Landscape Rake question (to buy or not to buy)

[Mike CHS]

The link below is to Tractor Supplies Landscape Rake that I'm thinking of buying. I watched several videos and read a ton of reviews that rave about these things but am looking for input from someone that has one and likes/dislikes it.

I spent half a day today cleaning out a small section of our property line in preparation for putting up fence and am looking for a way to use my tractor to move some of the brush to a burn pile after I get it out of the woods. I can obviously load it on the trailer like I am already doing but I'm looking for a better way that won't require handling everything multiple times. This 200' that I did today is the 1st of close to 4000' that needs to be done.


http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pr...reeShipStore&gclid=CLeSqeqW3c4CFcEmhgod0a4OPg

 

[chiques chicks]

Personally, I miss my tractor and brush hog. It was great for clearing paths through the wooded area. I'd cut the large trees out (firewood), brush hog a few times, then use an old beat up lawn tractor to really get it down. Yes, I was hard on the lawn tractor and blades, but that's why I have a beater.

The brush hog, tractor combination would take down anything under about 2 inches. I used the front end loader to push stuff over for the brush hog.

 

[Mike CHS]

I'm using the brush hog wherever I can but I'm still looking to see if that rake is any good at moving the brush coming out of the fence line.

 

[greybeard]

I have a lot of different equipment. Of all the 3 point implements I have purchased, dollar for dollar, hour for hour used, the 6' landscape rake has seen more good use than any other. They do have their limitations tho. Anything round and over 6" diameter tends to cause the tines to roll up over the object & leaving all the tines in place pulls a lot of dirt along with the brush--I quickly realized I needed to remove every other or even ever 3rd tine to do what I needed to do. It will also not pull vines and brush out of the ground very well, unless you have really loose sandy soil.
I have used mine so much the pivot is dang near wore out now. Bought it new in 2007 tho. A Howse brand--about as cheap a rake as one can find anywhere.
After the last flood, I cleaned this debris off the fence and never had to get off the tractor. Once I got it away from the fence a couple of feet, I just pulled the pin, rotated the tines around 180° and pushed it into piles.


In 2015, a big oak tree snapped off in a storm. I cut it up, moved the large pieces with my 3 point hay forks, but all the other mess, I piled with my rake. Last pic is of my old Ford with hay forks on and I'm about to take it and the rake back to the house. Job complete.


Right now, my rake is on loan to my older sister to clean up behind a logging job.

 

[greybeard]

And just so ya know, the tines are tempered, meaning they will break if stressed enough. I have broken several. Makes sure you have a source with which to purchase some extras unless you are going to run with a few missing. Using all the tines installed, is a good way to spread & level a load of dirt too.

 

[babsbag]

We have one too but have only used it to clear smallish rocks from the garden, never really thought about using to drag debris. Hmmm

 

[Mike CHS]

Thanks greybeard - exactly what I was hoping to hear. I'm using my front end loader to drag out saplings but was hoping the rake would assist in putting things away. Just looking at how long it took me to haul off 200' of debris had me dreading the 1/2 mile on the other side of the pasture.

We also have a 1/2 acre garden spot that needs some serious leveling of old tractor ruts.

 

[greybeard]

There's a bit of a learnin curve to using one. Don't get discouraged. One thing I've wished for is one with taller tines, and a little more weight to it. They're pretty light and don't penetrate debris and cut brush as easy as I'd like. The short height means you can't carry stuff a long way--the crap likes to turn into a long ball and sometimes the rake rolls over it. How long or short you adjust your top link tho, can make a world of difference in how well it works--it changes the 'angle of attack' on the tines, tilting them forward or rearward.

 

[Mike CHS]

I'm going to run into Tractor Supply and get one in the morning so we will start to figure it out.

 

[Mike CHS]

I've had the rake on my little Kubota for several days now and it made picking up all the debris a piece of cake. I was able to clear up debris I pulled out of the treeline with a couple of passes that would have been left in place because there was no easy way to rake it up. I find it easier to leave the rake in the "push" position for most of what I did the last few day but I did whip it around to smooth out all of the loose dirt I had scattered around. I had 7 wild cherry trees (about 6-8 inches diameter) in our pasture and I was able to dig and knock them over and get them piled up in a couple hours.