Pull Behind ATV Drag Works Well

Implements/Attachments — By ATV Mag on October 7, 2008 at 12:00 pm

It has been said that in spring, a young man’s thoughts turn to new love. Most of our staff is long-married, however, so it’s far safer (and significantly less expensive) to have our spring thoughts turn to a new growing season instead.

If you’re like us, spring is when we rake, plow, disc, dig, seed, fertilize and water. This past spring, we decided to get a little help.

We had two projects going. One involved getting a small plowed field prepped for seed, and another involved a spare lot that needed some slight leveling work before grass seed was planted. For both, we turned to Agri-Fab and their drag harrow.

With its multiple setup options, the Agri-Fab drag harrow gave us versatility for our projects, allowing for differing levels of aggression when dragging the apparatus behind our Suzuki King Quad.

Set It Up For Your Needs
The drag harrow showed up in a rectangular box with torn corners. We felt like chewing out the shipping company until we tried to lift the box — its shipping weight was 162 pounds! No wonder it got a bit mishandled. A couple of nuts and bolts were missing, but we had the necessary parts in the garage.
The drag harrow came with five major pieces. The two largest were the actual drag harrow sections, which contained aggressive, v-shaped tines pointed in one direction. Each section is 2.5 feet long by 5 feet wide, and combined they have 8 rows of tines when hooked together. A drawbar hooks into the front of the drag, and that drawbar hooks into a chain and clevis that connect to your ATV.

How you hook the harrow sections together and which side you drag them on depends on your project. For most aggressive penetration of the soil, point the tines forward. For light penetration, have the tines pointed toward the rear. For smoothing of surfaces, flip the drag over and have the tines pointing up. You can even mix and match – have the front section of the drag in the most aggressive setup, then have the rear section either backwards or upside down.

That versatility was an ideal match for our projects. In the plowed field, the drag harrow took the tops off the windrows and created a surface more ready for planting. It broke up dirt clumps, unearthed a few rocks and generally did its job.

In the spare lot the harrow wasn’t quite as aggressive as we would have preferred, but admittedly it was a matted down lot. It took multiple passes in the most aggressive setting to have the desired effect. But, because we were rolling around the lot on an ATV, where the only work needed was turning the handlebars and enjoying the ride, we didn’t mind.

The drag harrow’s heavy weight made it a bit of a chore to handle, but we wouldn’t have wanted it any lighter, as the weight is integral to the tines’ ability to do their job.

Ideal Setting?
The Agri-Fab drag harrow’s relatively narrow width made it perfect for pulling behind an ATV, which made it great for work in small fields or decent sized lots. We wouldn’t advise a serious farmer to drop his large equipment to invest here, but for the hobby farmer or other occasional planter/landscaper/guy who messes around with the soil or who likes a smooth gravel driveway, it was ideal.