Electric Lift on an Aerator

[chzuck]

I have a 48" Agri-Fab Aerator that I would like to install a Cub electric lift on. Has anyone added an electric lift to their aerator? Looking for ideas.

[JMotuzick]

Just an idea, why not put a brinly hitch on the front instead? Use the tractor to raise and lower as needed? I would guess it would work best on a tractor with hydro lift though.

[chzuck]

I agree, it would be better for a hydro tractor. I may give it a try, putting the electric lift on the aerator. I am getting older and reaching back there and lifting the weight of 4 concrete blocks is hard on the muscles and back.

[DaveKamp]

Post a picture of the aerator, Charlie!

I've been making actuators for miscellaneous things lately... amazing what a guy can power with a bicycle chainring, some chain, a drive pinion from a garage door opener, and the guts from a discarded cordless drill...

[chzuck]

aerotor.jpg (11.2 KiB) Viewed 14094 times

This is a web photo of the aerator I have. Engineering is not one of my talents. I think the Cub electric lift is not strong enough to lift it directly. I use four 8" concrete blocks for weight.

[DaveKamp]

So is it the Agri-Fab 45-0299?

If so, it appears that the hand lever operates a shaft that rotates the wheels' swingarms to lift the unit.

If this is the case, then a lift on the tractor's 3-point will not do any good- the implement wasn't designed to be lifted off the ground with it's tongue... you'd need to find a way to rotate those wheels....

Which still isn't a difficult thing... a mechanism can be made to do this, and it can be done electrically from a switch on your console, using the tractor's battery, but in order to MAKE an electric lift mechanism, one needs to have sufficient interface dimensions and motion geometry.

YOU might not feel you have the capacity to do it, but if you were standing in my driveway, with the aerator in the back of your pickup truck, WE could fab it up in short order, no problem.

Doing it over long distance is a challenge, but it's not impossible. Get good pictures, lemmie see it from a bunch of different angles, and focus on how the current lever mechanism makes that axle swing.

[chzuck]

I really hate to bother you. I am sure you have enough projects.