Customer Reviews

Precision Products PLR1836 18-by-36-Inch Lawn Roller

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Today I am reviewing the Precision Products 18 * 36 Lawn Roller. I bought this a few months back because I needed something to repair the damage done to my yard due to undergrown moles. If you are somebody like me who takes pride in their lawn, then you would understand my frustrations when you wake up in the morning to find your yard turned into a battlefied.

I decided sometime ago that it was time to sign up to the army faction against mole infestations. Little did I know that I would be up against a little varment who would make my life hell trying to take it out! Seriously, I have tried shooting water down the tunnles, mole traps, and mole bombs. In WWII, that last one would have been effective, but these little varments are tricky little critters I tell ya.

FYI, as it turns out, the ultimate weapon against the moles are the grubs. The moles like to eat the grubs, so the simple solution is to lay down a insect killer. If you kill the grubs, you get rid of the moles! Once I started using this secret weapon, the moles began to dissapear and would show up in the neighbors vegitable garden. HAHA, take that you sneaky little varments, oh yeah, my neighbor really loves me.......NOT

So, I got rid of the beasty moles right, but I am left with a problem. My used to be level and even lawn has now become an uneven mess. Another contributing factor to your lawn being uneven is the frost and dethaws we have each winter. What you want to fix this issue is one of these handy dandy lawn rollers. Keep in mind that this model is for towing behind tractors, NOT FOR PUSHING.

I own a Husqvara 23HP V-Twin with a hydrostatic drive and some people think that the hydrostatic drive transmitions are not strong enough to pull all the weight of a fully filled roller. After experiancing the use of my lawn roller, they could not be more wrong. When fully filled with water, the roller will weigh roughly 400 pounds. Yes the site claims 331 pounds but every other brand of same sise roller states 400 pounds. Simple math, a gallon of water weighs 10 pounds. So, take 40 gallons of water times 10 and you get 400.

Another thing to keep in mind is that this is a polly roller, hence it is plastic. So when this roller is fully filled, you really don't want to role over concrete too much as this will scratch up the roller and possibly damage it. Incase you are wondering, the roller only weighs 50 pounds when empty, so it is easy to put in storage with both hands.

I found that assembly was super easy and all parts were there. All you need is some simple tools to put this together. Such as a pair of pliers and a socket wrench or open ended wrenches. And don't worry about weather or not the roller will fit your tractor, its designed to be universal and will fit any tractor with a standard hitch. And yes, it does come with its own hitch pin if you do not have one.

Now, one thing you want to keep in mind when using a lawn roller, is that you can do a better job when the lawn is wet. You don't want it to be soaking wet where your just going to fall into mud, but you do want it wet. So following this technique, and moving no faster then 3MPH, I was able to role my lawn and it came out pretty darn level. And some spots which were really bad, I had to go over twice.

Main thing to remember here is that this is not a steem roller, so please don't expect it to smooth out tractor or truck ruts. Again, this is a roller to smooth out the bumps and uneven land caused by the moles from hell. And for its intended purpose, I think it does really well. I do want to point out however that it uses a expansion plug to plug the water filler hole in the roller. As such, if you do not tighten the wing nut enough, it could fall out of the hole as it did for me, keep it tight, just don't overtighten it is all.

Another thing I should mention is, knowing the sise of this thing, don't expect it to get through a small fence gate, its 36 inches long, it won't make it through unless you have a double gate. But if this is not a problem for you, then by all means pick this model because I find that the larger the roller is, the more weight it can put down to the ground, and the faster you get the job done.

I have a lawncare service and I also got this attachment so that I can role other people's lawns. If I ever felt that the durability of this attachment would not hold up under such conditions, I would not use it for such. So in other words, I feel that the framing is strong enough and the roller is strong, what more can you ask for such a good price?

Don't get me wrong, any proffesional can spend 250 bucks for a 24 * 48 steel lawn roller to get the job done, but if you feel that a 18 * 36 roller can meet your needs just fine without spending the higher price tag, you would be a fool not to do it.

In conclusion, I have not really had any problems with this roller itself besides learning that you can't just tighten the expansion plug snug. I felt that this roller was able to do all that I was asking of it and was well worth the money. Just don't forget that you can't take really tight turns with it, be gradual. And that its better to role when the yard is wet.

Furthermore, this roller could also be used after seeding in a new lawn, or rolling an area of dirt to get it level. And if you have tractor or truck ruts in your yard, don't expect this roller to help you, you would need a steem roller. This attachment is your best bang for buck, what more could you ask for? For I am a happy customer and would buy again!

PS: I won the battle against the little varments and I am a retired general.

Date Purchased: 05/08/09
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Where Purchased: Amazon
Recomended: YES

I was a little concerned when this roller turned up in a very cheap and flimsy box that was falling apart and had no packing material inside, but on inspection the roller itself was in tact. This is not what I expect from items purchased from Amazon.com.

Setting about putting it together; once again I was concerned to find that the sealed plastic pack of nuts & bolts did not contain all the parts it was supposed to, and I had to improvise by using some of my own collection of spacers and nuts to complete the job, but no big deal.

The assembly was relatively easy and went well until I discovered that one of the steel side struts was bent. Thank goodness I have a very good vice and a club hammer that soon put it back to where it should have been and now the roller is assembled it appears to be good value for money (assuming you're not put off by improvisation).

The filler is on one side/end, so you have to stand the roller up on the opposite side/end to fill it. Once full, you then have to battle to get the rubber bung into place. It is essential that the bung is forced completely into the filler hole and that the butterfly nut is as tight as possible. To do this takes a lot of brute force. Once in place, you then realise that the roller has to be laid down again, which doesn't seem to be such a big deal until you also realise that when full it weighs approximately 400 lbs., although with a degree of huffing, puffing and grunting it's just about possible without having to get a neighbors help, but keep your knees together and your toes out of the way! If youn suffer from back issues, or are on the lighter side, find someone to help with this.

Once on the ground, it's ready for use and is a very acceptable piece of equipment which appears larger than it actually is. The 400 lbs of ballast certainly makes the bumps go away after a few passes, but don't expect them to disappear from just one rolling. Like everything else in life, it does take time and patience.

With the benefit of hindsight, would I buy this item again? YES, it represents good value for money and is very sturdy when assembled!

This roller is just what I wanted. It will not rust and I leave it outside in the weather. Very light until you fill it with water and it packs seed and levels very well.I purchased it new through Amazon.

Beware:: This roller is plastic, not metal! It won't rust but it CAN get holes in it! It arrived with the start of a hole already! It does the job and is cheaper than you will find in stores (BECAUSE IT IS PLASTIC) but just know that it is only PLASTIC because the description failed to mention that!!

Great roller. Easy to use and the water plug works great. I use it by hand and you can make a pull handle easily with a piece of schedule 40 PVC sprinkler pipe in about 10 minutes. The added width is great

The product arrived promptly, even though I used the free mail. Easy to assemble and works well. I use it to level mole tunnels and it does the job. I have used it both by hand and with a lawn tractor. Pretty hard going by hand when full but can be done.

I have never used a used a lawn roller before and I have only had this one a short time. The roller is a heavy plastic and the tow bar assembly goes together easily. I judge it well worth the $129 bottom line price.

For the money, this appears to be a decent roller. I have not tried it as yet, but looking at other makes, this should work fine. I would give the roller 5 stars if it weren't for the horrible packaging. I refused the first one when the top flaps were open on the carton. UPS said they would inspect it for missing parts at their facility, and if none were missing it would be sent back to me. The next day, their tracking showed it was headed back to Amazon after being in their customs department (I guess that was the inspection part). I notified Amazon, and they promptly sent another one. The second one again had terrible packaging with one of the steel side arms sticking through a tear in the side of the box. Fortunately, everything was there and it assembled easily. Here's the best part. The second roller was sent from Amazon's return center in Kentucky where the first one was also being sent back. Judging from the condition of the second box, I suspect someone else refused the shipement also. Since the first roller had not arrived back at Amazon's return center when I got the second one, I knew they were not just sending me the same thing back. The bad packaging may have started at the manufacturer, but Amazon should correct this before it is sent to a customer.