trailer rake

[DRH]

here are two different ideas I had for making a trailer rake.
they sure look like they should work.
I find that neither one works just right , even locked up vertically they still shudder just enough to dribble the grass underneath instead of piling it up like I hoped for.

 

[exotion]

The first one won't work first mistake is plastic rake. The second one could work for pine needles with some weight on it to stop it from letting the needles under it could use some more teeth tho

 

[DRH]

ah, that's what I was hoping for, some input on how to correct the fail.
not shown in the photo is how I had a pivoting piece on the vertical handle which locks the teeth assembly into vertical.
that part worked alright and I can pull it up with a rope to disengage the lock and then dump the pile , except I couldn't get it to make a pile.
I could add more teeth as they are a common size readily available but, I already have the upper mounting ends tight side by side so I don't know how I would add more teeth in between the existing ones.

 

[jekjr]

I toyed with that last winter extensively to rake pine straw. I had mixed results. I made one that mounts on the front of the mower that is pushed like a snowplow type blade. It appeared to work much better what little bit I got to use it. I took it off for the Summer so I could put my sprayer on the mower. Pushing it up in a pile from the front seemed to work much better wi pine straw anyway.

 

[DRH]

I should have tried mine the way it is, in the pine straw, I have lots of pine and spruce with the thick mat of needles that should be periodically cleaned up.
in the next couple weeks I will try that out.
still hoping for this thing to work raking up the extra thick layer of grass clipping, which I first windrow with an estate rake.
now that the marsh grass is growing so slow I can get by without needing to pick it up as frequently , the ground is finally dry enough and hard enough that I can use the lawn vac every few cuttings. but next spring is going to start another battle.

 

[DRH]

I would have to be carefull as to where I hung some weights on it, it still needs to flip up, I am sure something will be figured out. I can hang weight about anywhere on it to see if I can get it to work at all, then take care of positioning the weight to , not be in the way of actuating it.
any other ideas?
one place on the internet I did see one that is designed for pushing, it looked like a scaled down version of a backstop for a baseball diamond.
it still seems to me that the theory of where the tines touch the ground, they wouldn't know if they were being pulled or pushed at the point of contact.
I can see where it would be more rigid being mounted up front. no vertical hopping available.
I pretty much need this style though as my lawn is originally marsh grass. sure looks nice like a golf course when it is cleaned up of the clippings. but the stuff is so thick and grows so fast that I require to pick it up regularly. I got over 70 bales off it this summer. years ago I tried a lawn sweeper but that didn't pan out, needed to travel way too fast to get it to lift and tossed to the back of the catcher. the 6 wheel estate rake works really well but handraking the windrows into piles to pick up is too much a chore.
I wonder if that stuff would pelletize into the fuel for a pellet stove?