12-Ft. Land Roller Has No Center Shaft

12-Ft. Land Roller Has No Center Shaft TILLAGE EUIPMENT Miscellaneous 22-5-32 "I used a length of 38-in. dia. steel pipe, the hitch off a 24-ft. Morris rod weeder, and an old combine axle to build my 12-ft. land roller. The total cost was only about $1,300," says Enoch Aarrestad, Debden, Sask. Unlike most conventional rollers, this one has no shaft through the center of the pipe. Instead, the combine axle was split in half and mounted at either end of the pipe to act as "bearings". "It works great for rolling peas and seeding alfalfa fields, pushing down stones, and smoothing out fields. It also does a good job leveling pocket gopher mounds when the ground is soft in the early spring. I saved a lot of money because commercial rollers of comparable size sell for about $3,000 and they're not built as well as mine." The roller consists of a 12-ft. long, 1/2-in. thick piece of water main pipe that had never been used. He bought a 4 by 8-ft., 3/8-in. thick sheet of steel and cut out circles to make the end plates. He removed the axle hubs from an old IH 150 combine and drilled holes in both end plates so that he could bolt on the hubs. He welded the bolts in the end plates to waterproof them. Next he used lengths of 3-in. wide, 3/8-in. thick flat bar to make six spokes that weld to the inside of each end plate. He then welded the end plates and hubs to the main pipe. He bolted the wheel rims back onto the hubs, built a steel frame, and welded it to the rims and then jointed them together. The hitch off a 24-ft. Morris rod weeder was then welded to the frame. He mounted 2-in. dia. bungs on each end plate to add or drain water. Each end plate is 2 to 3 in. from the edge of the pipe. "If I did it again I'd place the end plates out farther to make it easier to open and close the bungs," says Aarrestad. "Both end plates were welded with two full passes, both for strength and to be watertight as we almost always have it at least half full of water." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Enoch Aarrestad, Box 496, Debden, Sask., Canada S0J 0S0 (ph 306 469-4963; E-mail: enoch@net.big-river.sk.ca

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