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

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 .

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.

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.

First time using a dethatcher. Almost rented one because I won’t use it often but it was $100 to rent. Might as well buy it if you have room to store it. AWESOME job. Very very pleased with the results. I tried slow and fast speeds. Testing the results and the springs/tines held up great. Even going over uneven spots. I did not put any additional weight on top and there was no bounce at all, however next time I will to dig a little bit deeper. It created an all day job with the amount of thatch it removed. Load after load after load. I ended up using a leaf blower to help speed up the clean up process and a rake to finish. Very easy to use, it took me just over an hour to assemble with a couple of distractions, follow the instructions because there is an order to tightening the bolts to keep the hitch straight and level. Recommended 👍

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 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.

I’m the kind of guy who genuinely enjoys designing and building things and assembling products designed by others. So, when I read the Agri-Fab reviews complaining about assembly difficulty, I simply assumed these were from folks who did not have the skills or the temperament that I have and went ahead and ordered the Agri-Fab 48” tow behind lawn plug aerator, the Agri-Fab 42” tow behind lawn sweeper, the Agri-Fab 40” tow behind lawn dethatcher and the Agri-Fab tow behind 130 lb. capacity broadcast spreader. Truth be told, the assembly process was not the enjoyable and satisfying experience I was anticipating. There were several sections of the assembly instructions that were somewhat ambiguous and parts of the assembly process itself that were distinctly tedious. In addition, after assembling all four items, I was missing one of the two metal rods that support the rear of the sweeper bag. Like most of us, I loath having to call customer service and deal with the labyrinth of menu options and the inevitable and annoying AI interface. To my surprise, the Agri-Fab customer service line was answered by an actual human being, and a most polite and pleasant individual at that! What was initially a dreaded phone call turned out to be a very enjoyable conversation with a wonderful woman who not only promptly issued an order for my missing part, but genuinely lifted my spirits after a long, frustrating day of assembling the four pieces of equipment mentioned above. It’s comforting to know that should I need replacement parts in the future, Agri-Fab is there to support their customers. It was this exceptional customer service experience that I felt deserved mentioning and that’s what prompted me to write this review. As mentioned in numerous other reviews, once assembled, Agri-Fab equipment is well made and should last for many years with minimal care and routine maintenance. In an age where customer service is merely an expense to be minimized by most companies, regardless of customer satisfaction, Agri-Fab is truly a stand out. Kudos to an exceptional American manufacturer. Thank you.

I've put together a lot of products over the past 76 years and the best use for most of the assembly instructions is to help light my wood stove. Usually I think they're written by some guy in the sales department who doesn't know a screw driver from a wrench and tells me to use the "pre-drilled" hole. (And I always wonder what the difference is between a pre-drilled hole and a regular hole. ??) Let's face it, putting this thing together isn't rocket science. But with this de-thatcher, I felt the Agri-Fab guy who wrote the manual had actually built one, following the steps in his manual to see if he got it right. Nice job! And it reads like it was written by someone who passed high school English. (Sometimes I've needed an interpreter to figure out the sentences.) The drawings are top notch. Clear. Well noted. Nicely labeled. Almost museum quality art. I can't really rate the second half of the manual. It's been way too many years since I tried to habla my may through HS Spanish. I'm sure my teacher, Senior Carlson, thought the Army did the smart thing, sending me to Germany, where I didn't have to know Espanol. I did get creative and switch up the Instruction 13. I put the rear springs on first so the front springs didn't get in the way when I "tapped" the tabs down with a hammer. One firm tap made bending them with a screw driver much easier. After completing the assembly and showing off my handy work to my wife, I loaded on a few old bricks from the barn and pulled the machine around the yard. Work fine. Made quite a mess with some twenty years of dead grass to pick up. Sucked up the loose stuff into the catcher and the lawn looked pretty good. I had never been done so I ended up doing it four times. With a little fertilizer, a little water and a prayer, my place will be looking like a state park.

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.