The home made wide area aerator

[lawrence stone]

Thread starts here.

"The Frugal Agronomist"

[GrassMaster]

reply

Welcome to the Lawnservicing Forum Community Mr. Stone!

He's a well Known Mover & Shaker in The Green Industry!

I look Very Forward to Your Very Informative Post.
I'm Sure you can Enlighten a Lot of Us! <img src=icon_smile_cool.gif border=0 align=middle>

It is Known By Many that Mr. Stone is a 1 Man Show, Working 4 days a Week, but using his Tried & True Methods he Can Out Produce any 2 Man Company Out There Working 5 & 6 Days a Week!

He as Always Works Smarter, Not Harder!

Have a nice Day & I Wish You the Best in Business!
Since 1996 - Lawn Care Service Business Resources
GrassMaster - WebMaster & This Forums Administrator

[lawrence stone]

reply

Any opinions on taking a Toro walkbehind less mowing deck and making a 48" drum aerator mount to the front. The drum can and will be filled with water.

Do you think I can steer this thing for the aerator will be a rigid mount? Just looking to use it on nice flat sports fields and stuff.

Do you think it will like turn in say a 20 foot radius?

Since the deck is off there should be room to be able to use taller and wider drive tires.

"The Frugal Agronomist"

[Scaper-S2k]

reply

Stone, I doubt that Toro would be able to turn a 20 foot radius with such a contraption on the far front end. If the spikes go in first, they will be "driving" the front casters. So it seems to me that you could only turn if you got to the end of the pass and put the Toro in reverse. Then the casters would be steering the aerator. Even with that, I think the spikes would rip the ground quite a bit.

I think the easiest method that is similar to what you want would be to buy one of the aerators you pull behind a small tractor. Put the larger tires on the Toro rears to raise the unit up. Put a "drop hitch" on the Toro. Then hook the aerator to the back and drive it like a Velke. You will need extra weight even above yours.






Don't Fear the Green!

[lawrence stone]

reply

The aerator is already set up as a sit down sulky. It is too rough on the body. I could make it a stand on aerator/sulky.

Yes the aerator will rip a bit if turned sharply. I think the machine will push it on the level if the machine is set up right.
All the power is going to the transmission w/o the pto operating.
A new traction belt and late model spring loaded idler pulley is a must.

You state the aerator will be far out. This will not be the case. I was going to mount the aerator as close to the front of the mower as possible. I figure a stand on sulky will help put weight on the drive tires. Once I get it moving it should be no problem. It does not have to turn on a dime for the sports fields.

If fact it has the small 13.5" drive tires and they will have more pushing power being smaller. If I could get 4 mph I would be happy.
With the small tires 4.5 mph is high gear.

If I can get it to work I will have taken about $1500 in a walk behind and a drum core aerator and make a usable piece of equipment.

At a 60% production rate it will core 60K square feet per hour. About the size of a football field. So at $1.50/1ksqft you are making some nice change.

Now match that up with the stone a green spreader sprayer and you have two machines the will maintain sports fields in about 2 man hours per each field.



"The Frugal Agronomist"

Edited by - lawrence stone on Apr 20 2002 4:14:31 PM

[Scaper-S2k]

reply

The problem would be when you are done aerating. Well possibly. I'm assuming the aerator pivots up and down like a hinge and not side to side. If that's the case, the tines will always be touching the ground, even on concrete. If the areator is not going to pivot up and down then the tires will be no good once the aerator is moving.

What about this. Being that the front casters probably will not help out, why not remove the entire front frame of the Toro? Bolt the areator to the sides of the drive unit just like the mower housing frame was? I would consider hooking it up so that it does not pivot up or down, but solid just like the deck frame was. With no front end, and no casters, you could easily turn that thing by just throwing it in reverse and turning a little, then forward and up about 5 feet, then reverse and turn some more. Doubt it would tear up the ground that way. Depending on the weight setup and how close to the engine, the tires could become the fulcrom just like a tetter todder. If the aerator was right off the front, it could weigh about 250 pounds and I bet you could still almost hop that thing up on its back tires with your weight on the handle bar. It would still push the weight into the tines and only lift when you applied pressure.

Just something I thought about today that might help.

Don't Fear the Green!

[lawrence stone]

reply

My original thought was also to remove the entire deck including the carrier frame and sell that deck.

Then use the part of where the frame mounts to the traction unit as a template for the aerator mount.

Yes the mount will be rigid. The amount of water in the aerator controls the depth of the tines.

The tru core 48" grate poker is 115 lbs dry and 360 lbs with 32 gal water. I think a working weight of around 250 lbs could be a start.
For a reference a 52" mowing deck weights 190 lbs.

With a hydro type sulky I can push off with my legs to get it to start from a dead stop. I will be transported along with the ride on spreader on the back of a trailer so transport over hard surfaces will not be an issue.

What's nice about this set up is you only replace the drum in the future when it wears out.


"The Frugal Agronomist"

[Stephan Schwebke]

Ancient post - Inventive Man!!!

Holy Shintos! This guy is inventive!

God Bless,
Steve, Smart Lawn Care