Bluebird Aerator

[adawg88]

I am getting ready to aerate my lawn, which is about 1.5 acres, so I want a pull behind aerator. All that seems available around here for rent is a Bluebird TA12 - 48-inch model from Home Depot. I have a basic John Deere 17-horsepower GT275 garden tractor to pull this thing with. However, the Bluebird Web site says to use an 18 HP tractor with it. I think when you consider the safety factors they build in I should be fine. However, the guy at Home Depot says that they tell people to have a 20 - 25 HP tractor to pull the thing and that a friend of his with a 17HP hydrostatic screwed up his tranny and had to have it rebuilt trying to use this thing. My lawn is flat, no slopes or hills to go over.

Anyone have experience with these things? Can a 17 HP Deere pull this? Should I just water really well leading up to using it and not put on all 5 water jug weights?

Any thoughts from you pros are appreciated!

[LandscapeMasterpieceGA]

dont waste your time with a pull-behind model, rent the 20 or 25 inch powered model, it does a MUCH better job

[PaulJ]

If you have a Garden tractor made to handle implements it should be OK but if it is just a "Lawn" tractor meaning lighter duty be careful

I pull an aerator and several other things with Husky(murry) 18hp gear drive and it keeps going and going.

[rodfather]

We have the model you are referring to and you will definately not want to use the 5 weights with that size garden tractor...it is just too small. We use a 25 hp Toro Groundsmaster to pull ours.

[adawg88]

I am a little nervous about pulling the 40" blue bird behind my mower, so I have been considering a walk behind. All that is available around here locally is a 19" blue bird walk behind...seems that is what all the rental places have. My yard is 260x260 (67,600 sq. ft.) and luckily very flat - would someone who has never run an aerator before be able to do 2 runs across the yard without killing themselves? I'd like to think of it as good exercise, but if this is just a pipe dream, I'll keep looking for other alternatives.

Your input is really appreciated.