I have an old beat up power rake ( ATI 686 Preseeder), a landscape rake and a land plane.. My 2 cents:
A power rake is the tool of choice for preparing land for grass but as you've found they have a hefty price tag new. They are generally only used by pros because of the cost. The fact that small businesses in a very competitive industry buy them despite the price tag should give you an idea of how well they work! As long as the overall contour of the site is ok, they will take care of small imperfections like tire and smaller runoff ruts. If you have ruts more than 6-8" wide and deep it may need help.
After the lawn is done the power rake is out of a job, in the grass anyway. Thay are VERY good for gravel driveway maintenance. This is hard on them and your wear parts will feel it. Oh, and when used on gravel they are REALLY loud!!! Beyond that it would sit most of the time. If you can find one cheap enough It'd make that 18 acres go about as fast it could be done and you'd have a great surface for your seed.
The landscape rake (with gage wheels) does a good job but it's work to get the original turf broken through. Something a little more aggresive to break up the sod the first few passes would make it go faster. A land plane or box blade with scarifiers would be good to get the sod broken up with my money on the land plane as a better all around impliment.
Once the sod is broken through, the landscape rake will move it around as you wish and will smooth and level the remaining dirt very well. I've never used a box blade for grass prep so can't help there.
Another option, and the way I'd strongly cosider if it were my land, is not to remove the original sod at all and just spread dirt across the whole area, filling in the ruts but leaving the "good" spots more or less intact. This will get the grass back way faster than seeding and keep your root structure in place for some errosion control. If you go that route a landscape rake would be the ticket. It's a tool you'll find plenty of work for after this job is done.
Any way you do it, looks like you have plenty of seat time ahead of you:beer:
Kelly
A power rake is the tool of choice for preparing land for grass but as you've found they have a hefty price tag new. They are generally only used by pros because of the cost. The fact that small businesses in a very competitive industry buy them despite the price tag should give you an idea of how well they work! As long as the overall contour of the site is ok, they will take care of small imperfections like tire and smaller runoff ruts. If you have ruts more than 6-8" wide and deep it may need help.
After the lawn is done the power rake is out of a job, in the grass anyway. Thay are VERY good for gravel driveway maintenance. This is hard on them and your wear parts will feel it. Oh, and when used on gravel they are REALLY loud!!! Beyond that it would sit most of the time. If you can find one cheap enough It'd make that 18 acres go about as fast it could be done and you'd have a great surface for your seed.
The landscape rake (with gage wheels) does a good job but it's work to get the original turf broken through. Something a little more aggresive to break up the sod the first few passes would make it go faster. A land plane or box blade with scarifiers would be good to get the sod broken up with my money on the land plane as a better all around impliment.
Once the sod is broken through, the landscape rake will move it around as you wish and will smooth and level the remaining dirt very well. I've never used a box blade for grass prep so can't help there.
Another option, and the way I'd strongly cosider if it were my land, is not to remove the original sod at all and just spread dirt across the whole area, filling in the ruts but leaving the "good" spots more or less intact. This will get the grass back way faster than seeding and keep your root structure in place for some errosion control. If you go that route a landscape rake would be the ticket. It's a tool you'll find plenty of work for after this job is done.
Any way you do it, looks like you have plenty of seat time ahead of you:beer:
Kelly
