Creating a Sod Cutter Attachment for Lawn Roller

Project:
Making a sod cutter attachement to be used with my lawn tractor and lawn roller

Difficulty Level (Easy, Medium, Hard, Insane):
Medium

Process:
After having finished the Storage Shed for all our pool stuff, the next thing on my list was to prepare the base for our pool. In order to do so I had to remove the sod in our back yard. However, renting a sod cutter cost about $100 bucks plus a couple of hours picking it up and dropping it off again and cutting the sod by hand was way more work than I wanted to do myself. Also, I called a local excavation business and they quoted me almost $1000 to cut the sod and remove it so that was out of the question.

After some research online I saw some people that used a manual sod cutter behind a lawn tractor but since I already had a Pull-Behind Lawn Roller I figured I’d make an attachment that uses the weight of the lawn roller and the power of the lawn tractor do do it for me.

After several hours of thinking/planning and a few different tries I finally found a version that worked. Granted, it didn’t work as well as I initially thought and I ended up having to employ the help of my wife to drive the lawn tractor while I stood on the lawn roller “tongue” and engaged/disengaged the sod cutter.

After everything was said and done, it took us about 20 minutes to cut a 10’ by 20’ area. It would have definitely helped if the grass was a bit more even, but towards the end we got a pretty good handle on how to do it. Now, if I ever have to cut sod again I can just re-attach the sod cutter and save another $100 bucks! Works for me!

Videos:

Note: Please pardon the video quality; my camera was acting up and I didn't notice it until I was ready to upload the video. I decided to post it anyways to get a view of the mechanism in action

Note: Please pardon the video quality; my 8 year old was taking it for me as my hands were full

Pictures:

The main horizontal blade

The lawn roller before I got started

Another view of the lawn roller

The area that needed to be sod-cut

Cutting some pipe on the metal band saw

The sod cutter blade assembly done

Close-up of the cutting blade assembly

Test-fitting the sod cutter assembly guide pipes

Another view of the guide pipes

After the guide pipes were welded in place

One part of the sod cutter blade lowering mechanism

The lowering mechanism test-fitted

After the 2" stubs were welded to the frame

Another view of the 2" stubs

Marking, center-punching and drilling another part of the lowering mechanism

Cutting more pieces for the lowering mechanism

The finished assembly in its mid-spot

The sod cutter assembly raised to the top

Another view of the raised sod cutter assembly

The locking hook for locking the sod cutter in its down position. I did not end up using it.

Another view of the lowered sod cutter

My wife helping me with the cutting action

Almost done

Another  view of my gorgeous wife

Getting ready to clean up the sod and dirt

The way I left it when it started pouring rain

Tools:
Metal Band Saw
Drill press
Angle grinder
MIG welder
Measuring tape
Drill press
Drill bits
Cordless drill
De-burring tool
Oxy-Acetylene torch
Bench top grinder
Center punch
Hammer
Square

Materials:
4’ of ¾” x ¾” steel pipe
2’ of 1” x 1” steel pipe
3’ of ½” solid round bar
Six cotter pins
12” of ¼” by 2” flat bar
12” of 3/16”  by 1-1/2” flat bar

Cost:
$15.00

Time:
6 hrs

Savings:
$100.00 each time I user it

Conclusion:
It works great. It does require two people to operate but that could probably be eliminated by putting some extra weight on the lawn roller tongue.