Agri-Fab45-0299 48" Tow Behind Lawn Plug Aerator with Universal Hitch; Designed to Pull Behind Lawn & Garden Tractors

OK, here is the low down. This thing Rocks! Most lawn companies would have charged me $150-200 to aerate my yard. With 1 use I’ve broke even. Hope to get many years of use from it. It’s well made. It’s does take up a lot of room so storage may be an issue. It’s also very heavy. Warning: Those tines are SHARP! Be very carful moving it around. The axel with the tines could easily be classified as a deadly weapon.First of all, the install.- Wear GLOVES! Seriously! Wear mechanic glove anytime your touching the Sharp points. I was very careful and still managed to cut myself. Wear GLOVES! Trust me,- I used an air ratchet to tighten most of the bolts. All the nuts are the type with nylon threads and using a hand ratchet would have taken a lot of extra time. You don't have to get them super tight, but believe me your wrist will be tired.- Speaking of install time, it took me about 1.5 hours.- Many of the bolts are very similar in size. Very confusing. Instruction were ok, not great. Pay attending to how the metal tray fits onto the axel. It’s a very important step and very easy to screw up.- Get someone to help you place the tray onto the axel. With those shape tines waiting to rip the skin off your hands, an extra set of (gloved) hands makes things a lot safer.Use:- I live in Central KY and we have a lot of clay soil. First time I used the aerator it had rained about 4 days earlier. I went to my local home improvement store and purchased 4 cinder blocks (under $2 each).- I have a Zero Turn 52" deck mower. My 1.8 acres is mostly flat and few obstacles such as tree and plantings.- First, DO NOT tow this around with 4 cinder blocks on it with the wheels down (when your actually aerating the wheel are retracted so the weight is on the tines). If you turn tightly or bump into something the wheels will bend (the metal bracket) and the rubber lining "tread" on the plastic tires can come off (I know, I learned the hard way, thankfully it was an easy fix). It’s ok to have 4 cinder blocks on it while aerating, it’s very well constructed but the little plastic tires really can’t take the weight.- I did a perimeter mow without the aerator attached. I mowed around trees and our fence, anywhere it’s a tight space or your maneuvering close to objects. Next, I attached the aerator and started mowing. It's best NOT to make turns any greater than 45degrees left or right. This thing is wide and a zero turn can turn on a dime and could damage the aerator.- DO NOT back up. It seems it’s not made for this.- This aerator works great! I used it 4 days after the last rain and I was getting 2-3 inch plugs. Ideally 1-2 days after the rain would be perfect as long as it’s not muddy. Anyway, I was really happy with the results.-I suggest the first time you use it, stop after 10-15 minutes and recheck bolts to make sure they are all tight.- When finished, hose it off to remove dirt and store it.Overall I’m happy with the purchase. Just wanted to let you know of my experiences so you don’t make the mistakes I made. With a few rules to follow (WEARE GLOVES) this will be another great purchase from Amazon.

I tried a pull behind before, but it was the star shaped endpoints. This one pulls plugs and works as well as a commercial walk behind. It locks in the down position, but does not lock in the up position which is something I will probably modify by cutting a metal notch in it. You also have to unload it to travel in the up position which is a pain. Even crossing the driveway to another section you need to unstrap weights, unload, move to other position, reload & restrap. It does make you do some planning for how to approach your lawn, but once loaded and going it works very well. Expect to spend a lot of time putting it together as nothing comes preassembled. I found one assembled in great shape for $100 after I bought this, wish I saw it first! I recommend it though.

I rarely write reviews but can't say enough about this product.Arrival - Package was delivered on time but when it arrived the box was ripped, taped and still had some holes. This thing is heavy and the boxing/packaging does not appear adequate for the size and weight of this item. My initial fear was how many parts were missing but in the end they were all there. This is primarily due to the nuts, bolts and most small parts are packed in plastic bags in smaller boxes.Assembly - WEAR GLOVES. Of course I did not at first because "I know what I am doing".......I made it through almost the entire assembly before I aerated my right hand....so wear gloves. As with anything you have to assemble its depressing when you see the shear number of parts but I have to say it went together fairly quickly....wrench set, pliers, and socket set made things easier. About the only problem I had was I accidently used the 5/16th bolts/nuts/washers where I was supposed to use the 3/8th inch bolts/nuts/washers so I had to go back figure out where I used them and swap them out for the 3/8ths. I would suggest just identify everything up front and put them in separate piles and you won't make the mistake that I did.Use/Performance - after all was assembled I took a quick trip to Home Depot and bought four 24" Bungee Cords and four 8" X 8" X 16" concrete blocks which are standard size concrete blocks. Hooked the Agri-Fab up to my riding mower, Put the blocks horizontally in order for the bungee cords to hold down the two right blocks and repeated the set up for the two left blocks Then I did my entire one acre lot in about 30 minutes. The soil in my area is clay-based but was moist from a recent rain. I consistently got 1" to 3" plugs and it did a wonderful job.Summary - this thing is very well built, all heavy metal (with exception of wheels). I did save some of the cardboard box and cut it to fit in the aerator tray to minimize scratching the tray with the concrete blocks. Next time I take it out I will probably just line it with some carpet or 1/4 plywood cut-to-fit. The only other thing I would mention is be aware that this is 48" WIDE and try to plan your turns when near the curb or patio/driveway. I made one turn a bit too wide and "plugged" the edge of my asphalt driveway but other than that I made no further mistakes. This thing should last for years, probably will have to sharpen the pluggers at some point but after doing two acres (lent it to my neighbor for his yard) the pluggers remained very sharp. If you hit a root or large subsurface stone it just bounced up a bit. Three times and this thing will have paid for itself as a rental was $75/Day. I highly recommend this as a solid yard implement and a good value purchase. Tom 6/3/2017

This thing works pretty well. My lawn looks great compared to the other yards that didn’t get aerated and seeded after the dry summer we had in Ohio last year. The ground needs to have just the right amount of moisture for it to work right, but if you own it, you can use it when the soil is right. I spent less on this than it would have cost to pay my lawn service to aerate my yard one time. The holes it leaves are great for keeping seed from washing away, and good seed is really expensive. This thing gets pretty messy, so cleaning it well takes a long time.