Idea for an 8 foot wide lawn roller

   / Idea for an 8 foot wide lawn roller #1  

tc4020

New member
Joined
Mar 5, 2005
Messages
10
Location
Oklahoma
Tractor
Branson 4020
I have working over an old pasture to make it into a yard by rototilling, raking rocks and harrowing. Now I'm almost ready to replant bermuda. But first I want to roll the ground to get it really level.

The problem is I have a Branson 4020 tractor which needs 72 inch implements to cover both tire tracks. And I haven't been able to find a 72 inch lawn roller. But I did find that TS has 48 Agri-Fab rollers on closeout for $104 each and I have been thinking about using 2 at a time.

My idea is to build a bar hitch that would connect to my trailing links and be long enought to weld a connector (ie like the end of the drawbar) on both sides. That way I could hitch both rollers up at the same time. I'd have a little gap in between the two rollers but otherwise would cover an are outside my tires.

I'm wondering though if I'm going to have them colliding with each other when I turn?

Anybody have any thoughts on this or a better idea?

Thanks.

Tony
 
   / Idea for an 8 foot wide lawn roller #2  
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I have working over an old pasture to make it into a yard by rototilling, raking rocks and harrowing. Now I'm almost ready to replant bermuda. But first I want to roll the ground to get it really level.

The problem is I have a Branson 4020 tractor which needs 72 inch implements to cover both tire tracks. And I haven't been able to find a 72 inch lawn roller. But I did find that TS has 48 Agri-Fab rollers on closeout for $104 each and I have been thinking about using 2 at a time.

My idea is to build a bar hitch that would connect to my trailing links and be long enought to weld a connector (ie like the end of the drawbar) on both sides. That way I could hitch both rollers up at the same time. I'd have a little gap in between the two rollers but otherwise would cover an are outside my tires.

I'm wondering though if I'm going to have them colliding with each other when I turn?

Anybody have any thoughts on this or a better idea?

Thanks.

Tony )</font>

I never thought it'd be a topic of discussion, so I didn't take any pictures before cutting up the roller I'm talking about....

Back in the day, it was a commonly held belief that turfgrass on a golf course had to be rolled to be flat and healthy. That was before the time when it was accepted that compaction HURTS turfgrass.

We had this old roller at work that was 2 seperate rollers, much like you're talking about. They were a pair of 5' wide rollers. They were "ganged" into a tandem hitch that had the one on the right slightly ahead of the left one. They over-lapped by about 4". With that configuration, it would only turn sharp to the right.

I've got one section at the house nowdays, to roll sod after it's laid (on some of my new lawn installs....)
 
   / Idea for an 8 foot wide lawn roller #3  
Rolling won't make it level because it doesn't move dirt from high spots into low spots. Sounds like you need a drag or landscape rake.
gabby
 
   / Idea for an 8 foot wide lawn roller #4  
Have to agree with Gabby. I have a 7' roller, made from 24" pipe. Mine weighs in at 2200 lbs full of water. A few things a roller is good for, compaction, rolling over a bead of freshly bradcasted seed. Mine has yet to level ground. On loose level ground it will pack it and take out some minor imprefections. Bottom line here is I think for your application it's going to work. Get the ground level first, seed the ground, run the roll , wait for nature to take it's course. Good luck.
Chris
 
   / Idea for an 8 foot wide lawn roller
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Gabby, didn't express myself very well...lawn is already level but I want to roll to prevent it from getting rutted now that it's pretty fluffed up. I'll seed then roll.

But I've been thinking. Those two roller only weigh about 900 pounds each and are 48 inches long. So the weight per foot is only a little over 200 pounds. The tractor weights nearly 5,000 pounds so the wheels are going to make a deeper impression than rollers and I won't accomplish anything if that's right.

Or is that right? When you guys have rolled ground before if the roller doesn't outweigh the tractor do you get smooth ground or ruts?
 
   / Idea for an 8 foot wide lawn roller #6  
Ruts are left when you try to roll with ground that has to much moisture. To dry doesn't leave ruts, but doesn't conpact real well either. You need a balanced moisture content for YOUR soil. Finding that will take some fussing in your soil and seeing what it is going to take to get the job done. I suspect someones clay will be way different than my sandy soil with a DG base.
Chris
 
   / Idea for an 8 foot wide lawn roller #7  
I used my 72" Howse Farm Blade with the cutting edge turned around and the top link shortened all the way to do the final smoothing on my lawn re-do. It worked great and is very smooth.

Of course, I may have over tilled the soil (according to IndyDirtFarmer) 'cause I tilled three times (it was a rental and I thought I better make sure I tilled it "good"). I then had to let it sit for a month while it rained non-stop. Then I used my Box Blade and Rock Rake and to roughen/loosen the top inches of soil back up and then smoothed it all out with the Farm Blade. I think the key to my success (I think I was successful) was waiting for the right soil moisture content. There is a point where the soil just crumbles "right" ( not too dusty and not too clumpy) and that seemed to make all the difference.

The perrenial rye grass is now growing strong and all I have to do is spend some time on a few bald spots. The weather is warming up into the 80's this week so I think I should get some good growth.

You might want to try the Farm Blade it worked for me. My Farm Blade is pretty heavy too (400 pounds or more) so that helped
 
   / Idea for an 8 foot wide lawn roller #8  
General Welding makes 72 inch lawn rollers and I believe they will do custom also. I bought one of their 48" rollers last year and it is nicely made. Very heavy duty and should stand up well. Hoelscher also makes nice rollers - but expensive - and they make one up to 95" wide.

Hoelscher Rollers

General Welding rollers
 
   / Idea for an 8 foot wide lawn roller #9  
They should 'trail' behind their hitch find and not colide. If they do colide, drill a couple holed on the side frame onthe insides on each roller ( I have one of those.. nice roller ). then get a thick piece of bailer belt, or even the tread from an old tire.. make a big "U" shaped piece and bolt one side to each frame. The rubber will still let each roller flex up/down fromthe other to follow terain.. but will keep them roughly parallel when turning.. Make your tow point able to swivel.. like a pintel hookup, so they can make a sloping turn, and not a fixed attachment point.. otherwise they will drage somewhat sideways on a turn.

Soundguy
 
   / Idea for an 8 foot wide lawn roller #10  
I ganged three 4' rollers together to get about 11' of coverage. Works pretty good. See attached. I built a new frame for the front roller to gain strength and an attachment point for the outer rollers. Also extended the attachment bars of the outer rollers.
 

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