[tsbrewers]

hey all, I have a gt235 and I keep hearing that it is rated for ground engagement. I am wondering what everyone's opinion on using to pull a 4' x 4' drag behind it to smooth out a gravel driveway? I am wondering if that would be too much, or if that shouldn't be a problem? The drag looks something like this,

 

[TUDOR]

That shouldn't be any problem. Maybe if you added 4-500 lb of weight to it, there might be some difficulty with traction.

 

[tsbrewers]

Okay, thank you.

 

[inspectorudy]

You might need to add a couple of weights to the front. Any time a ground engaging attachment is pulled, a counterweight is usually needed to keep the steering normal. When you hit heavier areas of gravel the drag will want to dig in and that is when the front will get light on the front wheels. Ask anyone who uses a tiller/plow regularly and they will tell you to expect the front to rise.

 

[rayjay]

IMO, if you take a frame designed as a lawn tractor [ LX200 series ] and add a garden tractor transmission to it you have not created an actual garden tractor no matter what the name GT -235 seems to insinuate.

Now if you move up to the GX series then you are good. The back half of the GX frame has about 6" frame rails compared to the GT's 3". There are some pics on this forum of some destroyed GT frames that were used for garden tractor types of jobs.

 

[KHodges]

I drag a similar style harrow with my GT 235 with no issues, no front weight, and unloaded 24x12-12 turf tires. I also have connected to the back of the harrow a gizmo made from two pieces of heavy steel that look like the lip on a large loader, probably weighs 75 lb. It drags along with the harrow like a small double blade. My long-departed next door neighbor made it.

 

[tsbrewers]

Thanks, it isn't going to be very heavy duty work, basically like grooming a ball diamond type of thing. It is mostly to pull the weeds out of an older gravel driveway and make it look a little better.

 

[rayjay]

Here is the thread I mentioned

https://www.mytractorforum.com/12-john-deere-forum/1218713-gt235-crack-ed-frame.html

 

[PaulL]

I have pulled a 5' landscape rake with a GT245 to dig a load of tennis ball sized rocks out of a field. The rake itself weighs just over 200lb and I was penetrating around 1". Steering was no problem. The tires spun if the load was too heavy.