EQUIPMENT IDEAS: Travels With Terry

Improved Reel Setup & Lift Table
Eric Kulaas, equipment manager at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort & Golf Club in St. Petersburg, Fla., replaced the facility’s Golf Lift Model GL-TL’s original aluminum diamond-plate table top which got dirty quickly, was difficult to clean and hindered moving the reels around because they didn’t roll smoothly, with a smooth ¼-inch thick metal top to the same 54" x 84-inch size. The bottom framework is 1 ½" x 3/16" angle iron, with 2" x ¼" flat stock cross bracing, which is fairly close to the original layout, but is built stronger.

A 16" x 24" x 1" removable surface plate was added and it was machined near perfect level to 0.002 inches on both sides. Two removable, drilled and tapped handles were added to make it portable. The surface plate is used to make sure reels are perfectly level, with the back roller and the front roller adjusted with an Accugage. The new table, like the original table, has four nuts welded to it to attach it to the lift frame. The underside of the table was painted with primer, a vise was installed on the back left corner for working on rollers, a thick rubber mat was placed on the shop floor for more comfort while standing and the ramp was left as-is.

The vise cost about $200, the angle iron and top plate were about $400 and the smooth surface plate was about $150. It took about four days to build.

Flying Drop Seeder
Bruce Leonard, equipment manager, at The Silverleaf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., has modified a Gandy 10' wide drop seeder used for winter overseeding the Bermudagrass around the edge of the fairways/roughs, which are bordered by native desert. Since the overall width of the seeder is 12' and the cart paths are only 8' wide with native desert areas containing rocks, cacti and small animals on both sides, Leonard started off with an AerWay Aerifier hydraulic lift kit wheels and axles that raises the Gandy 13" off of the ground to “make it fly” over the desert areas. Leonard built a frame on the Gandy from the following: a 4" x 2" box tube, ½" thick plate steel, 3" x ½" box tube and ¼" metal corner braces. The AerWay lift kit uses two heavy-duty axles, 18" x 8 ½" wheels and tires and one hydraulic piston and hose. None of the framework was welded onto the seed hopper so that it was not damaged.
All of the materials were already in stock and it took about eight hours to build the framework.  GCI