Feldmann Turf Vent aerator + stand project

[wrooster]

Pictures should tell most of the story.

This is the 2nd time I have used it (~2acres total, today I just did the back yard), first time was last fall -- it works well and appears to be a pretty sturdy attachment for the price. There are grease zerks on each pair of tines for periodic lubrication.

The concrete weights are available in the Home Depot/Lowes masonry aisle for about $5 each -- they are pre-cast deck supports and weigh about 45 pounds each. They haven't jumped out yet, although I may fashion some sort of hold down.

As with any TPH-mounted plug aerator you can only make VERY shallow sweeping turns, otherwise you'll tear the turf up and/or damage the tines. This unit is probably the most forgiving as each pair of tines rotates independently of the adjacent ones; still, proceed carefully here. The only problem that I have had to date is occasionally a stone/pebble gets stuck in the tine end, and I have to use a hammer and a screwdriver to pop it back out.

For the winter I had it standing in/on the cardboard supports that it was shipped with, but they started to sag badly and when the tines were about to hit the garage floor I decided to put some scrap wood to good use. You can see the cardboard supports in one of the pics below. I may add a set of casters to the stand as well.

Regards,
wrooster















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[Johndeere3720]

Wow, that sure did a nice job on your yard. I like the stand for it, very clever.

[art]

Have you got any stones in your lawn to contend with?

[connor77]

Great stuff Wrooster. I'm considering the same aerator but read about some issues with top link and the opening being too narrow for top link "eyeball". Did your aerator require any modifications like removing top link eyeball or were you able to attach it without any difficulties?

[wrooster]

Have you got any stones in your lawn to contend with?

I think you need to define what you mean by "stones" since they vary from geographic area to area.

If by "stones" you mean pebbles the size of your thumb or smaller, yes I have some. For various reasons (expelled from driveway by snow thrower, brought in with fill dirt or topsoil, etc) I do have a random number of stones scattered about -- which as I mentioned in my initial writeup occasionally get jammed into the end of the tine and require extraction with a screwdriver and a hammer whack.

If by "stones" you mean larger cue ball, baseball, and football sized stones, no, I don't have any. Because the TPH (or at least *my* TPH) does not provide downward pressure, only the weight of the aerator and it's carried ballast are on the tines. If the tine strikes an object which can't be perforated, one of two things is going to happen: 1) the entire aerator is going to "ride up" and go over over the object, or 2) one or more tines are going to be damaged.

In my case I noticed this effect once after pulling the aerator too close to an old tree that had hefty roots up near the surface of the top soil. As you can imagine I'm sure the tree didn't appreciate this, but the aerator "rode up" over the root and carried on. Inspection at the end of the day did not indicate anything amiss with the tines. While perhaps not "commercial/rental duty", this aerator is actually pretty stout.

Incidentally, the aerator manufacturer sells replacement tine wheels.

Regards,
wrooster

[wrooster]

Great stuff Wrooster. I'm considering the same aerator but read about some issues with top link and the opening being too narrow for top link "eyeball". Did your aerator require any modifications like removing top link eyeball or were you able to attach it without any difficulties?

I thought you'd never ask!

When I purchased this unit last fall I recall reading a lot of posts about the problem you mention, and thinking to myself "either those people can't read and follow directions /or/ the manufacturer *must* have sorted this out already since 87 bajillion people have called them about it".

I received the unit, which does in fact require a bit of assembly work (none difficult, just a lot of bolts), and after putting it together I discovered I WAS IN EXACTLY THE SAME PREDICAMENT AS ALL THE FOLKS IN THE POSTS I HAD READ.

No need to panic, but I did make a call to Feldmann and asked them about compatibility with (what was to me) a "normal" toplink eye. The guy I spoke to swore up and down that I was the first person to ever call them about this. I was quite incredulous at this, to say the least. In fact, I emailed him a pic of my issue, along with links to two other threads here on TBN with the exact same issue. From their response you'd think I had just discovered a home-brew cold fusion process which in addition to giving off copious amounts of energy also creates the precious metal Unobtainium, or something of that nature.

Anyway, while they went off and "worked on" this problem I had already solved it and was busy making holes in my lawn. You simply need qty 4 large diameter washers and a piece of 3/4" or 1" diameter pipe about 1.75" long.

Use the washers at the bottom attachment of the TPH "uprights", and the pipe as a sleeve to the bolt at the top of the "uprights", and the result will be that your toplink w/eyeball will fit without problem.

Refer to the attached pictures; you can just see the washer used as spacers at the bottom of the uprights, and clearly see the gray pipe used as a sleeve at the top of the uprights.

Note that there is really no stress on the pipe used as the sleeve; I used an old piece of antenna mast, and you could even use a piece of PVC or ABS pipe.

Regards,
wrooster

[wrooster]

I FORGOT TO MENTION:

If you have a built-in sprinkler system, turn it on briefly and mark the head locations with colored mark-out flags. I have no doubt that this aerator (or actually, any aerator) will do irreparable damage to a sprinkler head if you run it over with the tines.

Regards,
wrooster