Making a chain link drag?

[flakrat]

Howdy all,

I need to make a chain link drag.

My tractor is a Kubota L2800 HST 4 wheel drive (29 HP, 24.5 at the PTO).

Anyone have any plans for making one of these things? I'm a pretty good distance from the hardware store, so I'd like to pick up everything in one stop (shopping list

Here's what I was thinking:
1) Landscaping timbers (rail road ties), how many?
1.a) If I can't get those, what's a good alternate?
2) Chainlink that's as wide as the railroad ties (or should it be wider)?
3) Some kind of clamp to hook the chain to hole where the ball hitch goes
4) Some chain (what size?)
5) Some way to attach the chain to the chain link or railroad ties
6) Some way to attach the weights (railroad ties) to the chainlink.

Any suggestions

 

[RonMar]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">(
Here's what I was thinking:
1) Landscaping timbers (rail road ties), how many?
<font color="red">Last one I made I used a piece of heavy wall 3' steel pipe across the front. Front needs to be heavy enough to stay on the ground while you drag it.</font>

1.a) If I can't get those, what's a good alternate?

2) Chainlink that's as wide as the railroad ties (or should it be wider)?
<font color="red">I cut the pipe just slightly longer than the chainlink..</font>

3) Some kind of clamp to hook the chain to hole where the ball hitch goes
<font color="red">You can make a loop in the middle of the chain by passing a nut/bolt/washer through some links..</font>

4) Some chain (what size?)
<font color="red">Large enough to work with the size/weight drag you are making. I used some 1/8" I had laying around on this last one but it wasn't very large..</font>

5) Some way to attach the chain to the chain link or railroad ties
<font color="red">I welded the end links to the ends of the front cross pipe. If you are using wood, you could possibly use "U" nails or large staples to hold the chainlink to the wood.</font>

6) Some way to attach the weights (railroad ties) to the chainlink.
<font color="red">I attached the chainlink to the front pipe by wraping it around the pipe and lacing it back to itself in the same fashion that chainlink fence panels are laced together. I didn't use any other weights as this was for a neighbor to smooth out her riding arena but other crosspipes could be laced to the top of the chainlink in the same fashion..</font>)</font>

 

[flakrat]

The steel pipes that you mention, are those the ones you'd normally get for a chainlink fence?

I'm trying to picture those in my head and I don't believe that they are 3" in diameter, so probably not the same thing.

 

[RonR]

I recently acquired (free) two sections of wrought iron fencing. They are probably each 8 ft long and they are HEAVY. The vertical parts are 1/2" steel. I plan to use these in my current fence, but if you could find one of these CHEAP (don't even ask about new price!), they would make a heavy drag that should last forever.

Ron

 

[RonMar]

No, not the normal fence post pipeing, that is usually pretty light thinwall. The pipe I used was probably schedule 80(1/4") wall thickness. And now that I think about it, it was probably more like 2"-2.5" Outside Diameter, this on a 5' X 5'-6' drag.

Just about anyplace that sells steel will have round thickwall tube/pipe in various diameters. I have purchased it for as cheap as .30 cents per pound from scrap recyclers. Most steel suppliers sell it by the foot and can cut to any length you want(for a price). I always rummage through their cutting bins and scrap piles when I buy steel to see if there is something in there already cut close to the length I need so I don't pay for a cutting charge

I only put a single pipe in the front of the last one to groom a sand horseback arena. Since the tow point on the back of the tractor was about 12" high, I chose the heavy pipe to keep the front down while pulling as the drag of the chainlink and the pull from the draw chains will tend to lift the front. The rest of the chainlink just flows over any surface irregularities and pulls the high spots into the low spots.

I built a larger one a few years ago that we used to pull behind a truck to groom the gravel access roads and antenna pads(four 100' dia gravel circles) at a place I worked over in eastern WA. I had two pipes on that one, one up front and one about halfway back. It was about 8' wide and 10' long.

 

[TBDonnelly]

See the attached picture for the chain link drag I made up....

Don

 

[flakrat]

Wow, that's quite a drag!

Thanks for the information, I should be able to fabricate one of these now. Some day I'll get some welding equipment and will be able to do my tractor mods right

 

[OldMcDonald]

I think that what you want to do with it makes all the difference in your planning. My wife and I move every few years to a new country and buy a few acres (the biggest so far is just over 3000) that need brought into farming use. I have several uses for such equipment on my present, smaller than usual, 16 acres, as follows:-

1) Grading out hills and hollows after tree and scrub removal, piping ditches etc.

2) Pulling soil down into a half acre depression.

3) Firming a seed bed for small grains

4) Covering grass seeds

For 1 & 2 I have the heavy 3" pipe as already recommended to you. Depending on ground conditions I might rip the land first, or put heavy harrows in front of the pipes - 2 x 10 feet pipes joined one behind the other.

For 3 I use the heavy harrows followed by the pipes before sowing, then the harrows and linked chain (about 1 ton breaking strain, a bit more than an inch for each link). 2 rows of chain kept apart by light iron drilled and bolted through the links.

For 4 I do the same as 3 pre sowing then drag only the linked chain over the seeds.


I would prefer a roller to firm the seed beds, but more difficult to make, what I have works and cost only time apart from the harrows which I hade to make from purchased steel. Old McDonald.