Riding Mower Fitted With Front-Mount Dethatcher

Riding Mower Fitted With Front-Mount Dethatcher FARM HOME Lawn Mowers (31h,38) 34-3-18 Marvin Johnson increased the usefulness of his Grasshopper riding mower by mounting a homemade dethatcher on front. He uses it whenever he mows. The spring-toothed dethatcher mounts on a 5-ft. long pipe that attaches to an angle iron bracket on front of the mower deck. Johnson made the dethatcher by slipping a series of 8-in. long hay rake teeth over the pipe, and then bolting each set of tines to a length of 1 1/4-in. angle iron that's fastened to the top of the pipe. The 1 1/4-in. angle iron is bolted to a pair of 2-in. angle irons spaced 15 in. apart, which bolt onto flat metal brackets that bolt onto the deck. He drilled a 7/16-in. dia. hole in each flat metal bracket and one 3/8-in. hole behind it in the deck itself, which accepts 2-in. long bolts. The 7/16-in. bolts in the flat metal brackets were fitted with a washer and a stiff valve spring, and then were pushed down through the angle irons and brackets. "The 7/16-in. bolts need to be about 4 1/2 in. long," says Johnson. "The teeth will rise and fall as the deck goes up and down." A pair of metal braces run back from the top of the pipe to the 7/16-in. bolts to provide reinforcement. "It works great. Usually I keep the rake teeth flush with the bottom of the mower's tires," says Johnson. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Marvin Johnson, 319 N. Washington St., Lindsborg, Kan. 67456 (ph 785 227-2308).

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