Sod removal sled.

[machiningfool]

Well, here I go again, trying to save some money and the main thing to keep me busy. Many of you know that I am going to install an outdoor railroad and patio, so the sod has to be removed. A powered sod remover can be expensive, so by looking on the web I have seen some sod sleds pulled behind a garden lawnmower and that is what I am attempting. Of course, mine will be different. The two successful sleds that I saw in action required some extra weight to bury the 2 1/2 inch blade and they did it by having a neighbor ride on the sled for the additional weight. I will attempt to add the weight by adding concrete blocks and tying them down to the sled. In order to make one of these sleds work, there are two variables, one weight, two, enough power to pull the sled once the blade is buried. One can be satisfied by adding blocks, the other is, does my tractor have enough power to pull the sled once the blade is buried, this remains to be seen and you will find out along with me, when the sled is finished. The sled is mainly completed, but I still have to add some wheels to it to drag it around with the blade is out of the turf. Also, I had to reinforce the hitch on the tractor, as the sheet metal that came with the tractor would probably caused me some problems and also the height of the hitch was too high for the center of pull of the sled, so I am correcting that also. I cut off the old hitch because it was in the way and adding angle to the mix for a stronger hitch, here are some pictures and I will add more when I advance further into the project. Bob.