I just got done using the Craftsman 40 in. Rear Mount Dethatcher for the first time today, so I thought I would post a quick review. I realize most guys on this forum don't need to dethatch their lawns, however, for those of us that have reason to I thought this might come in handy, especially since there are no reviews of any dethatchers.

Assembly was fairly straight forward. The directions are pretty clear and easy to follow. There are several steps that clearly state not to tighten any bolts for good reason. The rear wheels need to move up and down with the unit as the hinge arm is raised and lowered; this is just one example. Also, the directions very clearly say when to tighten the bolts and move on. In addition, there are pictures that show what direction to place bolts in and how to place each of the parts together. I found the pictures to be very helpful.

Once it came time to mount the unit to my tractor (Simplicity Regent, 22/44), according to the manual, some adjustments needed to be made so that the front row of tines met the ground at the same time as the back row. This was not easy for me. The unit does not want to be level, however, I eventually "got it." I had to place the hitch bracket of the dethatcher below the hitch on my tractor, instead of in the middle, (then place the cotter pin in) because the hitch bracket on the tractor was too high which created an awkward angle. As a result, the back row of tines was not touching the ground like the front row, it was raised about 1/2". I found this to be the most difficult part of the installation.

Eventually I placed 2 concrete pavers on the tray of the dethatcher and secured them with 24" bungee cords, both were bought separately. The pavers weighed down the dethatcher so that it didn't bounce around too much once it was being pulled by the tractor. I highly recommend using the pavers.

As for the performance of the Craftsman 40 in. Rear Mount Dethatcher, I think it met my expectations. Realistically I knew it wouldn't match a gas powered unit, however, I was pleased with the amount of thatch (and grass with shallow roots) it dug up after 2 passes at 90' to each other. To give you some idea as to the amount of thatch I gathered, I filled 3.5, 40 gallon (approximately) garbage cans that were packed down very, and I mean very, tightly. That was the result of running the dethatcher over 12K of pretty dense lawn.

So, in the end I would definitely recommend this dethatcher, I believe made by Agri-fab, to anyone who absolutely needs to dethatch their lawn. It costs just about the same as renting a gas powered unit from your local big orange box store, so it pays for itself after only 1 use.