Homemade Cultipacker Build

[Nailhead]

Good Morning All,

I have been browsing the interweb for some time now getting ideas for building a cultipacker to use on our few acres of food plots at the property. I got quite a few ideas from this site as well as others. My original intention was to build this nice quality showpiece with my amateur welding skill set. However this weekend I was over at my folks house and we were discussing the build and ideas. Well the redneck ingenuity of my Step Dad sparked off a good and cheap idea. He had an old piece of 2.375" downhole tubing and a piece of 2x2 angle laying around, which he was sure we could whip up a frame out of. Well he was right. Due to the recent installation of a pacemaker for my Step Dad, the welding was left up to me with my very limited practice. I think we are making good progress though and I am keeping my fingers crossed that the welds hold up. The welds are ugly, but I think they will do the trick.

We built it a little oversized, so I think it might end up looking funny with the 9.5" wheels, but as long as it gets the job done that's all that matters. It's 6' wide x 2' deep with a 4' tongue.

All that is left really is some flat stock to make a hitch, the cultipacker wheels that I will be ordering from Agrisupply, the bearings, and an axle. After we get it all together, Mom wants to pretty it up by knocking all the rust off and painting it Kubota Orange.

Can someone point me in the right direction to get some quality pillow block bearings?? I have been trying to find a source, but not having much luck. I either find the cheap bearings from Agrisupply/Northern Tool or ultra expensive. If the ones from Agrisupply or Northern will work fine then I will go that route, just read were some had issues with them. I don't mind paying for quality, but don't really want to drop a couple hundred bucks on bearings either.

 

[Baby Grand]

I used the ones from AgriSupply.
The application is not a very demanding one.
They were inexpensive and I designed the frame so they could be replace quickly.

 

[muddstopper]

I built a cultipacker out of 12in piling pipe once. I cut a cap out of 1/4in plate for each end and mounted a solid shaft all the way thru it, attached to frame with pillow block bearing. I then took 1/2in rebar and wrapped around the pipe every couple of inches. I then mounted the packer behind some disc harrows and placed a drop seeder just behind the harrows and in front of the packer. I used a pulley and belt on the packer shaft up to the drop seeder so that as the packer rolled, the seeder dropped seed. Worked amazingly well for planting pasture grass. With harrows set almost straight it would just slit the soil, the seed was dropped on top and the packer mashed it into the ground. Setup was kind of long behind a tractor, but as long as you remembered to pick it up and not try to make tight turns with it, it got the job done. 12in piling pipe weighs 49lb per ft, so my 6ft packer weighted just over 300lbs without the seed box.

 

[KFhunter]

I've got one someone made prior to my ownership of the property. It's built out of two 55 gallon drums welded end to end with an axle through it. It's got an a frame that looks like some old model A car frame and a couple pillow blocks.

Packs good!

 

[kidr]

I saw one made from a plastic corrugated drain pipe filled with cement. Not as good as one with independent wheels, but cheap and serviceable.

 

[orangeandgreen]

Consider putting a 3 point frame on the back side for transport.

 

[Nailhead]

Thanks for the replies. I went ahead and ordered the bearings from AgriSupply along with the cultipacker wheels.

There seems to be many different approaches to get the job done. Hopefully mine works out as planned as yalls have.

I believe we are going to try and make this one a flip over version. Just got to get our hands on some transport wheels of some kind. Right now the latest idea is to possibly get some used front wheel assemblies off of a zero turn mower. Step Dad thinks they might have some spares at work from when the lawn crew at the school district junks mowers and strips parts for spares. If that comes through we may try that and see what happens. We thought about a 3 pt, but we really wouldn't be taking it that far. Might add that option later if it deems beneficial for our setup.

 

[Nailhead]

Made some more progress. Decided to pick up some 13" wheel borrow wheels from TSC for the flip over wheels. I have a feeling its going to be a pain to flip over, but we will see. Might have to find a different way to mount them if it's too hard to flip. We will see. Also welded up a hitch. We are also going to extend the bearings down for the packer axle about 4" so the packer will be closer to level during packing. Plan to use a 2" receiver hitch without a ball to hook up. Going to use one with a 2" drop and turn it upside down to use on the back of the UTV. Will hopefully have it operational by the end of the weekend.

 

[PSEbowhunter]

Here's the one i built out of an old car dolly frame. I got the axle and packer wheels off from a brillion packer that was being torched for parts. The tounge is from the original dolly frame and is pinned so after it's flipped i can pull the tounge out and flip it as well. The only problem is flipping it back from packing side to transport side. Wheel location and weight didn't turn out like i wanted it too. But it works.

 

[Nailhead]

Finished up the cultipacker earlier this week, just haven't had a chance to update till now. Overall I am happy with the way it came out. It's a 2 person job to flip it over due to the weight coming down. In hindsight I should have thought the design out a little different to move the wheels forward 6"-8" so you could stand it up on end easier and move around to the other side. I think this would have made it a 1 person job to turn over. Either way I think it should do the trick. Ended up with 64" of packing width and I am estimating it to be around 400 lbs. Hopefully that gets the job done. If I need more weight I have room to weld on some expanded metal to the top side so I can add weight when needed. Can't wait to get it up to the property and try it out.