Pulling a 5300 LB lawn roller

[VOL54]

I recently purchased a New Holland TC45DA tractor (45hp, 38 hp pto, industrial tires, 4wd) to care for a 7 acre plot that is very rough. I am thinking of building a lawn roller out of a 500 gallon propane tank from plans I found on another internet site. Estimated gross weight of the roller full of water is 5300 lbs. My question is "will the tractor be able to handle the load?" Can't seem to find anything in the owners manual regarding tractor's pulling capacity. My land is combination of flat and gently rolling hills. Thanks for your help.

 

[Halftrack]

I don't think you will have any problems with this combination. If you are not sure, try it with a partial tank. When working the hills, be sure your 4wd is locked in, both up and down the hills, and try to avoid wet grass from dew or a recent rain. If there is still some loss of traction, work the hills diagonally. I use my neighbor's converted 250 gallon tank and have no problems pulling it. It is 7' wide and I sometimes think it is too wide to be effective unless the soil is extremely wet. It's estimated weight is about 3000 lbs. Another friend has a 48" wide roller made from a well tank filled with just shy of a yard on concrete. It's estimated weight is 3500 lbs and the soil can be too wet for it. It alone takes a good dual axle trailer to move and hence is seldom moved. Just some thoughts on the subject, good luck.

 

[VOL54]

Halftrack....How did your neighbor's 250 gallon tank work for you? I'm trying to smooth out an old farm field and make a smooth lawn out of it. If I thought a 250 gallon would work, I'd go with that size.

 

[Stonehaller]

I would think using such heavy rollers would overly compact the soil leading to a poor lawn. For an old farm field you may be better off working the soil with a rototiller or plow and disk.

 

[Halftrack]

After 15 years of maintaining 4.5 acres of yard, 3 of which are a 1600' runway, I would like to say I have solved the rough yard/runway problem. I haven't!!! I agree with Stonehaller that you can over compact the soil, especially in the spring, inhibiting moisture absorption and root development. To combat that situation, in the spring and early summer I use a 7' double roller culti-packer with water tanks as additional ballast. Again, this is only effective if my soil has adequate moisture to allow penetration by the "V" shaped rollers. It usually takes about 2" of rain to reach that moisture level. The cultipacker opens the soil up, splits the high mounds and moves a little dirt. If you pull the cultipacker and you hear the rollers rattling, the soil is too dry already. Typically, pulling it the length of the runway, the high ground is too dry and the low ground is too wet. Multiple passes are required to show improvement.

The neighbor's 7' LP tank although handy, is in my opinion too wide and not tall enough to be effective for smoothing the yard or runway. Even with excessive moisture, (squeezing water ahead of the roller), I have not been satisfied with the results. Under the same conditions, the 48" concrete roller will give noticeable results. By swinging the tractor hitch to the right to offset the roller, it will erase the right side tire impressions of my R4 tires. My rears are loaded with beet juice and to erase their marks is an accomplishment.

When I put the runway in, a neighbor with large equipment offered to disc the field with his 20+ ft. finishing disc, which did an excellent job of leveling. The ground had been a bean field and was relatively smooth to begin with and no grass clumps to deal with. Fanned on a fescue mix and rolled with the packer. Since then have mixed in some rye grass, bluegrass mixtures to end up with a decent lawn. If you are trying to smooth a farm field, unless you are willing to tear it up and start from scratch, dealing with possible erosion and runoff issues, costs, and bare ground problems, I would consider hiring someone with a large vibrating roller to come in and give it a try. I have threatened to have mine done and it may still happen.

I hope this little insight is helpful. Keep in mind a roller, unless large and vibrating, will move a little dirt a small amount, level the clumps, molehills and grass tufts and possibly seal the top layer more than you want to. Perhaps someone will speak up, who has had that vibrating roller in their yard and will share their observations. Good luck!!!

 

[VOL54]

After 15 years of maintaining 4.5 acres of yard, 3 of which are a 1600' runway, I would like to say I have solved the rough yard/runway problem. I haven't!!! I agree with Stonehaller that you can over compact the soil, especially in the spring, inhibiting moisture absorption and root development. To combat that situation, in the spring and early summer I use a 7' double roller culti-packer with water tanks as additional ballast. Again, this is only effective if my soil has adequate moisture to allow penetration by the "V" shaped rollers. It usually takes about 2" of rain to reach that moisture level. The cultipacker opens the soil up, splits the high mounds and moves a little dirt. If you pull the cultipacker and you hear the rollers rattling, the soil is too dry already. Typically, pulling it the length of the runway, the high ground is too dry and the low ground is too wet. Multiple passes are required to show improvement.

The neighbor's 7' LP tank although handy, is in my opinion too wide and not tall enough to be effective for smoothing the yard or runway. Even with excessive moisture, (squeezing water ahead of the roller), I have not been satisfied with the results. Under the same conditions, the 48" concrete roller will give noticeable results. By swinging the tractor hitch to the right to offset the roller, it will erase the right side tire impressions of my R4 tires. My rears are loaded with beet juice and to erase their marks is an accomplishment.

When I put the runway in, a neighbor with large equipment offered to disc the field with his 20+ ft. finishing disc, which did an excellent job of leveling. The ground had been a bean field and was relatively smooth to begin with and no grass clumps to deal with. Fanned on a fescue mix and rolled with the packer. Since then have mixed in some rye grass, bluegrass mixtures to end up with a decent lawn. If you are trying to smooth a farm field, unless you are willing to tear it up and start from scratch, dealing with possible erosion and runoff issues, costs, and bare ground problems, I would consider hiring someone with a large vibrating roller to come in and give it a try. I have threatened to have mine done and it may still happen.

I hope this little insight is helpful. Keep in mind a roller, unless large and vibrating, will move a little dirt a small amount, level the clumps, molehills and grass tufts and possibly seal the top layer more than you want to. Perhaps someone will speak up, who has had that vibrating roller in their yard and will share their observations. Good luck!!!

Halftrack.....You offer me some good insight. However, I am trying to avoid any major renovations if at all possible. I have underground utilities across the property that I would have to deal with, so I am trying to avoid tearing up the ground too much. With that being said, I have another question for you regarding the cultipacker. Please keep in mind that I am not a farmer or a landscape architect. But isn't the cultipacker, with the ridges it would appear to create, just make the land rougher?

 

[Halftrack]

I thought the same thing when another pilot in the neighborhood suggested using a cultipacker on the runway. He had been using a smaller culti-mulcher (a row of cultipacker wheels, two rows of C tines raised, and another row of wheels) on his runway. He swore by the results and I finally located the double packer and added the water tanks to it. If the soil is moist enough, yes you see the grooves and ridges, but after the first rain it all melts back together. Unless you are riding in something with very small wheels, you will never feel the ridges and driving over the ridges will help level things out. Not knowing your soil type, clay or sand or in between, or the extent of sod you have there already, it is hard to say if it will help you. Now that I have built up a substantial layer of sod on the runway, the packer is less effective than when the layer was thin. If you could borrow a culti-mulcher in your area, even a 14' one, which your TC 45 should easily pull, try it out with a few passes and see if it makes a difference.

 

[BeezFun]

I have a 5ac pasture that was formerly a bean/corn field, so it was pretty rough. Over the years what I've done is wait until the grass is really long during the fast growing time of the season, and selectively fill in rough areas with black dirt and drag it with a landscape rake. That way I don't have to reseed, the old grass is long enough to keep growing through the new cover of dirt. This takes some time and doesn't get the job done all at once, but it avoids having to replant. All depends how rough your field is and now quick you want the whole thing done.