Anybody have or use a landscape rake for their skid steer? I was wondering how well they work? How do the teeth hold up? do they wear fast? How fast can you move while using it? Thanks
I use an FFC Preparator. I have had 3 of them over the years. They do a great a job. They are heavier than Rock Hound type an work better in hard soil. I found the best addition to the rock rake is a scarifier. Regardless of the brand they work better and last longer if the ground is worked up some. Rototillers make the ground too soft, the machine sinks and it collects too much dirt. The scarifier loosens the ground allowing the rock rake to be more effective at leveling the ground and collecting rocks. Tooth wear is acceptable. Try not to use it as a tilling attachment and the teeth last longer. Everyone has their favorites. A lot guys like the Harley style rake. I have never tried one. The Preparator does everything I need it too.
I use a Harley rake, I've tried other brands and styles of rakes but I like Harley best. I've had mine 4 or 5 years and the teeth are at least 1/2 life or better, one or two have been knocked off. It takes a real good beating and doesn't break. Depending on how rocky the soil is, I can be graded and ready for seed in 2 or 3 passes, more if it's real bad. Again, conditions and your skill level will determine how fast you can go, for the final pass on level ground I can go nearly as fast as the machine will go. It's been a good investment for me, I use it not only for lawn installs but also to grade driveways or any other area that needs grading.
The one I am looking at is a used LR18B from Cat. Anyone have any experience with this kind?
we have the same rake your looking at, it isn`t bad but the material has to be dry and if it is too soft, it will collect LOTS of dirt, as for speed, ther recommend like 1 to 2 miles per hour in REVERSE , if your doing a big area it can seem to take forever, but it is nice when your done.
We have a Bobcat 4A landscape rake. I love it. You have to go slow and it does a real good job of picking up the rocks and fluffing the soil. I have used a Bobcat leveling rake and I do not like it at all. It just windrows the rocks off to the side and then you have to come back and scoop it up. The rake collects everything in the bucket and you just go dump when she is full. It is definitely worth the money.
Help an ignorant one learn. Ive never really been around these. When you guys talk about teeth, are these replaceable? Or is it something you would be able to weld on similar to the drum of a milling machine with replaceable tips?
How do they work in different soils? Do they only work good in top soil?
if you are talking about the rockhound type rakes, they do a good job down to 3/4" and occasionally smaller rocks or dirt clods. The teeth are not really replaceable but you could weld a new one on. they do not wear very fast. The weak link is the bars. They are crap and about $340 each. The chains are fairly sturdy but the links can and do come loose. The 5b and 6b series from Bobcat, rockhound, etc., are heavy but they are very versatile but as someone else posted, you want to work in dry material. they very, very expensive to repair if you damage tooth bars or chains by picking up something too big that gets wrapped in the chain drive. They hydraulic motor is strong enough to twist those tooth bars which are hollow and made of thin material. That is the only weak link I have found in years of operating one. We just scrapped one after 5 years because the cost to rebuild the tooth bars and chains was almost as much as buying another used machine.
I just made one up from a bunch of large angle iron. Pointed the apex of the angles down. Not very pretty but it worked for me. I mainly just level gravel.