Here is couple of pictures of my rake setup. The rake is a countyline 5' sold at TSC, purchased june 13, 2011. The first shows the nice tweak I've developed in the last three months. Upon further inspection it looks as though the rake bar is still straight, but the frame itself has the tweak.
I fell a long since dead tree into the road, and of course it exploded on impact. I needed to get the road cleared quickly, so I used the rake to pull all of the twigs into my driveway. Now I could pick them up without having to fear getting run over by a car. Normally I just drag the twigs to a burn pile, turn around, and "doze" them into the pile by backing up. I think this is what you're trying to do.
Just an update. I was in TSC last weekend looking at the tow behind sweepers. An associate walked over and asked how she could help me. I brought up the rake issue and asked how they are warranted. She told me to email her a description of the problem and a pic so that they could make a determination. 2 days later, my replacement rake is on it's way.