cultipacker/ribbed roller

[missourihick]

I have been tossing around the idea of building a cultipacker out of old car wheels all stacked and welded together. I think it'd work ok but I would like to use car hubs on the ends so it'd have good bearings. How to put the lug nuts on inside with the hubs on? I could bolt the hubs on before the last wheel was welded together ,but how to get it apart to service the bearings? I want this roller to put behing a home made harrow I built out of truck springs and a piece of 6" pipe.

 

[Villengineer]

This is how I would do this: 1st press, or sledge, the studs out of the hubs. 2nd buy some Gr5 bolts the same thread size as the original stud threads. These should be long enough to pass though the hub flange, the wheel center, and achieve at least full engagement in a nut. 3rd buy some Gr2 nuts, since tou really shouldn't be putting much force on the threads they should be strong enough and are easy to weld. 4th bolt a wheel to the hub to center it and properly locate the bolt/nuts. 5th weld the nuts in place to the wheel center. 6th dissasemble and weld the wheels up. You should be now be able to bolt the "cultipacker" to the hubs from the backside of the hub. Hope this helps.

 

[chim]

You may want to look at a design that allows some independent movement of the wheels so it can follow contours?.................chim

 

[art]

Using wheels unless flattened out will give you quite a hilling machine depending on soil. I don't know how much good it will do for the soil as your highest lbs per square inch will be on the edge going into the ground. That will give you a lot of compaction and depending on what you are growing will hinder the root growth to some degree.

 

[cowboydoc]

I sure agree with Art on this. As cheap as those cultipackers go at sales why not just buy one at a farm sale and hook it on to the back of your harrow?

 

[missourihick]

Got ya. Put the studs on the outside wheel and bolt the hub onto it. Thanks.

 

[missourihick]

I know they'er cheap and probably better than anything I can build, But I have the time right now and material just laying around. I've got probably 50 old dodge pickup wheels and only one dodge pickup. Besides my son is just learning to weld and it'd be good pratice for him.. Most of the ground here is flat,but I've got a habit of being the first in the field in the spring and plowing a little wet,the roller breaks up the clods better,it doesn't take very much.

 

[Jethro]

Do you think welding pipes lengthwise along the hubs would remedy the hilling effect?

 

[missourihick]

The ribs that cut little grooves are what makes it work. It cuts grooves about an inch or so deep and gives the rain a place to go without washing away the dirt,it also cuts up clods of mud.

 

[rambler]

I was concerened about the design as well, but you are not using it as a cultipacker actually. That's good, I can't see it doing anything but harm as a true cultipacker....

--->Paul