3-Pt. Dump Rake Ideal For Clean Up

3-Pt. Dump Rake Ideal For Clean Up RAKES Rakes (31l) 33-6-16 Dump rakes could be had for $5 a few years ago when Gabe Davidson bought his. While most people thought they were worthless, Davidson figured a way to put them to use after removing the wheels and seat. With the help of some scrap steel, he mounted the formerly horse-drawn rake on a tractor 3-pt., and the entire project cost him less than $40. "I built an A-frame with pins to match the 3-pt. arms on the tractor," he explains. "I welded the fore frame of the rake to the A-frame. This allowed me to pick it up with the 3-pt." Davidson also retained the dumping mechanism and the old cleaner bars on the rake. To take advantage of them, he mounted a pulley just under the peak of the A-frame where the top linkage connected. He then ran a light chain from the drawbar over the pulley to a ring he welded to the end of the dump lever. "When I pick the rake up all the way, the chain tightens and the basket dumps," says Davidson. "If I don't want to dump the contents of the rake, I simply don't raise it as high." Davidson uses the dump rake in road ditches and for clean up in hay fields. He says it also is perfect for cleaning up small branches pruned from his apple orchard. "The orchard is where the cleaner bars really come in handy," says Davidson. "When I raise the rake, they clean the twigs right off the forks." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Gabriel Davidson, Box 61, Annandale, Minn. 55302 (ph 320 274-8133).

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