Yard Tuff Acreage Rake, 4 Tine Steel Tow Behind Dethatcher for Lawn & Garden, 48 Inch

If you look at the tines on the rake wheels, you can see that they are bent. I discovered something interesting in the way people look at things. Consider if the outer end of the tine is positioned so it looks like a greater than sign, >.My interpretation of this was that the tine was pointing to the left since that is where the last, pointy part (the tip) of it was located and what contacts the ground. The person putting this together with me thought it pointed to the right because it was shaped like an arrow.Thank goodness we had the internet to resolve this discussion, since the illustrations in the manual were entirely ambiguous. Northerntool has a manual for the six-wheel with actual photographs and better instructions and it can be downloaded as a pdf.Quite a few crucial directions were omitted. The lift arms are offset. Assembling lift arms with the offset towards inside will make a narrower space when raking. We were just happy to put it together with the hole for the chain attachment on top and didn’t consider the offset until after it was bolted on and the chain would not reach the retaining hook on the axle assembly.Once that was corrected, finding where to insert the cotter pin was funny. From the manual instructions, it appeared to insert vertically. We eventually found a tiny hole in the hook itself that runs side-to-side in the same direction as the axles. The cotter pin is the lightest weight one that I have ever seen. I’m already looking for an alternative because this doesn’t have enough tension to hold itself in place. If the chain did come loose, the pin would just bend in half.We found it helpful to attach the wheels early on and then hook the tongue to our lawn tractor. Everything was held in place for the rest of the assembly. The hitch pin is unusually small in diameter as is the hole in the hitch. This means we can’t use the same hitch pin that works on every other implement we own unless we drill out the hitch. For now we are using the one that came with the rake.The rake tine wheels are each weighted in the center. I really appreciate not needing to strap on cinder blocks to weight it down. For raking, the tine wheels should be mounted with the tips of the tines pointed toward the center, so that the tips on the left are oriented like this < and the tine tips on there right are like this >. For dethatching, they should point to the outside, ><.All in all, the rake wasn’t terrible to assemble. We needed three sizes of wrench. It worked best to have two ratcheting socket wrenches for attaching the lift arms.Enough about putting it together, does the thing work?Well, yes it does. We had it hooked up to a John Deere X360. I tried it on the lawn first. There wasn’t anything on the surface to rake since it is Spring and we use a mulching mower. It seemed to be dethatching, but really is just removed some of the recently mowed grass. The pasture was covered in long, cut grass. We had four horses eating on it and they still couldn’t keep up with the Spring growth.The rake does a nice job of forming the raked material into a single line that can then be collected. I took it slow, but didn’t have any trouble even though the pasture grass is fairly coarse. The clumps of organic fertilizer caused no problems and neither did the areas of uneven ground.Collecting the raked grass from the rows is much, much easier than raking it all by hand. In truth, I thought this was a waste of money, but after using it for a while, I'm coming around. The line of grass that has been raked is all on the top and it is easy work to come back along and rake it into piles to pick up and haul away. The grass had dried well and I've been feeding some of it to the goats.We had a few occasions where the loose grass on the ground was so thick that the grass balled up in front of the tine wheels and was just carried along. We had to stop and clear it before continuing. That grass was all in a nice pile ready to be picked up.Converting to dethatch mode is simple. Both wheel assemblies need to be removed by taking out the lock pin. The assemblies then are swapped left goes to right, right goes to left and the arms are rotated 180 degrees (flipped over). The wheel assembly arms have a longer and shorter side and the longer sides go toward the middle. On the right wheel assembly, the long arm is on the left. It is on the trailing wheel.I was impressed with how much thatch was pulled up by this unit. It is much more convenient having the thatch pulled together in the center rather than having to rake the entire lawn. I like having a tool that will both rake and dethatch.I debated whether to buy this model that is 48 inches wide or the 60-inch model. For raking and the pasture, the 60-inch would have been more efficient. I hay rake would be even better, but the cost is much higher. The lawn around the house in only about an acre and has landscaping to go around, so the 48-inch model is more useful. The smaller model won.Everything on the rake itself feels well made. The tubing a decent thickness. The tines have held up so far. Only time will tell for the long term durability, but so far, all seems good.

Cheap Chinese crap - the directions were terrible. Once it was together, I used it for about an hour then a wheel broke off. The steel in the center of the wheels is paper thin. While taking the broken one off, I noticed the other one is cracked and also minutes away from complete failure.I guess it worked reasonably well during the short time it held together. I have the ability to weld and fabricate, so I can strengthen this thing and make it into something useful. If you don't have that ability or access to it, you may want to stay away.

Easy to assemble following instruction leaflet.But there are adjustments that take some tools and time to get the right furrow of deep leafs, straw chaf, or heavy grass cuttings to not pile up between the rakes.Once you do get set up, the proper speed is needed to allow rake wheels to actually roll debris toward middle, or you will experience binding in the rakes. Slower the better.It isn't belt or gear driven like many farm grade commercial rakes, so be mindfully of spread adjustment, height of wheel rakes from the turf area, and speed so they can rake toward center. When all that aligns, there will be furrows in a row to pick up using a leaf and grass collector. Or in my case, pitch fork into a utility wagon to haul to me compost pile.It is sturdy, has great functions as your adjusted for your particular use.I clean out tines of small branches the lock up the wheels by hand, and after I am done, I pressure wash with water the frame, to keep dirt and debris off paint coat.

I bought this to try to rake my property. It is basically vacant field and grows very much like a hayfield. We mow it with a brush hog and the grass lays so thick and is a real pain. I put this together in a couple hours (it would have been quicker if the directions were clearer and I didn't have to take it apart twice). SO yeah the directions are meh. It does seem pretty sturdy and I towed it behind my subcompact tractor. The land is very rough and uneven and I could not go fast, but it did take the thick downed grass into rows. It took me 2 passes per row but it worked and that was the bottom line for me. Really only issue I had is you can not back up with this so plan your passes carefully.

I don't understand all the poor reviews. You can not just put it together and hook it up and go. If to little contact doesn't pick up, to much contact doesn't roll correctly. I strongly recommend having 2 people when using for the first time. One person pulling the rake and one walking behind judging its performance.There is are MANY adjustment that you can make and one little tweak can make all the difference in the world. 1) The tines are directional and work best when installed properly. 2) The arms are reversible set one way you get a single row to sweep up turn 180 it will just dethatch and leave 6 mini rows. 3) the lever can set the rough drop level, then adjust the threaded rod so you have just the right amount of drag. (again to little does nothing, to much just drags the ground)I also put a neoprene 1/2" spacer between the hitch and the rake to adjust the angle it pulls off my ATV or lawn mower depending on hitch height.THE BAD, don't reverse ever, pick up tines first then back up! Also wish it was made out of a better grade of steel instead of the cheap Chinese steel! I bent the main axle arm and will be taking it to a welding shop and getting them to fabricate replacement out of real steel.