Unique equipment

Unique equipment<p>Is why contractors don't all produce the same product<p><br>Any lawncare contractor can go and buy the newest most expensive equipment but so can your<br>competition. Most of you guys out there are in this state of confusion.<p>For the last few months I have been in search of a wide area core aerator to use on sports fields.<br>My options were few a 1.$1200 JRCO job sorry no way 2. A Cantoo type creation made from a home depot brinley hardy modified to mount to a jrco bar and pushed by a mower 3. A 36” aerating sulky<br>Sold by a Chicago firm. None of the above really fit the bill.<p>But some times you just get lucky. I just bought a 20 year old Dedoes greens aerator 48” wide<br>3 pt hitch set up off a local golf course for the salvage price of $40. The unit is made up of three drums<br>mounted to one axle in which the hollow tines protrude from the drums. The cores are pushed inside<br>the drums where the rotation just breaks them up and the dirt falls thru the wire mesh sides.<p>So this PM is fabrication day. With some help I am going to turn this thing into a sulky I can pull behind any of my mowers. Yesterday I bought a trailer ball it fit on the walk behind and<br>A trailer coupler to mount on the aerator and took an old seat and mounting plate from a dead garden tractor at the Local toro dealer. In a couple of hours a fabricator friend of mine will turn all<br>that junk into a fine piece of equipment that NO other contractor has available.<p>With the addition of this 48” aeration sulky to my fleet I will be able to dethatch with a<br>Jrco tine rake bag the thatch with a 52” Toro with a metal bagger and extension and then<br>Aerate leaving no cores behind in just one pass.<p>I have a Polaroid and will take some pics of the unit in action later today and will post<br>some this evening.<br>

 

From great minds come...... . Good luck and I hope it does what you want. For $40 you can't go too wrong.

 

Very cool, I'm waiting to see it.

 

Three pics are up at <br>http://www.delphi.com/prolawn/messages<br>under the message Dedoes aerator.

 

Now add a fertilizer spreader to that and you'll have exactly what I drew on a piece of paper 3 years ago, difference is you made it and I didn't!<p>Homer

 

<p>Good job Stone. That things looks productive. Some of the tines look bent but cant tell for sure. Are they oriented either forward or back by design?<p>Also, I suspect you will be stressing the tranny pretty good pulling you, a bagger full of thatch and three drums with cores inside. Do you need a supplemental weight rack for good penetration or is the unit heavy enough?

 

I love it! A few questions though. How do you raise and lower the aerator? Or is it always in the &quot;working&quot; position? Do you have to run ballast in the front to compensate for all the weight in the rear? Also what engine and how many ponies on the Toro? <p><br>

 

Homer the toro in the pic doubles as a sprayer/spreader. You can see the controls<br>mounted on the dashboard.<p>Turfquip the tines are mounted in swivel<br>bases. I don't see how there will be much more driveline stress vs. a regular sulky.<br>The seat needs to be moved back as far as possible.<p>Jason-It does not hurt the asphalt but you<br>have to &quot;walk&quot; it across any roads.<p>This will be used mostly with a 62&quot; toro which is very front end heavy so it should be a good match. It is very easy to pull, a<br>12 hp engine will pull it around.<p>The previous owner did say it did not pull a<br>real long plug when used as a 3 pt hitch unit. With 260 lbs of ballest it should perform properly. During a short testing session it pulled 1 1/2 to 2 inch cores.<br>This unit need to be used right after a rain or the conditons will be very dusty for the operator.<p>What I can do is just mow in two directions<br>to aerate a field completly.

 

It looks good.<br>While you are getting the seat moved you might want to weld a short bar across the tongue for your feet.

 

Interesting contraption...needs a grog cup holder.