What’s in a name?
The TR3 Rake was invented in 1997 by Kevin Keigley, owner of Hydroseed, Inc., a landscape and seeding company headquartered in northern Indiana. The need for fewer attachments to carry and tractor operators who didn’t need to be as skilled, motivated Keigley to design a three-point attachment that did the work of three different ground prep tools, eliminated a lot of handwork and with just a few hours of training, could be used by almost anyone. In naming the new and patented tractor attachment, Keigley figured simple, just like his attachment, would be best, so he named the tractor attachment the TR3 Rake which stands for (T) Tractor (R) Rake (3) Three tools in one.
In reality, the TR3 Rake can replace more than three tools but they all fall into three attachment categories. In almost all ground preparation industries, in order to properly prepare the ground, you will need to use (1) a loosening attachment with scarifiers or rippers, (2) a leveling attachment which either allows the tractor operator to shape the ground or smooth it out while following the contour that is intended and (3) a rake or finishing attachment to eliminate ruts and break down clumps of dirt. Traditionally, a landscape contractor would take conventional attachments like a disk, box blade and pulverizer to a job site to properly prepare the ground for grass seed, sod or concrete. With the TR3 Rake, Keigley made it possible to have just one attachment that performed all three functions in one tool with very few passes over the ground with the tractor.
Truthfully, anyone who needs to loosen, level and rake dirtmaterial could use the TR3 Rake. Obviously, because it was invented to help with seedbed preparation, landscape contractors are a natural fit for this innovative tool. But, like many innovative or unique things in life, the TR3 Rake found a couple of strong niche markets that have made it a must have for those industries. The TR3 Rake and its many different models have become the world’s most popular Equine arena drag. Equestrians all over the world have found that the unique features of the TR3 Rake and the ease of use to produce perfect horse arena ground, has made it the best arena drag in the market; and with over 20,000 equestrian owners of the TR3, who can argue with them! The second niche market for the TR3 is property owners who have gravel roads. The indestructible frame, paired again with the ease of use in loosening, leveling and raking, makes the TR3 Rake worth its weight in gold when it comes to maintaining a gravel road. Owners swear that there is nothing on the market that can compare when bringing a gravel road back to life.
Referring to the TR3 Rake as innovative, unique or one-of-a-kind is not a misrepresentation of its design. The TR3 Rake holds two U.S. patents. The first U.S. patent is for the “floating drag bar” and its position between the finish rake and the ripping teeth. This drag bar floats over the contour of the ground and is heavy enough to knock down high spots and automatically filling in low spots. This leaves a beautiful grade behind and if anyone needed to move more material for more of a rough grade, all that needs to be done is to lock the blade down and now it works like a traditional box scraper.
The second U. S. Patent is for the stabilizing tires. These tires are positioned in the middle of the frame and aligned with the grading blade. This tire position gives the tractor operator more control over the depth of the scarifiers or loosening teeth but most importantly give the tractor driver the ability to push backwards with a perfectly balanced TR3 Rake and use the finish rake like a blade. This allows the TR3 Rake to move material by going both forward and backwards.
Well, the TR3 Rake isn’t really a secret, it’s been on the market since 1997 and has nearly 50,000 satisfied customers. But it may feel like a secret because there is no way anyone has seen it at a tractor dealership. Early in the life of the TR3 Rake, Keigley and his partner Scott Holmes decided they wanted to build a business around the TR3 Rake with a sales model that was different than traditional dealer distribution. They feared that if they put the TR3 Rake into tractor dealers, it would simply be seen as one of many attachments available to the public and because it was unique, would easily be overlooked. So, ABI Attachments, Inc. was founded, and a direct selling model was established. With a significant Google and trade show presence, along with leveraging industry leaders, ABI Attachments has made the TR3 Rake easy for consumers to find and one of the most sought-after tractor attachments on the market.
