Soil Leveler Made From Cultivator

2003 - Volume #27, Issue #4, Page #40

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If you have a shop project you've been putting off, take a lesson from Peter Klassen, Altona, British Columbia.
  "I recently converted an old cultivator that I bought from an auction sale years ago into a float for leveling and smoothing fields before I seed them to grass," Klassen says.
  He purchased the field cultivator for less than $100 just for this purpose, but then, he says, "My plan was never quite complete and I just never found the time to get it done."
  One of the hold-ups was that he wanted to be able to control the depth hydraulically, and he couldn't come up with a design he liked. Then last year, he ran across one that was similar to what he had in mind.
  "I was still short of time, so I took it to my brother-in-law for help," he says.
  Together, they added 4-ft. extensions to each end of the bars on the old 10-ft. cultivator, making it 18 ft. wide. Then they added new 18 in. shovels on the toolbars. Flush on top of the shovels, they welded 3 by 3/8-in. thick wear plates, sloping them inward about 15 degrees.
  "To finish leveling the field, I mounted a 3 by 5 by 5/16-in. thick angle iron behind the shovels, cut 20 ft. long so it would overlap the end shovels on both sides. I added a 3-in., 3/8-in. wear plate on the bottom edge of the angle iron," he explains.
  After taking the new leveler to the field, he decided the shanks weren't strong enough, so he went back to the shop and reinforced them with chains to hold them in place. "This wouldn't have been necessary on a newer cultivator," he notes.
  Klassen says he first plowed fields to be seeded and then disked them lightly to leave a little loose soil. "Then I ran the leveler over the field at an angle to the plow furrows. It did a great job of leveling and smoothing. It is now a very important piece of equipment for me. I just wish I'd gotten it done sooner."
  Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Peter Klassen, Box 67, Altona, B.C., Canada V0C 2T0 (ph 250 630-2271).

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Soil Leveler Made From Cultivator CULTIVATORS 27-4-40 If you have a shop project you've been putting off, take a lesson from Peter Klassen, Altona, British Columbia. "I recently converted an old cultivator that I bought from an auction sale years ago into a float for leveling and smoothing fields before I seed them to grass," Klassen says. He purchased the field cultivator for less than $100 just for this purpose, but then, he says, "My plan was never quite complete and I just never found the time to get it done." One of the hold-ups was that he wanted to be able to control the depth hydraulically, and he couldn't come up with a design he liked. Then last year, he ran across one that was similar to what he had in mind. "I was still short of time, so I took it to my brother-in-law for help," he says. Together, they added 4-ft. extensions to each end of the bars on the old 10-ft. cultivator, making it 18 ft. wide. Then they added new 18 in. shovels on the toolbars. Flush on top of the shovels, they welded 3 by 3/8-in. thick wear plates, sloping them inward about 15 degrees. "To finish leveling the field, I mounted a 3 by 5 by 5/16-in. thick angle iron behind the shovels, cut 20 ft. long so it would overlap the end shovels on both sides. I added a 3-in., 3/8-in. wear plate on the bottom edge of the angle iron," he explains. After taking the new leveler to the field, he decided the shanks weren't strong enough, so he went back to the shop and reinforced them with chains to hold them in place. "This wouldn't have been necessary on a newer cultivator," he notes. Klassen says he first plowed fields to be seeded and then disked them lightly to leave a little loose soil. "Then I ran the leveler over the field at an angle to the plow furrows. It did a great job of leveling and smoothing. It is now a very important piece of equipment for me. I just wish I'd gotten it done sooner." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Peter Klassen, Box 67, Altona, B.C., Canada V0C 2T0 (ph 250 630-2271).

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