Dethatcher

[782CC]

I did a simple mod to a tow behind. Took the hitch off, drill a little larger holes on the bars, attached to the lower hitch. Then used a chain from the lift arm down to it. Not the strongest but function in a straight line. Pretty sure I have seen others on here to something similar.

[Pauld]

Originally Posted by Sam Mac

It's JD green so it must be expensive, couldn't resist

I painted it with this.

[litlmikeyl]

I took a Craftsman 40" tow behind and took all the tow behind harware off, fabbed up an upside down T-bar to mount the dethatcher plate to via a pair of hinges. Also added a turnbuckle to adjust the angle of the tines/springs to the ground. Don't have any pictures and its tucked away in the shed yet. Should be able to get it out soon though if the weather shapes up.

It worked well enough for what it was intended to justify the time it took to modify all of it and it worked really well as a light-duty landscape rake. I've used it as much to knock down the gopher hills we get as for dethatching duty.

It didn't bounce around as much as a sleeve hitch setup and when turning corners it emptied itself out so you wouldn't be pulling a large mess of dead grass all over, which was very handy when doing the cleanup afterwards.

If I would change anything, it would be to swap out the spring tines for shorter, softer tines to make it work more like a comb or heavy brush instead of a rake. The spring tines are too stiff for the grass we have.

[litlmikeyl]

Here's some pictures of the "Leslie Sleeve Hitch Dethatcher V2.0". This time around, using no weights and downforce from the sleeve hitch itself, it did pretty well. I had enough downforce applied to have the tines always in contact with the ground - they never were able to spring back to their resting position. Even with all that downforce it didn't seem like it pulled up much of the good grass and roots. While turning the springs empty themselves of the thatch so you end up with no large piles throughout the yard.

I'd like to make a more solid frame to mount the spring tines to and add more of them. Still looking at a set of softer springs instead of these.

- Dethatcher mounted on the 100 -


- Assembly Shot. Based on a toolbar design. -


- First pass behind house -


- First pass out in the yard -

[ACecil]

Looks like it did a great job!

[zippy1]

You know, that's a darn good idea, making it come off the ground. Around here I' turning out on the gravel with my tow behind, this way just grab a hand full and raise it up.
Need to make mine dual purpose though, my buddies borrow it and neither one has anything but a tow hitch, get with the program already. But what would you expect from a crapsman and dear john guy? (fools I say)

[R Bedell]

Mike:

That is excellent and exactly what I was thinking.

[litlmikeyl]

Originally Posted by zippy1

You know, that's a darn good idea, making it come off the ground. Around here I' turning out on the gravel with my tow behind, this way just grab a hand full and raise it up.

Todd's right - that seems like one of the top "pros" of the sleeve hitch setup vs. a tow behind setup. Those springs really do a number on concrete, so one can only imagine what'd it do to asphalt, so being able to pick it off the ground easily was a big plus. Finsruskw mentioned before that you could back into corners and get better coverage.

Go for it Roland. You won't be disappointed.

[gcbailey]

This is what I have on the Kubota, but it was easily work on a Cub with a 3 point. Works great too...

http://www.cmpattachments.com/CMP_3_..._p/cmp-3pd.htm

[nashcub]

I like to use this Brinly spike tooth harrow whenever I get the chance.

It makes short work of dead grass, live grass, lose brush, roots, bushes, branches, small trees, defenseless animals... It's loads of fun!

Everyone needs one of these!!!