Power Rakes

15222 Views 19 Replies 10 Participants Last post by riderguy57, Mar 31, 2012

riderguy57

Discussion Starter · Feb 14, 2012

I was just introduced to the concept of power rakes. I have 18 acres, about 60% of it is open, rutted and a bit rocky. As I mow it with my JD3720 and Frontier RC2060 cutter, I am constantly (and I mean CONSTANTLY) being rolled, dipped and moved about in the seat. Anything over about 3 mph is unsafe as I can either be thrown off (yes I wear my seatbelt) or the FEL is being banged around due to the ruts, etc. After mowing, I am physically tired from all the gyrations. Even at slower speed, I am still moving about in my seat. Would a power rake be the implement to smooth out the ruts and give me a new surface to deal with? I am also wondering if those that do have a power rake use it truly enough to justify ownership, or is it something that would best be rented? Even if it is used for 20 hours (3 days of use at say $200 a day) it is not a small investment. But for those that own one, do you find that you are going over the same areas to maintain your grounds as erosion and other things have a tendancy to change the landscape? If that is the case, ownership is not out of the question for me, it's just a matter of practicality. To me it looks like an implement that is used more by landscapers to initially smooth over an area of ground. I'm just wondering if it is something for a landowner to also use in day to day or even month to month operations.

Thanks for any input you can give.

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RRMCCABE

· #11 · Feb 15, 2012

Sounds like you could use a box blade first.

Depends a lot on your soil. I see you are in AZ so things would be different than for me.

I just prepped 3 acres where we built our new house. All major grading was done by hiring someone with a CAT loader. I did about a weekends worth of "rearranging" soil with a bobcat I rented in the spring.

I used a box style blade on my tractor to do final leveling for seed and a landscape rake to rip out weeds and the lanscape rake did a good job at grading as well.

You have to watch how much you play with it. I had a really nice 2" soft almost tilled top layer which I am sure the seed loved. But if you have anything but flat ground its a double edge sword because as soon as it rains you are fighting erosion.

Key is getting it leveled out and then vegetation growing fast !

I hydoseeded in the spring and had to redo a bunch of stuff in the fall which included another half dump truck load of dirt raked into the ruts and reseeding those areas.

I expect to be doing more filling and seeding this spring.

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RRMCCABE

· #13 · Feb 15, 2012

Guess I misread that. OK on Arkansaw.

I would say 18 acres is a pretty good task to level out regardless what what you are using.

Wonder if a really good suspension seat would help some of that?

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