Ditch digger

[2manyrocks]

Smarter people than me may be able to come up with something, but it seems like the fundamental problem is in having a BB that is out of scale to the tractor pulling it. The tractor tire extends beyond the BB edge. How you get to the ditch and how you reinforce your ditch digger is not an easy question. I was sort of thinking that you could weld something like a 3 x3 tube on the back edge of the BB, insert a size smaller tube inside it, and then attach the digger to the smaller tube to reach the ditch. The smaller tube would then be reinforced with a strap to the front of the BB to form a triangle. when you are done with the ditch, then you take the digger off.

Surely someone has a bigger box blade they will sell you for a reasonable price? As soon as you get done with this project, one will come up for sale.

 

[sandman2234]

When I first started looking at it, that is pretty much what I had in mind, also. However, after tearing up my boxblade on that road, and having to fix it, I am leary of doing that again. I have a kind of root rake that is exactly like a box blade but without the box. Just the part of the scarifers is there, and it is right at the width of my tractor. So I could plant the right side tires in the ditch, and pull the one scarifer down behind the tire, cutting small roots and loosening the soil. Then I go back and work the loose soil out of the ditch with a larger tip. Not wanting to bend the extended scarifer is what is holding me up right now, as several people have suggested that I reinforce it, or add a cable to the front to support it. Due to the tire being in the way, that causes problems, which would have been avoided had I did it the way you just described. I still have the option of adding on to the root rack to make it cut wider, outside the tire, thereby allowing room for a cable from the front of the tractor.
I won't be buying another box blade for this project, as my current (un) employment status prohibits that, especially sense there is no money to be made in this job. It is strickly a favor to my Sister in law.
I will tinker with it a little more, and hopefully come to a good conclusion about what to do. Not being in a hurry has it's advantages, as the longer the road goes unattended, the more the people on it will want to do something about the ditches and road.
I have noticed that when I get it too smooth, the vehicle speeds increase several times over, and that isn't good for me, so I might have to cut some speed bumps in it.
David from jax

 

[2manyrocks]

Is the rear tire in a fixed position or can you adjust it inward?

Can you mount some kind of extended bumper on the front of the tractor and run a cable from there? But you don't want that cable to snap and hit you.

 

[3RRL]

David, I have a crazy idea.
Why don't you make like a thick axle that sticks out from your rear wheel. Use the same bolt pattern as the wheel or whatever. Then use a pillow block bearing or mounted bearing fastened to a rod which fastens to your off set scarifier? The pillow block or mounted bearing lets the axle spin inside it but holds the scarifier in position. The axle doesn't have to stick out very far....Hmmm?
See here: PILLOW BLOCK AND MOUNTED BEARINGS

 

[sandman2234]

I have a box full of one inch pillow block bearing sitting on the floor at the end of my computer desk. One of those impluse buys that I thought I might could use, was a good deal, but never have used them. They really need to go to the garage so the wife will quit hounding me about them.
The rear tire/wheel will move in or out by turning it around, and I could put the Ag's on it which are just a tad narrower. None of my tire options allow for a straight pull from the scarifer, and adding a bearing outside the wheel still won't pull straight. I have a set of adapters that I built to run duals on the JD, but by adding that, it puts the tire too far outside the scarifer path, so it would hit the trees.
My quest to get the city to do it pretty much came out like I was told it would. No results, as they don't maintain the roads past the asphalt. Kind of a strange policy to me, since the county I grew up in had more dirt roads than anything else, and if the state didn't maintain the dirt roads, there would be a massive layoff due to lack of work.
David from jax

 

[oliver28472]

I remember sometime back in the 60's my Pawpaw had a drainage ditch cleaned out in a field we call the long bottom. He hired the guys that did a lot of land clearing back then. They had a bulldozer with the blade on the front but the blade was turned around backwards. The dozer would drive straight down in the ditch, lower the blade and back out with a load.

 

[2manyrocks]

I had a situation last week where the county road commissioner couldn't be found during business hours and his assistant couldn't explain why the county had paved all but the last 385 feet of a right of way that had been dedicated to public use. The commissioner had signed off on the plat of record. I guess he didn't have anybody voting for him at the end of the right of way.

 

[MrJimi]

This morning I saw a way for David to attach his ditch digger and it's close to a Steve Miller plow, see thread here
Jim

 

[2manyrocks]

Good snow plow. Bad stump plow. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/customization/31730d1104438483-snow-wing-555753-wing-bent2.jpg

 

[sandman2234]

Thanks, Mr.Jimi,
I appreciate the wing advice, and the pictures. Somebody put some serious thought into that idea. I still haven't tried out the single scarifier, simply because I have been told that the city is going to have the road appraised. Since my sister in law is trying to buy the right of way, and any improvements I do to it, will cost her money, I am going to keep out of it for a while, until they give her a decision on it. After that, the actual property lines should be surveyed and I may be able to clear out some of those trees and actually use a real implement to cut the ditch.
There is one thing I don't understand about the thread containing the wing pictures, and hopefully someone can explain it to me. Can somebody tell me what all that white stuff is piled alongside the driveways?
David from jax

 

[Defective]

That's the stuff we use up here to hide the ugly fields between growing seasons.

 

[sandman2234]

Seems like it would be easier to just plant a winter rye grass or some other nitrogen enriching plant like we do down here. That white stuff is kind of neat looking, as it looks a lot like the sand on the beaches between Mobile and Panama City that I grew up on.
David from jax

 

[Defective]

The white stuff holds up to the temperatures much better than the grass. Besides, snowmobiles don't run on the grass nearly as smoothly.

 

[sandman2234]

Snowmobiles, hmmm, so that is why you cover everything, so you can go play on your snowmobiles...
David from jax

 

[Defective]

Now yer lernin...

 

[sandman2234]

I broke that scarifier that I extended today, into 3 pieces. Back to the drawing board.
David from jax

 

[3RRL]

Show us what it looks like David.

 

[Paddy]

Rob,

Here was the tool I built. It was designed to mount on the the grader blade. I removed my standard blade and built an angled blade. Cuts a nice gental swale. When I need to clean out the filled ditch, it fits the old shape.

Because it mounted on the grader blade frame, it is adjustable to discharge.

Patrick T

 

[SkunkWerX]

Great job Paddy! Simple yet effective.

I have thought of doing that same thing, and even being able to create different profiles for different situations, steep "Vee" cut, or gradual 1" to 2" barely noticeable swale.

Again, simple yet effective.

 

[Paddy]

Skunkwerx,

Thanks for the comments. I did as you wanted, made several options. First photo is the base of the grader blade. Second photo is a deep/sharp digger. Same idea as above, but a diff shape. I have to add weight to get a good cut but both are sturdy and will cut decent size roots. I use this one for deep narrow ditches.

Both work on the idea I can stradle the ditch. It's best on the equipment too.

Patrick T