Precision Camera Precision Products 18 by 36" Lawn Roller #Plr1836 (PLR1836GY)

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 underground 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 battlefield.

THE MOLES: 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.

THE CURE: 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 disappear and would show up in the neighbors vegetable garden. HAHA, take that you sneaky little varments, oh yeah, my neighbor really loves me.......NOT

THE DAMAGE: 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 winter freezes 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.

ROLLER WEIGHT: I own a Husqvara 23HP V-Twin tractor with a hydrostatic drive and some people think that the "hydrostatic" drive transmissions 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."

CONSTRUCTION: 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.

ASSEMBLY: 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. It took me about 30-minutes to put together, 1-hour for the general consumer. 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.

OPERATING: 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.

WARNING: 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.

SIZE: 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.

DURABILITY: 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 professional can spend 250 TO 300 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.

CONCLUSION: 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
Price Paid: $130.00
Where Purchased: Amazon
Recomended: YES

UPDATE! 4-Months Later

It has been 4 months since I purchased this lawn roller. I have used it twice now and I have to say it has been holding up quite well. I will admit it does have cosmetic damage due to rolling over the concrete. Keep in mind however that this is a polly/plastic roller, so you can expect that.

From close inspection I can tell you that it has not developed any leaks at all. However, from experiance I can tell you that it is better to make slow turns with it instead of tight turns, keeps the roller from jack knifing and bobbing around.

The second time I used it, I did not have the plug in tight enough, so it fell out and then let a lot of the water out. Make sure you tighten the plug well, just don't go henry kissinger on it is all. lol

For durability, I still recommend this lawn roller for most people as I find it does hold up well and still does its job well on the yard. If you own a large estate, or are a professional with a lot of yards to level, I would recommend a metal roller.