How To Reuse An Old Chain-Link Fence To Level A Bumpy Lawn On A Budget

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You have your earbuds, dad rock cued on Spotify, and the Saturday afternoon beverage of your choice in the mower's cup holder, ready for a good afternoon of mowing. But you lose an earbud when you step in a hole, and once you're actually mowing, the bumpy ride ejects your drink in no time. It's time to level your yard, and you might already have everything you need to do it. If not, it won't be hard (or expensive) to find the stuff you need to make a DIY chain-link drag harrow.

Minor inconsistencies in your lawn's grade, particularly in an unplanted area that is about to be seeded with grass, can often be smoothed out with the assistance of a scrap of chain-link pulled behind your ATV or riding mower, with a little extra weight on top. You can level it by repeated cycles of core aeration, dragging the fencing around to break up the cores, then fertilizing and waiting for the next round. Or you can add sand or topsoil and drag the area to distribute the new material evenly, as you might when using a lawn-leveling rake to fix an uneven yard. Chain-link harrows also a smarter way to smooth and level gravel driveways.

The DIY versions of a drag mat or drag harrow evolved from farm implements used to smooth fields and tamp down weeds. This often required a tractor, particularly for more aggressive harrows with tines or spikes and heavy chains, requiring 5 horsepower or more per foot to pull such a harrow effectively. But a DIY chain-link drag should glide right along behind your riding mower.

The first step is buying a bit of chain link, or asking a local fencing company for a scrap five feet or so long. Chain link is ideal because the variations in the wire height work the ground as the fencing moves across it. It tends to spread materials better than it does any actual scraping. And galvanized chain-link resists rust, meaning you don't have to store the thing indoors. Other types of link fencing, particularly welded wire, are probably not up to the rigors of being dragged across the ground all afternoon.

The ideal piece of chain-link is a gate, which has panels at the ends to keep the fence flat to the ground and make it easier to tow. Otherwise, it's helpful to have a piece of wood or metal the width of your harrow at the front, to which you can attach a towing chain. Next, you'll need to add weight to help the harrow dig in a little as you pull it. This weight can be just about anything — landscaping timbers, old tires, cinder blocks, etc. The key is to fasten down whatever weight you're using, as the bumpiness of the ride will almost inevitably cause the weights to fly off otherwise, especially if you're using chain-link fence to smooth and level a gravel driveway. At the front of your harrow, attach a chain, rope, or even a ratchet strap to either side of the harrow, then attach the center of the chain to your lawn tractor or ATV's tow hitch.

Using reclaimed materials, a DIY chain-link drag harrow should be cheap, and very nearly free. Cutoffs from new fences and scrap pieces removed from old fences are more of a burden than an asset for fencing companies, so someone should be happy to send a piece or two away with you. And the structure can be as simple as a board clamped to the front of the harrow to keep the leading edge flat to the ground.

If you don't have access to such materials, these component parts are easy enough to come by at your local hardware store or big box home center. Home Depot sells chain-link gates for as little as $55.98 for an almost 3½-by-4-foot gate, and $76.98 for a 4-by-6 gate. For roughly the same price, you can skip the gate and just buy a 10-foot roll of chain-link material for around $60.

Of course, you can also just buy a drag harrow for your riding mower or ATV. Home Depot sells the Yard Tuff 5-foot-by-4-foot ATV drag harrow for $136.99, complete with front tray designed to hold cement blocks for addition weight. You can buy a proper 4-foot-by-4-foot drag chain harrow on Amazon for more aggressive scraping of your lawn. The assembled harrow is 7 ½ feet long with the towing chain, requires 4 horsepower to pull, and will set you back $283.99.