade.First thing is going to be to get some tubes in the tires and pump them up.
I also got some railroad track from my neighbor,It will eventually be turned into a counter weight in conjuction with my ballast box.There are 2 6 foot pieces.
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r287/257nh/track.jpg

jjmarotz · Apr 21, 2008

Nice find on the rake. As far as the tines go, you should be able to pull them strait with a piece of pipe that will fit over the tine, and grunt them into shape. I would stay away from heat until you try the 1st option, just my .02cents.

257NH · Apr 21, 2008

jjmarotz said:
Nice find on the rake. As far as the tines go, you should be able to pull them strait with a piece of pipe that will fit over the tine, and grunt them into shape. I would stay away from heat until you try the 1st option, just my .02cents.

Thats what i was thinking.I'm reasonably sure that if I heat it up all bets are off whether or not it will still be spring steel or not.

jjmarotz · Apr 21, 2008

Yep, that's where I was going on this. We used to straiten digger links on spud diggers with a simple conduit bender before heat was ever used. Granted digger links aren't spring steel, but, the temper and make up of the link didn't like the heat vs. the "cold" manual brute force of re-shaping it. The heat seemed to make it weaker in the long run.

257NH · Apr 23, 2008

Thanks for the advice JJ.I fooled around with the rake a little today.Wire wheeled the inside of the wheels and installed slime filled tubes.Its now up and running.
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r287/257nh/yorkrake3.jpg
The RR track is cut up and waithing to be installed in the counter weight,Next time a cement truck comes here I'll finish that up.
I fooled around with the rake on a stripped lot today and got the top link adjusted to my liking.Even messed around with the drop down blade.Seems to work ok as long as its not to heavy a job.Certainly moves more material than the teeth anyway.All in all I'm very pleased with it.I'll keep it unless I find A used model RI from york,this ones an RW

PA hayseed · Apr 23, 2008

nice find. I've been looking for a used one for awhile, with no luck. I am not sure, but I think you can buy those tines alot of places online and maybe TSC sells them too.