Homemade Towable Food Plot Seed Roller

[VT Outfitter]

I made a homemade roller to pull behind my ATV. I used a heavy duty plastic 55 gallon drum. I cut a hole in each end in the center of the drum. I then pushed a metal pipe slightly smaller than the hole I drilled. Then I made a frame out of leftover hardwood floor planks to connect to the metal pipe on each end and around the drum. Then I made a drop pin connection point to hook onto the ATV draw bar. I fill the drum half full of water through one of the screw caps on the top of the drum then replace the cap to hold the water in. Water will leak out where the metal pipe goes through the drum until it brings the level down when it will stop leaking for the most part. The drum half full (or so) with water and the hardwood frame weighs about 200 lbs. It works well to pull over a well prepared food plot bed to push the seed down for good germination contact.

 

                                                             

                                                             

                                                             

[Red]

That looks pretty swift

[Cabin Fever]

Nice! I wonder if sand, gravel, or pea stone might work better than water? Just a thought...

[VT Outfitter]

Nice! I wonder if sand, gravel, or pea stone might work better than water? Just a thought...

I thought about using cement, sand, and gravel while planning to build this roller. What I was trying to achieve was a light weight rig during travel. With the drum empty and un hooked from my ATV of course, I can throw the roller around like nothing even carry it one handed off the ground with ease. If I filled it with gravel, though it would be heavier for rolling over the food plot, it would be heavy all the time. Heavy to hook up to the ATV and heavy to transport in or out of my trailer. So, I bring a garden hose with me and fill the drum with water half way, until it starts leaking out, after I have it hooked up to my wheeler and ready to go. I drive slowly to the plot, sure I lose some water out the holes in the end of the drum. But that's ok cause I have 40 lb cement buckets I can put on if I needed to. So far I haven't needed any extra weight and the amount of water lost seems to be very small. When I am done rolling the plot down, I can just un screw the cap where I filled it, drive forward until the hole is so it will leak out to empty again. I even thought about putting the water in a basin tub for those dry years when the food plots need water, as the drum will carry 22.5 gallons. But we have had no lack of rain in my area in the last few years, that is for sure! Thanks for the thought and participating on my post.

[moog5050]

Creative. Nice job

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Nice job. Buddy of mine did something similar but on his first outing a shone poked a hole in it. he now has pea stone in it.

[G-Man]

good idea, but sunlight really makes the plastic in barrels brittle after a time. you'll hit a rock and it will crack like an egg. but you should get a few years out of it.

[VT Outfitter]

good idea, but sunlight really makes the plastic in barrels brittle after a time. you'll hit a rock and it will crack like an egg. but you should get a few years out of it.

It works well enough, that with your heads up I am going to look for a spare barrel to put in the basement. Thanks for the tip G-Man.

[nybuckboy]

Funny you should show this as I have been thinking of a way to tow behind my New Holland TC25D. It has a rear wheel footprint of 60 inches. I have a few nice 14 to 16 inch logs that I was gonna cut to 60 inches and find the center on both ends.They are relatively the diameter on each end.  Pre drill a hole... using a large lag bolt, install a ring, then a large washer (bigger then the ring) put the large lag bolt through them and ratchet into the log. Then hook a draw bar between the 3 pt hitch and add a chain or cable to the ring on the lag bolt. Thoughts????

Edited August 4, 2014 by nybuckboy

[VT Outfitter]

Funny you should show this as I have been thinking of a way to tow behind my New Holland TC25D. It has a rear wheel footprint of 60 inches. I have a few nice 14 to 16 inch logs that I was gonna cut to 60 inches and find the center on both ends.They are relatively the diameter on each end.  Pre drill a hole... using a large lag bolt, install a ring, then a large washer (bigger then the ring) put the large lag bolt through them and ratchet into the log. Then hook a draw bar between the 3 pt hitch and add a chain or cable to the ring on the lag bolt. Thoughts????

I am not sure of your building steps. But I think if I understand right, you want to connect the log ends to the tractor with chains. My guess is the log would dig the plot up when cornering. If you made steel arms for connections to the tractor, it should work. The log should be heavy enough to bed the seed, problem is it might be a bit cumbersome to move around by hand. But if you use the tractor bucket to move it around then no issues. Good idea. 

[Culvercreek hunt club]

for anyone that is looking for another option I am going to use a 12" sonotube or even better a 12" diameter corrugated metal pipe (so it has ridges like a real cultipacker). center a 1" diameter steel pipe in the middle using plywood templates and stand up like a soda can. fill with concrete. should be about 86 pounds per foot of roller. A 4' roller will be just shy of 350 pounds. Then a frame to pull it.

 

Sonotube should be about $25-30

It should be about one 50# bag of concrete mix per 6" of roller. $2.50 a bag. so about $20 in concrete.

 

I am doing this way so once at camp it won't walk. no way to empty it.

 

[nybuckboy]

I am not sure of your building steps. But I think if I understand right, you want to connect the log ends to the tractor with chains. My guess is the log would dig the plot up when cornering. If you made steel arms for connections to the tractor, it should work. The log should be heavy enough to bed the seed, problem is it might be a bit cumbersome to move around by hand. But if you use the tractor bucket to move it around then no issues. Good idea. 

yes you have the  the idea. Perhaps a tow bar of heavy angle iron and attach the chain directly to the lag bolts. OR Possibly weld from angle iron a 3 sided square with support corners and attach directly to the lag  bolts.  

[VT Outfitter]

for anyone that is looking for another option I am going to use a 12" sonotube or even better a 12" diameter corrugated metal pipe (so it has ridges like a real cultipacker). center a 1" diameter steel pipe in the middle using plywood templates and stand up like a soda can. fill with concrete. should be about 86 pounds per foot of roller. A 4' roller will be just shy of 350 pounds. Then a frame to pull it.

 

Sonotube should be about $25-30

It should be about one 50# bag of concrete mix per 6" of roller. $2.50 a bag. so about $20 in concrete.

 

I am doing this way so once at camp it won't walk. no way to empty it.

When I find a good deal on a small Farmall tractor, this is exactly what I am going to make. Actually make a 3 or 4 of them and just leave them on site. Great idea, I hope it works for you. Do you think that the ridges will make much of a difference as opposed to smooth? I know a traditional cultipacker is designed that way, but so far I have not seen a bad trait from using the smooth barrel roller that I made. Good luck this fall!

[VT Outfitter]

yes you have the  the idea. Perhaps a tow bar of heavy angle iron and attach the chain directly to the lag bolts. OR Possibly weld from angle iron a 3 sided square with support corners and attach directly to the lag  bolts.  

My guess would be you will find it works better with a solid frame rather than a chain on each side. But it is a very low cost experiment, so if it don't work, try modifying it a bit. Have some fun with it and I hope it helps you put in some great plots for this fall.

[chiefbkt]

for anyone that is looking for another option I am going to use a 12" sonotube or even better a 12" diameter corrugated metal pipe (so it has ridges like a real cultipacker). center a 1" diameter steel pipe in the middle using plywood templates and stand up like a soda can. fill with concrete. should be about 86 pounds per foot of roller. A 4' roller will be just shy of 350 pounds. Then a frame to pull it.

Sonotube should be about $25-30

It should be about one 50# bag of concrete mix per 6" of roller. $2.50 a bag. so about $20 in concrete.

I am doing this way so once at camp it won't walk. no way to empty it.

I'm building a similar culti-packer only using an 8" corrugated metal pipe. I'm going to cut it to 5', put a ~2" metal pipe in the center and fill around with cement. Then I'll run a smaller pipe inside that and weld a bracket together so it can be towed behind the wheeler. We all gonna post pics when they're finished?

[WNYBuckHunter]

Funny you should show this as I have been thinking of a way to tow behind my New Holland TC25D. It has a rear wheel footprint of 60 inches. I have a few nice 14 to 16 inch logs that I was gonna cut to 60 inches and find the center on both ends.They are relatively the diameter on each end. Pre drill a hole... using a large lag bolt, install a ring, then a large washer (bigger then the ring) put the large lag bolt through them and ratchet into the log. Then hook a draw bar between the 3 pt hitch and add a chain or cable to the ring on the lag bolt. Thoughts????

We are going to build a roller wide enough to cover the tracks of my side by side, which is 60". We dont need to transport it much, so we are thinking of using a chunk of old culvert pipe cut to length, filled with concrete and a length of pipe in the center, if we dont end up building a cultipacker of the same length.

[VT Outfitter]

Great ideas guys, I a going to try it for next spring with the plastic corrugated pipe filled with concrete for each of the food plot areas. This way I can just leave them on site and not have to move them.

[greg54]

Good job...nice work

[ants]

Good idea. Looks like it would work just fine. I think you're right to stick with water for weight. Once you fill it with sand or gravel it will be a bear to move around, when you want to transport or store it. And if you want to empty the sand or gravel out, make sure you have the day off. LOL!!!