Backhoe Frost Point/Ripper Tooth

[rswyan]

One slight design flaw - the mounts I made for the front pin doesn't quite have enough standoff from the plate - it hits the bottom of the dipper stick - so it can't be curled in as far as I would like. I'm thinking this might be fairly easy to fix with a little grinding of the end of the plate and rewelding. Attached is an image with the tooth curled as far as it will currently go.

 

[rswyan]

Obviously there's more to do.

 

[rswyan]

This is a 10" or 11" stump from a white ash that I cut down last fall. I believe it was living at the time I cut it, although in another image you can see it had some disease.

 

[rswyan]

One of the lateral roots. It's about 4"+ in diameter.

 

[rswyan]

Another shot of the root.

 

[rswyan]

Completely ripped out.

You can see the portion of the trunk where the bark had split, exposing the inner wood of the tree.

 

[rswyan]

Another angle. All and all it took maybe 10 to 15 minutes to rip this one out. I was being sort of cautious because this is the first thing I've actually used that I have welded that was under extreme stress.

After this one, I did another white ash - maybe 5" or 6" in diameter - took about 5 strokes to cut the roots and pop it out. Then I started two more white ash which were bigger - 13" or 14"+ in diameter. I ended up needing to reposition on both of those and about that time the sun went behind the clouds and it got chilly so I went in.

I'm fairly pleased with the performance of the ripper tooth thus far - although I'm sure even larger stumps will be a challenge.

 

[Henro]

rswyan,

Great idea! Been watching your progress with great interest.

Sure would like to have one of them...guess I better be visiting some scrap yards soon!

Thanks for posting all the photos. Great inspiration! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[rswyan]

Bill,

Thanks - it was fun to get to actually use something that I made ...... finally. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I started the dump wagon at the end of last summer, the wood splitter in early fall and the landscape rake about a month ago - and none of them are completed yet. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif Oh, yeah - and the rear remotes and hyd top link too - don't wanna forget that. I'm pretty close on all of them - but none are actually fully DONE /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif Plus it was nice to get outside and get a little seat time ..... for something other than pushing the white stuff around.

Tommorrow is supposed to be cloudy but it will be 51 and no rain - at least until evening - so I know where I'll be and what I'll be doing. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif It won't be inside that's for sure.

The ripper tooth was pretty easy to make - it doesn't appear (at least from measuring the Kubota buckets) that the tolerances are all that close - just watch that standoff on that front pin mount if ya wanna be able to curl it in all the way /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Scrapyards - or even even welding/fab shops for drops - ought to be able to dial you in at a pretty right cost.

Glad you enjoyed the photos. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[MMM]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I'm fairly pleased with the performance of the ripper tooth thus far - although I'm sure even larger stumps will be a challenge.
)</font>

I'm quite amazed that a small hoe can tackle a stump that size. What is flat bottom dig depth and bucket force for your hoe?The cylinders look fairly small, but do an amazing job. Great job done for near nothin. My hat's off to you.

 

[rswyan]

Mac,

Thanks.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I'm quite amazed that a small hoe can tackle a stump that size. )</font>
Yeah - white ash even ...... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Digging depth is 7.5' - I believe that might be for a 2' level bottom in the trench but I'm not positive - the hoe probably actually will dig a little deeper. The bucket curl force is 2950 lbs and the crowd force is 1740 lbs. I think the cylinders are around 2" with an 1 1/4" rod.

I have no trouble stalling the 'hoe out on large roots (4"+) when trying to slice through them directly - maybe that will change once I sharpen the main knife edge, although I doubt it ..... since I'm going across the grain. The trick to break up the larger roots is to use the tooth on the tip to tear and break them up enough that the main knife edge will then bust through. The tooth on the tip works pretty good for this and will probably be even better once I sharpen it.

 

[jim_wilson]

Cool project! I have thought about making one of these myself - I was wondering how you feel using the ripper compares to using the regular backhoe bucket when ripping out the stumps? I have used the hoe on my BX23 to rip out a bunch of stumps and that was what gave me the idea to have a ripper - seems like it would work much better than the bucket.

Also interested in the dump trailer you mentioned - any pictures of that one? Another project I have been thinking of but since I saw the smalle dump trailers from Pronovost and King Kutter I might buy one instead.

 

[rswyan]

Jim,

Thanks.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I was wondering how you feel using the ripper compares to using the regular backhoe bucket when ripping out the stumps? )</font>

Thus far it seems to me that it's better than a bucket, or at least better than my 16" bucket - but that's based upon my limited usage yesterday (3 stumps out and 2 in progress), and my previous experience with using the 16" bucket (probably a dozen stumps at most) I also have a 10" bucket which I have never had on the 'hoe so I don't know how that one would be.

The ripper tooth doesn't necessarily solve the problem of having to reposition, either to get on different sides of a stump (if the stump was cut off high), or to get perpendicular to a large root, which is how I feel it gives the best performance. Having said that, the 3 I got out yesterday I did without having to reposition the tractor. Two were cut low to the ground, but the largest was cut high - at least 12" - 18" up - and I was able to reach around behind it with the tooth. The 2 that are partially out will require repositioning because I couldn't get perpendicular enough to the large lateral roots on those stumps. The ones I got out yesterday went pretty quickly - with my prior experience using a bucket it sure seemed like it took alot longer. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Like I said previously, it would probably work better if the edge on the knife and the edge on the tooth were sharpened, and if I was able to curl it father than what I currently can.

One thing I think it will come in handy for is 25 evergreens I have to transplant as part of renovation to the area around our pool - these are 4' to maybe 12' tall and currently planted right next to each other. Hopefully I can use the tooth to sever the root on each side and just pop them out using the FEL.

On the dump trailer, both the Provonost and the KingKutter units seem really nice. I'm using an E-Z Trail Jr.running gear to build mine - I got the one with the wider tread width (60") because I was concerned about tipping it when fully loaded. I wish I had also gotten the optional wider tires. In hindsight the narrower (48") unit might have been better for use in the woods. The bed on mine will be 70" x 96" when I get it finished. I think I will have around $1K in it for everything - running gear, steel, wood decking, hydraulic cylinder & hoses. Attachws is an image of the bed deck welded up, sitting on the wood for the decking and sides, on top of the running gear itself.

 

[GuglioLS]

Randall,

I am From ~ NE Ohio - Bainbridge (Chagrin Falls area). Went to Kenston HS grad of '73. Moved to NM in '77.
Anyway great projects. Also read and saw you are working on a Log Splitter. Attached is a photo of my Home Made Log Splitter. Made from the I beam of a mobile home tow tongue. Welded 2 of them together to get 6" width, the Cylinder is a 4-1/2" 25 ton 1.5 rod eBay special. The Knife is some 1"x6"x16" cold rolled I had in my "scrap" pile. Cut 2 -45* for the blade on the Band Saw. Nothing stops it - once cut a 2x6 across the grain just to see what it could do. I use the Hydraulics from the tractor with some quick connects. And Tow it around with the ATV.

 

[MMM]

How about a GINSU ripper. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif I've seen the ripper with a serrated edge. Probably be tough to build, but I wonder if it would do a better job slicing and dicing?

 

[rswyan]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I am From ~ NE Ohio - Bainbridge (Chagrin Falls area). Went to Kenston HS grad of '73. )</font>
Alright !!!! Another Buckeye ! I have a friend that's from the same area and he would graduated about the same time - you two may have even gone to school together. His name is Jonah Koslen.

Cool splitter ........ and a great mount for the control valve ! I may have to look at doing that on mine - I just discovered that I welded my valve mount about 1/2" too far forward and it is interfering with the ram plate ..... so I have to cut it off and reposition it. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

It almost looks like your splitter is set up to split from both directions ...... ?

 

[rswyan]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( How about a GINSU ripper. I've seen the ripper with a serrated edge )</font>
Excellent ! ..... yeah - that has crossed my mind - I think I even may have suggested it to someone in a previous thread at some point or another.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Probably be tough to build, but I wonder if it would do a better job slicing and dicing? )</font>
I think it might - you could saw through a root by crowding and lifting the boom. Plus the irregularity of the edge and variation in pressure might cause it work better. It would be pretty tough to do without access to some decent machinery - to really do it right you'd need a surface grinder and some way to jig the knife up in it. The trick would be to be able to do repeatable grinds for each serration.

I put the edge on my knife by hand - just using a 4 1/2" right angle grinder. It's fairly close, in terms of eveness on both sides, but it definitely ain't precision machining. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif