Agri-Fab 45-0294 40in Tow Behind Lawn Dethatcher, 20 Durable Spring Steel Tines Lawn dethatcher, Designed to pull behind Lawn and Garden Tractors, Black

Great lawn tool. Took me about 45 minutes to put it togather and adjust the height. Ran into very my front yard. It was looking pretty rough about 2 years ago. 30 year old Bermuda sod. Had a lot of runners and dead grass packed down. I ran the dethather over it once without adding any weight. It did a great job. I dont have a bigger on my mower so I just went back over it with my mower and munched everything up. I think i will give it a couple of weeks and the go over it again with a little weight added. Great little dethather for the money.

Recently purchased this dethatcher for our church lawn which is about an acre. Here is what I learned. Assembly: You'll need the following tools, a 1/2" socket and 1/2" boxed end wrench for the vast majority of the nuts and bolts (boxed end wrenches will work but just takes more work and time). A 9/16' and 3/4" wrench to install the wheels. A large flat blade screw driver to install the tines and a pair of pliers to clamp down the guide wires installed through the tines. Make sure to set aside about 1 1/2 hours or so to put it together. I set up a couple of saw horses and placed a sheet of plywood on them so I could sit on a chair and assemble the dethatcher. Follow the pictorial instructions carefully. Make sure to place the dethatcher in the same direction as the pictures so you can follow along with the process. If you look at the pictures carefully it's easy to follow. I found all parts were included and the drawings of the nuts and bolts match exactly with the size of the actual bolts, no guessing. A bonus is the bolts are grade 5 (heavy duty). When installing the tines, make sure to place the unit on a solid surface so you'll be able to bend the tine holders easily. I set mine on the concrete floor. Once I put it together I was ready to go to work. Now here is why I gave the unit a 4 instead of a 5 star rating. We have a John Deere D140 riding lawn mower. I found the hitch on the dethatcher was not long enough to reach the towing connection on the mower. I had to remove one of the bolts and move the connection forward, securing it with only one bolt. It worked, but the hitch should be about an inch longer. The dethatcher worked flawlessly. I didn't even have to add any additional weight. I was pleasantly surprised. Worked up the whole acre in no time at all removing all kinds of thatch. And here's a big plus IT'S MADE IN THE USA.

Update: Four stars to 5. Worked perfectly! However, much like measure twice cut once...start off with no weight on the dethatcher. I placed two patio bricks on it and it dug right into my yard PLUS clogged the tines! LOL! With zero weight it worked perfectly. Again however, I was able to use it and keep my grass catcher on at the same time. My problem was that the catcher interfered with the dethatcher when I turned right and only to the right. It would lift it off the ground on one side. But that issue is only mine and mine alone...usage may differ for you. So basicly, no problems and I stick to my original statements above especially that there is no reason to pay more, this is the one. They are all the same. When I did my due diligence on these dethatchers I wanted to know if they were any good. Well, most of the low star reviews had NOTHING to do with performance only on the fact that they were incapable of assembly. I mean no disrespect so don't reply in anger to me. I received the box yesterday. Damn it was heavy! That's what you get when you buy a product made in the USA. Let me jump ahead and say that if this is the "cheap" model I see no reason to spend more. However this comes from a DIY homeowner so perhaps it would make a difference for commercial use. The build....be organized....lay everything out....get the correct tools together...and READ the instructions! Keep them close by and look at the illustrations. Give yourselves a good 2 hours and have patience. I'm no rocket scientist but I do know which end of a hammer to use. At times it was a bit confusing but even if you make a mistake it's nothing you can't come back from. Yes, it helps to get ALL the pieces, which I did....identify which bolts and nuts are which...don't rush this thing. If you don't have the time to do it right then don't do it at all! That's what my daddy would say. This is a very solid piece of equipment and with care should last me till I no longer need it. I will be attaching it to my TroyBilt Tonka toy rear engine mower and my neighbor will use it on his home tractor so I'm sure you will be able to use it on your toy. I didn't refer to the youtube video but if needed it's there I've been told...I will be using it this weekend and anticipate no problems. It's a pretty straightforward piece of equipment. Good Luck all, bite the bullet, Once it's done it should last a looong time. Just keep a wrench on the bolts and you'll use it for years. Yes, I am pleased with my purchase. The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars is because I haven't used it yet. I hope to return to update .

Worked surprisingly well for the price. I did about an acre of lawn with excessive thatch, winter twigs and leaves and worked like a charm. Only negative was that I had to clean the tines (thatch and twigs) frequently (every 3 to 5 minutes) to maintain dethatching effectiveness.

Inventory of parts was fine. All part were there, numerically. Assembly instructions are wrong. The (15) hex bolt are NOT 5/16x1". They are 1/2 x 1" . Note this. In fact anything that reverences 5/16" hex heads are wrong. The (23) 5/16" Nylock nuts are actually 1/2". But the assmbly instructions state you'll need (2) 1/2" wrenches for the above parts. The other wrench sizes were identified appropriately. Do not think you can assemble this dethatcher with a couple of open end/box end 1/2" wrenches. At least (1) 1/2" socket wrench is required. Even the diagrams reference 5/16" bolts and nuts. This is plainly foolish. Once you get this thing assembled via nuts/bolts there is the matter of installing the tines. Figure 7 of page 5 shows using a flathead screwdriver to bend the tabs that secure the tines. Uh, no. Flip the dethatcher over (top up) and use a wide screwdriver or better yet a small prying tool and 'raise' or pry 'up' the tabs to secure the tines. On page 5, paragraph 14 it states to used (2) 5/16" carrage bolts and (2) 5/16" Nylock bolts to secure the lift handle to the axle bracket. I missed that because Figure 8 on the same page shows (1) 5/16" bolt/nut. Why? Once this was finally assembled (frustrating with having to find all the proper tools) it works well. BUT, do not expect to be able to reach the lift handle from any rear engine machine. Nope. Not going to happen. I loaded 45 Lbs. of weight on the top and secured the concrete blocks and a couple of bricks using bungee cords. (not included) After a good spring shower this dethatcher did what I expected it to do. It pulled up dead grass, dead weeds, new weeds trying to get established and I was pleased. I then mulched all that dead material to prepare for pre-emergent and follow up application of broad leaf herbicide. This is not a heavy duty machine. The lift handle is too flimsy and should be at least one gauge heavier regarding its steel. I'll keep it, but only becasue I had to re-engineer it and make it a worthy investment.

worked really great

Assembly was easy enough but I only used it once so I do not have an opion yet on durability. It takes quite a stretch for me to reach the handle to lower and raise the tines and I am 6' 2". The handle is a bit flimsy due to it's length, time will tell how durable it is. I used 40 lbs of old lifting weights. I did a number of modifications. I drilled holes through the tine shield and added bolts and fender washers to better secure the spring tines rather than just bending the tabs over them. I also added 2 bolts, multiple nuts and many washers to create a similar diameter, about 1/16" smaller than the holes in the weights, to hold the weights, topped off with a fender washer, lock washer and wing nut. This keeps the weights secuired with no movement and no scratching the paint. I also cut round pieces of inner tube to the diamerter of the first weight and center hloe to protect the paint further. This makes it simple to add or remove the weights by simply removing the wing nut. All of the unpainted metal was painted with black brushed on Rust-Oleum Professional Oil-Based High Performance Protective Enamel. I also used GE silicone on the handle before putting on the grip as read a number of complaits about it coming off. These added improvments took much more time to do than the actual assembly would have but I feel that it is greatly improved.

Works great for dethatching, just make sure to add some weight and go slow.

Instructions were easy to follow and operates great being towed behind our lawnmower, much better than hiring a thatcher machine!

Funziona alla grande, nel mio pratino di poco più di 50 mq ho tirato fuori un carrellino di muschio ed erba secca. Il montaggio è un po' macchinoso per i non esperti ma alla fine seguendo le istruzione ci si riesce con gli attrezzi giusti. Nessun problema di aggancio con il mio trattorino rasaerba, le molle arrivano perfettamente sul terreno, come consiglia il manuale è quasi obbligatorio appesantire l'attrezzo con dei mattoni.

Got delivery this afternoon and had it assembled in around 30 mins. Instructions were clear and easy to follow. However it's missing a galvanised bracket from the right arm, see photo, so i am unable to use it until i can get/make a new one for it. I was unable to contact Agri-fab customer services through their webpage, it just said that the URL was no longer available. The only contact number I could find was a US freephone number. Unable to review the product fairly until i can get it fixed, but looking forward to seeing how it does the job!

Took a while to assemble. Quite challenging, but no problems and once assembled does the job required

I’m a father and put many things together as like many others. I thought the Assembly instructions were clear and concise. It took me an hour. The one thing that took me a while was punching the holders to hold the springs. You need a hammer. The product worked great on my large backyard. I didn’t bother adding weight as it worked well without it. I did not need to make any modifications. The 48” model is >$100 more and I’m sure it is just as good. But the 40” is priced very good and works great. Happy with the product. Hoping it can be used for many years.