Cyclone Rale alternate hitch

[jmarkwolf]

I've owned a Cyclone Rake yard vacuum for about 8 years now. It works well for vacuuming up all the leaves my oak trees deposit in my 1.2acre yard every Fall and cleaning up the yard in the spring.

However, I've never liked the stock hitch for attaching the unit to the back of my lawn tractor. The hitch consists of two clevis pins that drop vertically through brackets (see pics below). Two pins are required because of the way the factory designed the Rake to follow the tractor. The Rake stays straight out the back of the tractor regardless of how you may steer the tractor. Takes some getting used to.

I believe they did this because the big hose, between the mower deck and the big squirrel cage fan, would foul otherwise. The factory now offers a "single point" hitch option that pulls like a typical trailer but requires a longer hose with a "trapeze" to support it from dragging and bunching and different wheels underneath it. But I don't imagine the new hitch kit is "economical".

I've never liked this stock hitch arrangement because it would often bind and buck and bend the connection bracketry when traversing slopes and hills because the only compliance is the over-sized holes for the vertical clevis pins. I've been thinking how to remedy this cheesy hitch for awhile now, and I think I've arrived at a solution.

I wanted to keep the stock "two point" connection but it needs to be able to hinge vertically to allow for hills and slopes. I've scanned the inter-webs for DIY solutions, but I think my solution is more straight forward and easily implemented. I removed the factory stock "C-form" brackets and bolted up plain vanilla barn yard gate hinges from Tractor Supply ($7 each), then fitted up 1.5in angle iron on either side of the hinge with a horizontal 7/16in clevis pin through each hinge.

Seems to be working fine so far.

Hope it's of some use to forum users.