Ray...this is a great rake for a few reasons. The gauge wheels have a longer arm which allows the wheels to swing around to work backwards. My old Woods rake had gauge wheels too, but they were set close to the tines and would not swivel 360 degrees...plus their close proximity to the tines did not leave enough room for filling low spots.
I had an excavator operator come by and remove a bunch of stumps. I tried with my 448 BH, but each stump took me a while to remove. The excavator ripped them out in 10 seconds and swung around and literally threw them in a pile...the same task would take me 15-20 minutes time. I had maybe 50+ stumps of various sizes removed...some of the root balls were 10' in diameter. Anyway, I used the Landpride rake to clean-up and wow...it did a great job at pulling some remaining roots, stones, good sized rocks, filling low spots, working down high spots, etc. The rake works in reverse very well. I was skeptical at first because I thought that the gauge wheels would roll up and over the material to remove, but actually, the rake broke up the material in reverse very well and allowed me to then pull the material forward to let dirt flow out and keep debris in the tines. I had to hop off a dozen times to pull sticks and roots from the tines, but that's the way it goes with any rake. Overall, I think many rakes can do the light to medium jobs the same, but I worked this rake hard and it did stuff I had not expected. I have a light duty Landpride rear blade too and find it very good with my JD2305. I also have a Woods rear blade HBL84 that is excellent.
One rakes, probably most tines are similar, it's the body and wheel arms that matter for heavy use...as well as weight. You have to have some weight to let the rake sink in for digging the ground. You will find satisfaction in your LP. Post back and let me know how it goes. Here's a few pics.
