Anybody build a homemade brush rake?

Swawpy · Post by **Swawpy** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 12:46 pm

Hello- I am wanting to build a brush type root rake and just looking for ideas for a 40 straight blade dozer. Looks like most brands are made from 1 1/4" for the teeth and 5x5x1/2 square tube...seems a little overkill for a 40 or 420. I want to build one that pins to the top or sides and can still back-drag with the blade. I think it would be nice if it secured halfway or so down the blade and could be lifted and folded back against the top of the blade and secured "UP" (then you would not have to take it on and off for a quick cut). Any Ideas or pics?

Thanks

Willyr · Post by **Willyr** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 4:41 pm

Do you mean a "Rock Rake / Landscape Rake"

Swawpy · Post by **Swawpy** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 5:05 pm

Not quite, although that would be handy down the road. More of an industrial style blade mounted rake that can root up stumps and brush and make piles...more for the clearing land stage. The teeth usually are 10-15" and spaced about 16" so you push the brush, roots, and stumps and the dirt falls through.

JD440ICD2006 · Post by **JD440ICD2006** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 5:59 pm

How about something like this? Construction Implement Depot (CID) in Denton, NC, builds these for skid steers. Depending on the width, it could be attached to a blade. Maybe a hinge at the top so that you could flip it up to use the blade.

Swawpy · Post by **Swawpy** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 6:38 pm

Yes- that is similar to what I have seen. Anyone ever had one on an old 40 or 420? It would in no way walk through stumps of any size, but I think it would be real handy on a 420 for sneaking between trees and clearing brush, branches, limbs, and maybe rotten stumps. It could probably have half as many teeth though...

JD440ICD2006 · Post by **JD440ICD2006** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 8:20 pm

Looks like it would be a fun and not too complicated project. Square tube, flat stock, a torch, and a 220V stick welder.
I am in "rebuilding" mode right now but I will likely design and build one at some point.

Swawpy · Post by **Swawpy** » Thu Feb 24, 2011 7:40 pm

The biggest thing I'm wondering is how husky does it really have to be for 24 hp? I know these little crawlers always surprise me with what they can accomplish though. Would 1"x3" bar be overkill for the teeth? Better overbuilt than under for sure but the weight can sure add up fast. My idea is to somewhat "skim" a couple inches down rather than bury 12" of teeth and try and rip roots and such.

Ray III · Post by **Ray III** » Thu Feb 24, 2011 10:42 pm

No such thing as overkill, they may not have horsepower but they are still tracked machines with enough gear reduction to break things.

Do you have a 5 roller track to handle the weight though?

Funny seeing this thread because I have been thinking of building one too. John Deere made one that goes on the model 62's lift arms in place of the blade, but good luck finding one. A taller one would be better anyways for pushing brush into piles, as one tends to find that being able to push doesn't come in handy when all the sticks are coming at you.

My idea was maybe buy a sheet of 3/4" or so steel and torch cut it into 4' long curved bars/teeth assembled into something like JD440ICD2006 posted a picture of, that can be hung on the existing blade and pinned in place.

Swawpy · Post by **Swawpy** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 12:20 am

I think we are on the same page RayIII. My crawler is a 4 roller with a fixed Holt blade that cannot be removed from the arms. Same idea though...pin it at the top- easy to remove and can still backdrag and it would pivot foward while reversing and help clear the teeth. My next project would be to build an upper grapple of sorts with similar curved teeth so that brush and such coulded be picked up and carried. My Holt blade can raise about 4 feet or so and it would sure be a sweet arrangment to be able to carry brush, stumps, and/or chunks of log. Mine also wears a Carco winch on the rear so I would have a bit of ballast...I should be able to carry quite a bit if I could keep the brush and such somewhat light and clean of dirt and mud. I have visions of being able to fell a tree, limb it, gather up branches and limbs down both sides, put a squeeze on with the grapple against the rake/blade to carry the mess, set a choker and suck the log up tight with the winch, and haul the whole works out in one trip. These are about 12-15" doug firs so not real big or heavy logs.

Post by **Lavoy** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 8:54 am

Remember it has to be strong enough to stand all of the crawlers push on just one tine if you hook a stump or something. The factory bruch rake is about 1 1/4" plate for the tines if I remember correctly.
Lavoy

Willyr · Post by **Willyr** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 9:21 am

One for sale here in Maine for 1500. Its been posted for quite a while now so you might be able to get it for less?

http://www.unclehenrys.com/init/classif ... %232757523

JD440ICD2006 · Post by **JD440ICD2006** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 9:30 am

Thanks for posting, that would be an easy design to build.

digitup2 · Post by **digitup2** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 7:43 pm

I have photos somewhere of a brush rake made by my Dad we used old international plow beams they were set at 15 inches apart they were hung over the blade in a quick hookup system so you could switch to just blade in seconds .Digitup. PS I'll see if I can find the photos

Ray III · Post by **Ray III** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 10:09 pm

Been thinking about this some more and if I can afford it I would do it like this.

Make it something that hangs over the existing blade with something to lock it down, maybe an ear on each side that you can slide a bar behind the cutting edge and under the blade mounts and pin the bar in place.

1/2" by 2" strips to make the upper cage, each one 6" apart, angled forward at the top by cutting a notch in each one so it can be bent forward and re-welded. Top the whole thing off with another piece of flat stock, no spikes sticking out the top because there is nothing more annoying than getting a tree branch hung up on that that you can't get out from under.

At the bottom the strips would weld to 1" thick curved teeth torch cut out of plate so they would be curved. Hanging about 6" below the cutting edge of the blade. Then brace all of them by cutting sections of 2" by 2" box beam and welding them in between just below where the 1" stuff meets the 1/2" stuff.

Total height 4 feet.

Paul Buhler · Post by **Paul Buhler** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 10:41 am

Hi: In another life when I was logging, one of our biggest projects involved building ski trails which involved land clearing, stumping, and regrading. We tried brush blades, but found them too inflexible for our needs - too many change outs needed between pushing dirt or brush, and that when you hooked a single tine on a root, rock or stump (as Lavoy said), the load bent or broke things.

We found instead, that by planning our felling and limbing, and working the dozer blade as we pushed, we could "roll" brush pretty well and leave an acceptably clean surface ready for stumping with a bigger dozer or excavator. With practice, the brush "roll" didn't have too much dirt in it as we pushed it onto our burn piles.

That being said, I'd recommend that you try a brush rake out before buying or building one to save yourself time and money as you determine if it meets your needs as anticipated.

One other thought: If you could incorporate chisel plow tines into your design somehow, it may save time, and since they are designed for shock loads, be more durable. Good luck. Paul

JDcrawlers Messageboard

Anybody build a homemade brush rake?

Anybody build a homemade brush rake?

Who is online