Turning a boxscraper into an aerator

[NoTrespassing]

Just a thought, has anyone ever thought of or tried to convert a boxscraper into a heavyduty aerator? It seems like the frame is all there and a guy could buy some parts to add on fairly easily.

Kevin

 

[RonR]

Great idea! Might need to measure to make sure there is enough room under the frame and ahead of the blades.

I'm thinking of building an aerator of sorts. My plan was to cut some star shaped disks out of 5/16" plate, weld them to some hubs, put that on a shaft in a frame and hope it would work.

Manufactured aerator spoons cost about $2.50 each and you'd have to have a complex mount to mount them, so that price would add up.

I've thought about finding an old farm type rotorary hoe and using those wheels as diggers. Not sure how well it would work in a lawn.

You are correct in that the box blade has all the structure. I would think that you could buy some bearing carriers that would bolt up to your side plates, then you would have to cut a slot for the axle and bearings to drop out of when you wanted to remove it.

An interesting idea.............. THKS.

Ron

 

[bebster]

You'll need a place to put some weight on top, so that whatever digs into the ground will penetrate the soil. This might require some added frame on top of the box to hold cement blocks or bags of sand.

I recently upgraded from a basic aerator (John Deere) that I used to pull behind my lawn tractor that was essentially star-shaped disks. These dug little holes into the turf and did a decent job. The stars don't need to be that large in diameter.

But the new attachment I got is a 3PH Frontier core aerator which has hollow steel rods for cutting plugs out of the soil. The diameter of the rods on the center shaft are at least a foot. This will create much more ability for turf roots to grow I suspect. But each of these hollow rods must be welded onto a support structure and then welded onto a rotating shaft. More involved project, but better performance too.