Lawn Roller Help
- Thread starter TigerfaninAR
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RSKY
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2003
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- 2,475
- Tractor
- Kioti CK20S
My Dad made a lawn roller from a culvert like that about thirty years ago. I borrowed it one day not realizing how heavy it was. I loaded it in the back of his pickup with a boom pole on his 4600 Ford tractor. Couldn't understand why the front end of the tractor felt so light. Got it home and rolled it out of the bed of his pickup. It bent the tailgate. Next I hooked it up to my 10-hp Craftsman mower and started across the yard. Went down the first small hill and as soon as I started uphill the mower stopped with the tires spinning. I blamed it on the grass being wet. I waited until the grass dried out and the mower still wouldn't pull that roller uphill. I finally figured out to go across the hill at a slant and got the yard rolled down. It worked very well. I worked afternoon shift and when telling the story at work one of the guys asked how big it was and I called home for the wife to measure it. It weighed more than 1000 pounds.
Took me three days to figure out how to load it back in the truck to take it home. I really don't remember how I did it but I remember being glad to have all my arms and legs uncrushed and unbroken.
Dad had put the culvert on its end with a centered thick metal pipe thru it driven into the ground on one end and held in place by some boards at the other end. I have no idea how many bags of quickcrete he poured into that thing. He was always one for overkill.
Once the quickcrete set up he pushed it over cut the pipe off nearly flush, put another greased up pipe thru the first one for an axle, welded a frame to the ends of the second pipe that attached to a hitch for his Snapper Comet mower. The Comet couldn't budge the thing on anything but level dry ground. Only thing he could pull it with was the tractor. Since the tractor tires tore the ground up more than the roller could level out the experiment was a failure. He used it on his yard once, I used it on my yard once, and it has sat in the stables ever since.
I am going over there today to stand Mom's Snapper on end so she can change the blade and clutch (Dad died 29 years ago, Mom is 86. I am not allowed to change the blade, only sharpen it.) I had been thinking of using the thing to level and pack the ground when I put in a gravel driveway for my daughter. I will take pictures and post them.
You can figure how much your roller will weigh by figuring the volume in cubic feet times 146 pounds.
Take care.
RSKY
Took me three days to figure out how to load it back in the truck to take it home. I really don't remember how I did it but I remember being glad to have all my arms and legs uncrushed and unbroken.
Dad had put the culvert on its end with a centered thick metal pipe thru it driven into the ground on one end and held in place by some boards at the other end. I have no idea how many bags of quickcrete he poured into that thing. He was always one for overkill.
Once the quickcrete set up he pushed it over cut the pipe off nearly flush, put another greased up pipe thru the first one for an axle, welded a frame to the ends of the second pipe that attached to a hitch for his Snapper Comet mower. The Comet couldn't budge the thing on anything but level dry ground. Only thing he could pull it with was the tractor. Since the tractor tires tore the ground up more than the roller could level out the experiment was a failure. He used it on his yard once, I used it on my yard once, and it has sat in the stables ever since.
I am going over there today to stand Mom's Snapper on end so she can change the blade and clutch (Dad died 29 years ago, Mom is 86. I am not allowed to change the blade, only sharpen it.) I had been thinking of using the thing to level and pack the ground when I put in a gravel driveway for my daughter. I will take pictures and post them.
You can figure how much your roller will weigh by figuring the volume in cubic feet times 146 pounds.
Take care.
RSKY
OP
TigerfaninAR
Gold Member
Cool info, thanks. I know the thing is heavy as is without filling with concrete. My land is very flat so no worry on slopes etc.