Ditch digger

[J_J]

Way to go JJ. I guess it ain't just a South Carolina thing huh?

Curly,

I was born in Dillon county, South Carolina a little township called Manning. I lived in S.C. for 20 years.

 

[hdbikercouple]

why not mount what ever digger you want out past the wheel. to keep from hurting your 3 point arms. take a chain, fasten it to the digger or to its boom and the other to you tracter frame or another solid point like your axle housing. lots of loaders and blades have a mounting point on this housing so it should be strong .

 

[sandman2234]

I dated the daughter of the landowner on one side, and the other side is woods. Fast forward 25 years and the city still won't do what I thought they should have been doing all this time. Hard bunch to deal with, but I am still not going to give up and let them off the hook.
David from jax

 

[sandman2234]

J_J,
Did you ever go into that T/A truckstop in Manning? The late owner had quite a collection of firearms on display. His widow removed them when she sold the truckstop. Another one was White's truckstop in Raphine, Wv that had an amazing collection of firearms on display. White's also had old motorcycles and other things of interest on display. Last I saw Mr. White he was looking old, so even that collection may be gone from display.
David from jax

 

[J_J]

J_J,
Did you ever go into that T/A truckstop in Manning? The late owner had quite a collection of firearms on display. His widow removed them when she sold the truckstop. Another one was White's truckstop in Raphine, Wv that had an amazing collection of firearms on display. White's also had old motorcycles and other things of interest on display. Last I saw Mr. White he was looking old, so even that collection may be gone from display.
David from jax

Last time I saw Manning was in the middle 40's. I lived in Clinton, S.C. for a while.

 

[curly]

Curly,

I was born in Dillon county, South Carolina a little township called Manning. I lived in S.C. for 20 years.

Ahha...that splains it

 

[SkylineLakes]

I have a similar need. I and other residents maintain 10 miles of mountain road in our development in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The ditches are often cut right up against embankments and trees, so the work has to be performed from the road. I thought that I had once seen an offset ditch plow, but I don't recall if it mounted on the 3-pt hitch, the drawbar or elsewhere.

We have a Kubota L3410 with a FEL and BH, but with that many miles of ditch, we need something that we can drag or push, rather than digging. Our box grader is not wide enough to extend beyond the tires, and our rear angled scraper blade is not beefy enough for the task.

Because we do have a FEL, I am interested in the suggestions about mounting a ditch plow on an arm to the FEL. Has anyone tried this or seen it done?

This is my first post, so please pardon any protocol errors!

 

[GordonR]

saw this the other day
the couunty road crew had what appeared to be a 12" post hole digger mounted sideways on an A frame and driven by hydralucis(sp) with a deflector at the back to put the debris on the road to be picked up later
thought that was a slick solution to rural road maint.
Don

 

[sandman2234]

SkylineLakes, welcome to TBN!
As far as your mounting something on the loader, for doing this, I wouldn't even consider it, but heck, I am worried about bending my lift arms which are alot less expensive than a FEL frame which is what will get twisted if you hit something stronger than your loader. I think the trick is going to be something mounted on the rear, not the front. You can always use the bucket to pick up whatever the rear mounted implement drags out, but other than that, I would shy away from it.
I don't know what the answer is, but in my case it doesn't affect me as much as it does you.
David from jax

 

[SkylineLakes]

Please tell me I understand the issue. If you push gravel with the FEL bucket and you hit a big rock, the tractor might stall or lose traction, but probably won't be damaged because the impact is 1) evenly distributed between the arms, and 2) in the direction for which the arms are designed to absorb impact. Likewise if your box scraper gets hung on a rock--the force is fairly evenly distributed between the the hitch points.

It sounds like the main concern is the twisting action that could result if the offset plow were to come to a sudden halt, because it would pivot, pulling on one point while pushing against the other. If that is the case, it sounds like the only solution would be to attach the plow boom to something more solid (e.g. the mid-body frame) or prevent the cause of the stress (e.g. a tension-release decoupler).

Is the 3-pt hitch that frail? I've seen pictures of box scrapers hoisted up to a 30 degree angle and being used to cut ditches, but the tractor had rear hydrolics and the hitch might have been category 2.

 

[3RRL]

David,
I wouldn't worry too much about stressing the lower drag links or mounts. They are probably a lot stronger than you think. I know mine are always pulling on one side with the box blade tilted severely to cut ditches. Pushing with them is another thing, though.

I would make a simple attachment that fits on the side of your box blade...something like the shape of your box blade ... like if it was wider. Then tilt the heck out of it and try cutting the "groove" that way. IMHO, you've got plenty of tractor to do that. Even a conservative groove turns into a nice gutter once the water starts flowing in it.
(You've seen my gutter cutting pictures right?)

 

[tommu56]

David,

what about taking your box blade and adding another draw bar point on the left side frame and another a frame from the it would look like this AA__ which would shift box blade to the right most position, with draw bars and top link in left most A.

Rob I thought you would have built one like that by now.

I' going away for a few days when I get back maybe I could sketch some thing up


tom

 

[sandman2234]

If your pushing gravel and you hit an immovable object, out at the edge of the bucket, there is a good chance your going to put a twist in the loader frame. Simple twisting motion is what causes that. The lower the hp of the tractor, the less it would matter, but unfortunately the manufacturers know this, and build the frames lighter on the smaller tractors. More weight and faster speeds also cause twisted loader frames.
I think the best way is to do the pull cart/frame, or as another poster mentioned, put a restraining chain on it to keep it from pulling beyond the 3pt arms capabilities. 3pt arms are great for what they are made for, and will suffer some abuse without fail, but they aren't cheap if you make a mistake and they aren't built to handle side to side motions, only pulling loads.
David from jax

All this from a guy who doesn't own a loader, lol!!
David

 

[sandman2234]

3RRL,
I know I am a worry wart, but those arms aren't cheap, and the people down that road aren't going to pay for them if I bend them.

Tom,
I understand what you mean, but rather than weld up another upright on my box blade, I will probably just fab another bar with mounts on it. I am a packrat when it comes to steel, and have quite a selection to choose from if I decide to use some of it.
David from jax

 

[MrJimi]

3RRL,
I am a packrat when it comes to steel, and have quite a selection to choose from if I decide to use some of it.
David from jax

He's right on that one, I've seen his goodie pile, It's measured in acres at his home
Jim

 

[BTDT]

I think you need something like this. It will support itself behind your tractor being pulled from the drawbar, then you let down the plow into the ditch and take off.

Yesterday's Tractors - Implement Photos

 

[SkunkWerX]

I think I would try a grader blade (or the Box balde with modified side wing) tip it down to the ditch-side.
Only extend it sideways enough to get to the area you are trying to cut.
A wide blade may not even need to be off-set.

I would take only about 2 inches at a time, each pass,
and of course, take it slowly.

Sounds like the worst you would hit might be a tree root?

Alternate idea: Make an accesory for your grader or boxblade, that hangs off to the side. Use steel that would bend before your implement or tractor took any strain. In otherwords, "under" build a cheap accesory that would take the brunt of any unforeseen hazard.

 

[2manyrocks]

I think SkunkwerX has a good suggestion. Either use something that will bend before tearing up your tractor or use a shear pin that will break off.

 

[sandman2234]

BTDT,
Thanks for posting the picture, but that one won't work in my case, as the trees are too close to the ditch, and that one had outboard wheels on it that require a little wider spacing. I have been considering just moving the ditch over a foot, as that would be the easy way out of this.
SkunkWerx,
Your idea is closer to what I will probably do, just under built it so it bends and not my 3pt. I don't mind donating a piece of metal, but the lift arms aren't going to be a donor to this project.
David from jax

 

[2manyrocks]

I had a lightweight plow point attached in place of one of my digging bars on the landscape box to clear out the ditch. The landscape box was wide enough that I was just barely able to work the ditch. I liked the way it worked until I bent it so badly it was useless. So, the suggestion for a shear pin came to mind having personally spent my time in building something too light that I later wrecked.

But then I overbuilt another gizmo that just didn't work right from the start.

I hope you come out better.