Engineering advice needed

[Egon]

Okay enough.
You have moles and a rough pasture. Rolling will not make it smooth nor will it eliminate the rodents. It will help compact the soil which is not desirable. Moles usually like pastures which are overgrazed or near the end of productive grass growing life.

That said forget the packer, it's too big for your tractor, and cultivate the pasture. With no food source the moles leave. The cultivation procedure will smooth out the pasture and the newly planted grasses will be a great improvent over the existing pasture.

 

[MossRoad]

MOLES! The man said MOLES! Not GOPHERS!!! MOLES!!!

I hate moles, could you guess?

 

[638]

The reason for cutting out the ends is two fold.

1. It will reduce the overall width of the roller.
2. I want to use one end for a fire pit as discussed in another thread. Setting up on three nicely curved legs, I think that it will look great on my flagstone patio.

I'm leaning toward the idea of using a through pipe for the axle with another short pipe welded inside each end reaching about 12" inside of the tank for reinforcement. That will negate the welding stresses on the axle at the end plate. Will also weld on a donut shaped reinforcement plate on each end. The greased pipe bearing is a great idea and will save several bucks. This property is not at the house but rather at my work shop. Its not just the moles that are the problem. The lot is about 2 acres and is so d**ned rough it beats the crap out of me when I mow. Its also on a slight grade and would wash out badly if I were to try to smooth it out any other way. So far as hurting the grass, I would'nt mind if I didn't have to mow quite so often. I had 5 3/4 inches of rain day before yesterday. Had just smothed out the back yard at the house last week and sowed 150 lbs of grass seed. I bet that the ditch that runs behind my place will be the best looking ditch in the county. Thanks for all of the ideas, guys

God bless

Ron

 

[Egon]

Just curious on the terminolgy used for Moles.

Where I grew up Richardson Ground Squirrels were caled gophers.

Gophers were called Moles.

We had no Moles in the geographic area.

 

[bx23barry]

Ground Squirrels, gophers and Moles are all different. Ground Squirrels are squirrels that live in holes (sometimes connected) like prairie dogs. They come out of the holes and eat surface growth. Gophers and moles live underground, eat roots and tunnel. Moles tend to tunnel very near the surface and raise the ground while gopher’s tunnel deeper not leaving trails. It least that is what I hear.