Finish raking attachments?

[stuvecorp]

Out of all the attachments for lawn prep does anyone use something other than the Harley? I use the Eliminator alot to prep for lawns and haven't seen anyone else use it, we also have the TR3 tractor rake that dad uses and have always had good results.

Has anyone used the RotoDarin? Alot of times we have to till up existing grass and the rototiller kind of 'chunks' it and doesn't leave a good product to work with, anyone else have this problem? What other attachments do you use and why?

[AWJ Services]

I have had the best luck with breaking up the ground with some sort of plow or scaricifer and then Harley raking the grass out.
The Rotadiarion works about the same as a Harley rake.

But our ground is rock Hard 70% of the time with packed clay.
In the Winter when the ground is good and moist the Harley will do it in one step.

Scalping the yard first helps alot.

[RockSet N' Grade]

scalp it with a skid......rip it with a small tractor.......use a box scraper with teeth and roller to level and finish grade or if the situation calls for it, I use a skid with a preperator....

[stuvecorp]

Rock, how have you been? I have never used the preperator or seen anyone use one here. We usually rip it up with the eliminator or rototiller but looking for a better way, don't want to haul the sod chunks away any more.

[J. Peterson Grading]

I do a few different things depending on the job demands.

Mostly I use a Woods Gill. It does a pretty good job but doesn't do a good job of establishing a good root zone.

I also use a LandPride 6 shank scarifier. Its nice since you can deep till, but you still have to go back and do some sort of a finish prep pass.

for more open lots I have a Small field cultivator with a spike breaker bar and rollerpacker finishing unit. Works awesome for prep but, it tills everything up so much that the tractor will sink into the soil and leave small ruts while spreading fert and seed.
so like I sad I use it only on the more open lots where ruts wont be as noticable.

I think no matter what you do, you are always going to have to pick up some sort of debris. I think the only way to not have this problem is to Purchase a Screener or a trommel and sift you topsoil before you place it. But if you are like me, the cost out weighs the bennefits.

J.

[SiteSolutions]

I have had good results by breaking up the earth using a disc harrow and/or tiller, then letting the grass die, and then returning to put a harley rake on it. This tends to get out the lumps pretty well in my experience.

Only down side is having to come out twice, but if the customer wants it done right and is willing to pay for me to make two trips, this is a good solution.

[crab]

if you have tractor ,kuhn tiller ,done!

[RockSet N' Grade]

StuveCorp.....I am buried with work. We are leaving at 530am-6am and working 6-7 days a week. Turning work away, which seems to make those I turn away want me even more for some strange reason......We have people waiting for us to do the work, one guy called tonight and offered to bring a check by to hold a spot and we haven't even got a contract signed.......Just got out of a nightmare job (learned alot)......now on to productivity with quality........back to topic: the only thing I do not like about tilling is that it takes it too deep and it is hard to grade out deep soil. I used to use a tiller years ago.......but that just does gardens now. In our area, seed or grass/sod only needs an inch or so of loose soil to bond to, so I like the preperator for stripping debris to be hauled off or stripping a lawn out and then I like to dress it with a tractor box with a roller.......it works for me, and I am magic on a tractor....much better than on a skid - so hence, my preference in methods. For large open areas when you can just run, the preperator will make bank. I am kinda out of that because every joe in the world is out there for $50 an hour and I can't survive or fire up my rigs for that......they too will be gone shortly....We are getting alot of re-do's on rock walls (take them down and do them right), concrete walk out basements, rv pads, patio's and tough jobs that are hard to figure out........

[stuvecorp]

Good to hear that you have a good problem(is there such a thing?) with the work, hope the weather holds for you and the wagon wheels stay on.

You are right about the tiller going to deep. I would like to find something that went on the skid, don't want to make two trips and I like the skid much more than the tractor.

[tbi]

Out of all the attachments for lawn prep does anyone use something other than the Harley? I use the Eliminator alot to prep for lawns and haven't seen anyone else use it, we also have the TR3 tractor rake that dad uses and have always had good results.

Has anyone used the RotoDarin? Alot of times we have to till up existing grass and the rototiller kind of 'chunks' it and doesn't leave a good product to work with, anyone else have this problem? What other attachments do you use and why?

We use a RotoDarin and a Bobcat landscape rake. The only knock on the RotoDarin is some of the larger rocks bind it it. It does do a good job at tilling and burying most of the rock but sometimes we dress the top with a landscape rake (rockhound).

[bobcatexc]

StuveCorp

I also use the Eliminater rake on my bobcat, I have the same problem with sod, usually peel the sod away before raking. I don't do alot of this kind of work. I usually will rake out a yard I've finished graded just to help level out and make it look good, plus customers like it because they can go ahead and throw seed on it. Once I figured out the right angle's to pull the rake it works pretty good especially for $200 compared to the price of the Preperator or Harley rake.

[cantoo]

If you scroll down this thread I have pics of the different attachments that I use. The rake/dethatcher works really good to move grass clumps and break up soil. We did a big lawn on the weekend and it saved a ton of hand work. Since I made it the only hand work we do is against building and around services or trees. It will pull or push grass, sticks and stones. I am making a stiffer one for bigger material.
http://www.lawnsite.com/showthread.php?t=185239


Here are pics of my reworked Kubota tiller. It also works good but I would like to make something that will do the same job with my Steiners so I don't have to haul the tractor.
http://www.lawnsite.com/showthread.php?t=184425&highlight=redneck+harley+rake

[pieperlc]

I don't like the tiller due to the depth that it tills either, unless you can till it, let it lay a couple of weeks, then come till it again. We switched to the harley (ffc powerrake) and use that and a gill pulverizer. We seed with a brillion seeder. I wish I was a little better with the harley, because we only use the gill to take out imperfections and cover up the bald spots. I you guys have never tried the aeravator from 1st products, you should take a look for seeding. It loves try hard soil and can work it up real nice to a 3" depth. With that you could get a level seedbed and let the aeravator loosen any spots that aren't. It has the seeder box on it also. I've rented it a few times, but it's about 10k, so there isn't one sitting in the shed yet.

[stuvecorp]

Thanks guys. The tiller has worked in the past but just not the best. Alot of times I need to work up sod and if the sod chunks could be eliminated it would save time and headache. Has anyone ever used a Preseeder? It looked like it would work good, instead of the tines curving like a tiller it was straight and had a roller on the back. Unfortunately alot of the finish raking attachments are more than I would like to spend.

Here is a picture of the roller we use after finish raking and broadcasting the seed on and then mulch it. Took the little guy out on a job for the first time this year, climbed the slopes okay. Got to do a building site out at the Renaissance Faire, was a bit of a challenge fitting a 30x36 flat spot where they picked. For me it is easy to get the slope grades to work but doing the flat grades are much harder, will have to go to Kaiser's Finish Grade Academy to learn how to do it right. If the Candy lady does well I may get to go some boulderscaping to lessen the grade by the one tree.

[J. Peterson Grading]

Check out the Riest landscaper. I would love to have one.

J.

[bobcatexc]

Anybody every used a regular old gill with a 3 point attachment on their skid. I saw a guy the other day with one on his skidsteer. The problem I have with my Eliminater attachment is you have to watch in loose dry fill or it will pull the material away and leave a low spot.

[J. Peterson Grading]

I have one set up that way. Love it for slope work.

J.

[cantoo]

Here's some better pics of my Steiner rake. You could easily make one for a skid steer. Do all your levelling then hit it with this in reverse to make the seedbed.
http://www.lawnsite.com/showthread.php?t=233664
Take a look at my other links to see my Kubota tiller mod. It really does work good. The clumps and bigger stones hit the tines and drop down, the fine soil goes thru the tines and covers the stones and clumps. Cheap and easy and I can set the depth. I can also adjust the angle and use the tines to drag stones, branches and clumps to the edge out of the way.

[sven1277]

I use a harley on my asv and feel it is a good combination. For smaller yards where the soil is decent I use a 40" rotadarion behind my tractor. As long as it isn't too rocky, it does a fantastic job.

[bobcatexc]

Stuvecorp

Went out and did a usual grading over weekend and used my Eliminater attachment, got me thinking again about this post and what else is out there. I like the Eliminater for hard ground or cutting out high spot that are hard as a rock. I do alot of grading in existing yards were people want a couple loads of topsoil spread in lowspots so the problem is with the Eliminater when getting in corners of yards that aren't packed down it has to much downpressure and pulls the loose dirt out leaving low spot and having to fill back in.

Saw this attachment and reminded me of the one you have ever seen one or used it, I know they've been around on grader blades for tractors for a while. I don't know how well it would work on hard pack dirt, probably still have to use Eliminator or something to rip open then use this, but one more thing to pack around on trailer.

http://cgi.ebay.com/RAKE-SKID-STEER-LOADER-CASE-DEERE-BOBCAT-LAND-PLANE-5_W0QQitemZ200237843695QQihZ010QQcategoryZ50908QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[stuvecorp]

This is kind of old but picked up an 6' fixed angle Preseeder today, will try it out tommorrow. I am hoping it will chew up the turf so there isn't any chunks which has been a problem for me. It looks rough and I think we will have to extend the teeth as they look wore down.

[AWJ Services]

The Preseeder works basically the same as a Harley rakes.
Here the pieces of Warm weather turf are so tuff that nothing tears them completely up.I usually just take some sort of scaricefer and go over the turf then Harley rake it a few times to get the soil loosened from the grass and then rake everything to the sides of in windrows and pick up.

[stuvecorp]

Got it hooked up and works okay, definitely need longer teeth and then I'll be happy. It would be nice to have the option to angle back and forth. Found out it is much older than thought.

[AWJ Services]

I have a box blade similar to a rollover and I lower the shanks and plow the ground up with them and then run over the area with the harley rake and it works much better.

[stuvecorp]

I don't like the Harley because it doesn't go down enough. The teeth are wore down to about 1" and I think they are supposed to be more like 3". After the third time over it was more dirt than turf.

[AWJ Services]

Yes it will only go about 6 inches down.

[stuvecorp]

Yes it will only go about 6 inches down.

The 'nubs' are like 2"? Am I missing something?:)

[AWJ Services]

You plow it first and it will work the ground deep.But if you do not it will only go down a few inches.

[Construct'O]

Hy Stu what kind of tractor you got pulling that attachment anyway:confused: Power Tan must have turned Green on you:laugh:

I'm with AWJ rip it first things would work better,not a one pass operation when your working with sod.

Good luck with you new attachment:usflag:

[stuvecorp]

Hy Stu what kind of tractor you got pulling that attachment anyway:confused: Power Tan must have turned Green on you:laugh:

I'm with AWJ rip it first things would work better,not a one pass operation when your working with sod.

Good luck with you new attachment:usflag:

That's my Dad's 1020, he has had that since forever. He put lawns in part time in the late 70's and early 80's. He even had a JD tilt trailer that he wishes he wouldn't have sold. He almost bought a 1845 but thought the tractor was more versatile. He likes the 1020 better than any of the new tractors.

Yeah, I keep hoping there is a 'one-pass' solution to turf pulverization.