I've heard mixed reviews on them. Some of the negatives I've heard are doesn't do well in rocky soil and can bend the frame of your ATV.
Well the bending the frame is a show stopper for me! Especially when the ATV is technically not mine. lol!
It was for me too. Even if that's a 1 in a million....I can't risk damage to my ATV...if I had money to burn maybe, but I want mine to be the first and last that I buy so I take care of it.
I'm sure Rick James will chime in as he has one and absolutely loves it. My understanding is that it will only bend the frame of the ATV if you use it improperly or use the wrong type of hitch connection with it.
I like mine alot, its no tractor thats for sure, but i can tear up an acre of groud in about 1.5 hours, it works good as long as soil is not wet or just really hard. Its not for everybody, but it does work
I've had one for two years now. It's great for those up to 1 acre sized plots......unless you are going to get a real tractor and disc with a 3 point setup......I don't see anything working better. One key thing with the Groundhog Max is to spray the area well with enough time to let things start to rot down first. If you do this, the thing works really well. I bought a 15 gallon sprayer from Farm & Fleet that has a small boom and mounts on the back of the ATV for around $150. Between this sprayer and disc, I'm very comfortable doing any plot up to 1 acre. The trick to making sure you don't beat up the ATV is to have the right receiver. The stories you read online about twisted frames are people that have a crap receiver and are running into large rocks full tilt. I bought a low end model first and tore it up instantly. Then I got one from www.atvhitchreceivers.com that was specially made for the Groundhog Max and it's been flawless. You have to call them and talk with them, they don't sell the ones for the Groundhog Max on the site, but they will custom make one that works well. The universal hitch setup that comes with the Ground Max works well too, but you will lose clearance with the ATV which I didn't want. You will need 4wd, I will run the back end of the ATV up onto blocks then set the depth to be just barely scraping the surface when off the blocks. I'll make a couple passes over everything. Then I block it up again and drop it down to really bite in. If you don't have 4wd it won't run right because there is not as much weight on the back tires as normal......it's now on the disc making it bite in. The biggest plot I've done was 90 yards by 35 yards (roughly 2/3 acre). It took me about 30-45 minutes to completely turn and the video link below is the result. I couldn't have done it this quickly with a compact tractor and 3 point disc, because of the time it would have taken me to unload the tractor, mount the disc, actually turn everything (have to turn around each pass, lift the disc, etc), then loading everything back up. Once I got the initial pass in, I was able to go 10mph and get things turned VERY quickly. It's funny.........the faster you go, the better this thing works, it will literally throw a rooster tail of dirt behind the ATV. [video]https://youtu.be/oPWlj3RzXrA[/video]
I have one now for 2 years and love it. I have a polaris sportsman 500 with an aftermarker receiver and for plots around a 1/2 an acre or smaller it works great. Biggest key is make sure everything his dead after hitting it with roundup.
The Journey | Facebook Here is a little vid of the max in action around the 50 sec mark, you can see how I have the plot killed good.
Scott, What's your take on how fast you need to run for it to work? Looks like he was getting it pretty good.
River, the faster the better, I forgot to mention to start by not having disc as low and do plot first this way. Once soil is loostened up, you can lower the disc and really go at it.
Looks like I will be buying one as well. The guy I lease a couple spots with is getting one as well. We are thinking it will make quick work on our sub 1 acre plots with 2 of us working on them together.
I played with one for a bit and the frame bending stories ultimately scared me away. I agree it's from being used improperly, but for me, just still a little sketchy. I'll stick to a pull behind disc and a couple cinder blocks. Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk
