Picked up a triplex

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Pete1313
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Re: Picked up a triplex at auction

Post by Pete1313 » October 2nd, 2016, 7:47 pm

Set up the cutting units today and took her for a spin. Cut at just under 1.5". The yard fared ok, could have been worse. The lower you go, the more obvious the thin spots become. The wife pointed out the areas by the front trees and wondered why the new mower scalped there. Had to explain they've been there for 6 weeks(ever since I nuked all the weeds there), and you couldn't tell when it was cut at 3". Mower handled all the hills and slopes very well. Can't wait to renovate next year. Going to try and get it down to 1" before winter, as I'm hoping that will help minimize the amount of raking and cleanup after the kill and scalp.
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BrianJE
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Re: Picked up a triplex at auction

Post by BrianJE » October 3rd, 2016, 8:08 am

That's going to be an impressive lawn after you renovate. How long does it take you to change the hoc on all 3 reels?

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ericgautier
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Re: Picked up a triplex at auction

Post by ericgautier » October 3rd, 2016, 11:48 am

Pete, that looks great!

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Pete1313
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Re: Picked up a triplex at auction

Post by Pete1313 » October 3rd, 2016, 3:36 pm

ericgautier wrote:Pete, that looks great!
Thanks, we will see what happens after I go lower. Surprised how the old nomix handled it so far. Definately going to have to smooth it out some before the reno and am leaning toward a bewitched monostand again, but I'm not set on cultivar/s yet.
BrianJE wrote:That's going to be an impressive lawn after you renovate. How long does it take you to change the hoc on all 3 reels?
Thanks. I backlapped, then removed all 3 and went thru them. Took notes on what they need going into winter. Spent a couple hours on them. All in all, they are in good shape, but will need some work. I imagine if I just needed to adjust HOC, I would leave the reels attached and the adjustment would only take 5-10 minutes.

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wardconnor
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Re: Picked up a triplex at auction

Post by wardconnor » October 3rd, 2016, 11:58 pm

Looks nice. I'm jealous of that triplex. Mowing short with a rotary after a reel just isn't the same.

I'm in the same boat. I bought a toro greensmaster 1000 last spring of 2016 and have been mowing with that all summer. I mow at 3/4". Labor day 2016 I heavily aerated and top dressed with 15 ton of sand. I used a 10ft drag that I made from steel. While the sand was settling and leveling I didn't want sacrifice my reel so I decided to take mower to shop to have serviced for 2017. I've been mowing at about 3/4" with my modified walk behind Honda rotary. I tell you something... It's just not the same. The reel is so far superior of a cut it's laughable... I miss that cut and stripe from the reel. So when you say that Pete1313 will be getting another reel after using a rotary I can say I understand why.

I am in the market for a triplex like yours there and am curious as to the price you paid.

I have a kgb prg lawn. Little to no weeds as it's so thick because it's so short.

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Pete1313
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Re: Picked up a triplex at auction

Post by Pete1313 » October 4th, 2016, 11:56 am

Welcome to the forum wardconnor. :hello: it's good to see another member that shares the same passion with close mowed turf. I do agree that the cut from a reel is amazing. It can be hard to photograph, but when seen in person it is truly beautiful. I had the opportunity to play on some really nice ball fields growing up, and even before I really got involved in lawncare I was always amazed at how perfect they looked. I think it was those fields that started this lawncare obsession, and I am slowly learning how to create that ballpark look and feel.

As far as trying to find a deal on a triplex, keep your eyes on auctions. Proxibid is a good place to keep checking and now is when courses will be sending their retired equipment thru.

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Re: Picked up a triplex at auction

Post by Pete1313 » October 4th, 2016, 1:29 pm

wardconnor wrote:I used a 10ft drag that I made from steel.
Care to share how you made and set up the steel drag? I would be curious to see it and know how it turned out/worked. I used basically a steel infield drag mat last year, and although it worked ok, I think next time it needs more weight and a straight flat bar mounted to the front. Maybe some angle iron.

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HoosierLawnGnome
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Re: Picked up a triplex at auction

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » October 4th, 2016, 1:34 pm

Hey, Pete (and anyone else too I suppose) - how does that thing handle mowing sharp depressions like you'd find in a drainage ditch?

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Re: Picked up a triplex at auction

Post by Pete1313 » October 4th, 2016, 1:50 pm

HoosierLawnGnome wrote:Hey, Pete (and anyone else too I suppose) - how does that thing handle mowing sharp depressions like you'd find in a drainage ditch?
It did good, I took on the ditch head on and there was only 2 passes where the heads reached the top of their float range and hit the stops. So for those 2 passes I will need to hit the ditch at an angle,stripe a different direction, or maybe try and adjust the front arms and stops to get more float. I'll try and take a pic tonight showing the worst part of the drainage ditch to give you an idea. Perhaps a trim/surrounds mower like a 2653B would handle that one spot better. As far as how it cuts the ditch, it is far better than a large deck rotory, especially when mowing the ditch head on. No more scalping at the top of the ditch and no grass at the bottom that is 6" long after the cut. Everything is a uniform 1.5". Before with the rotory I would have to mow in the same direction in the ditch to get it down to normal height and then mow the ditch head on.

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Pete1313
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Re: Picked up a triplex at auction

Post by Pete1313 » October 4th, 2016, 2:04 pm

All the way on the left is the worst part of my ditch, it bottomed out the heads on the stops in 2 passes mowing the ditch head on. I'll try and get you a better pic of it later.

PS, Pardon all the yellow flowers. It was right when we moved in. :D

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HoosierLawnGnome
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Re: Picked up a triplex at auction

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » October 4th, 2016, 3:23 pm

My wallet hates you.

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Pete1313
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Re: Picked up a triplex at auction

Post by Pete1313 » October 4th, 2016, 3:45 pm

Last year it was the Mrs', now it's your wallet! But I know someday it will be a thank you! :hello:
HoosierLawnGnome wrote:Mrs. HoosierLawnGnome is hating you right now for this......
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wardconnor
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Re: Picked up a triplex at auction

Post by wardconnor » October 4th, 2016, 5:29 pm

Pete1313 wrote:
wardconnor wrote:I used a 10ft drag that I made from steel.
Care to share how you made and set up the steel drag?

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I will take some pictures of it and show you it to you all. It works very well and will be using for years to come. It does not work that well however if the grass is long.

Using this site is awesome and I love reading posts but its slightly hard for me because when I use my desktop computer the site won't let me access because it thinks I'm using a proxy when I've verified that I'm not using the websites that turf toes recommended we use to detect a proxy.

It's hard for me to use the site and post because I have to do it all on my smart phone using Verizon data. When I try to use my desktop using Internet from my ISP it detects a proxy.

Please excuse any typos as I have to post from my phone and we all are aware of auto correct and how awesome it can be at times.

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Pete1313
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Re: Picked up a triplex at auction

Post by Pete1313 » October 4th, 2016, 6:06 pm

wardconnor wrote:I will take some pictures of it and show you it to you all. It works very well and will be using for years to come. It does not work that well however if the grass is long.
Looking forward to seeing pics. I agree, leveling does work better with shorter grass. My plan next year will be to try and smooth it out more without adding any sand. We will see how it goes. After I scalp(hopefully to .5"), the plan is to do rounds of heavy aerating of 10% affected surface area, letting the cores dry a bit, dragging them back in, water the following week, and roll a week later. By coring 10% to a 3" depth it will bring about .3" of soil to the surface to move around. It will fill back in some holes, but hopefully fill in some lower areas as well. I will try that a few times and see how it goes. I do imagine whatever I use to drag, it will need a good amount of weight to help break up the cores. Worst case I will try a different approach if it doesn't work out.

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Re: Picked up a triplex at auction

Post by Kmartel » October 4th, 2016, 8:19 pm

If your drag won't break up dry cores you could dry the rotary mower deck. It would beat up the blades but might break them up so you can redistribute with the drag. I will be anxious to see if this method works.


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Pete1313
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Re: Picked up a triplex at auction

Post by Pete1313 » October 4th, 2016, 9:15 pm

We will see. I think if I let the cores dry just enough, but not too much it might turn out ok. If not, it takes 31 cubic yards of sand to put a 1/4 layer across 40k sq ft.. :no:

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wardconnor
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Re: Picked up a triplex at auction

Post by wardconnor » October 4th, 2016, 10:02 pm

Pete1313 wrote:If not, it takes 31 cubic yards of sand to put a 1/4 layer across 40k sq ft.. :no:

Lol. This is awesome.... I personally believe your delaying the inevitable. I have about 20k area. Spreading sand is a crazy amount of work.. I like to work on about 7k areas at a time. It's a continual process and you really don't get it flat the first round. Takes multiple top dressings and several seasons. That's if your real lawn nerd which I can see you are.

Take a look. It's a crazy amount of work.
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Pete1313
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Re: Picked up a triplex at auction

Post by Pete1313 » October 4th, 2016, 11:24 pm

You are probably right and I am delaying the inevitable. Although since I am killing and reseeding next year, I can get aggressive if need be. If the coring plan doesn't work I can tear it up a bit to level. Although I'm hoping to keep some stubble to help control washout. In my last reno I think getting the soil level/smooth initially before seeding helped me accomplish my goals more then the topdressing I did the following year. The sanding was more of a fine tuning for making it smooth.

Seed bed
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How low I could go before sanding
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The sanding project
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wardconnor
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Re: Picked up a triplex at auction

Post by wardconnor » October 5th, 2016, 9:21 pm

Pete1313 wrote:
wardconnor wrote:I used a 10ft drag that I made from steel.
Care to share how you made and set up the steel drag?
I have to warn before I share my creation that this baby is not for the faint of heart. This drag is for only serious lawn care crazies. Ones that find satisfaction in a closely cut lawn look that you can only achieve a reel and not those sissy push reel mowers.

Ok Folks here is my steel drag that I made. I patterned it after a lawn bowling drag I saw on You Tube. You can see it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ABnQcYk7uI if that link does not work then search "BMS - Levelawn (Lute) 10ft" on you tube.
The one on you tube is slightly different than the one I created.

My drag consists of 1/8" steel. 1-2"x20' C channel (legs are 1" on the c channel) and 1-2"x20' angle iron. It is 10' by 20". The one angle iron in the center sits about 1/8" higher off the ground than the 2 c channel pieces on the ends not sure why I did this but thought that was what I saw the other guys do on their website where they sell them in Europe. I believe that it lets the sand pass under it a little easier so the the rear leveler can do its job. I elevated the center angel iron by spacing the outer c channels with spare washers I had laying around.

The center portion on the top was to hold an 8 inch cinder block for added weight. I have not used any blocks on this as I have never had any laying around. I have however placed heavy rocks on the top in the center holder for added weight. The unit itself weighs 65lbs. Whenever I drag it on its own it tends to be heavy enough without any added weight. I have added a heavy rock for weight but it just becomes to heavy for 4 wheeler to drag it. It also does not seem to work quite as well at 100lbs.

It can be drug by hand all fine and dandy but I run out of steam in a quick hurry.

It cost about $40 to $50 in steel from what I remember possibly less. I cut all the pieces up using my neighbors metal saw and he welded (welded or weld?) it for me. It took about an hour or less to make.

The next modification next spring of 2017 will be to add broom heads to the top side of it so when the sand is level then I can turn it over and drag the brooms over the sanded areas to work the sand down into the turf. Like this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLJ3hlDMVP4 if that link does not work search Homemade Drag mat.mp4 on you tube.

Let me know your thoughts. I was also not sure if this needed its own thread or not.

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wardconnor
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Re: Picked up a triplex at auction

Post by wardconnor » October 5th, 2016, 9:38 pm

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