lifting/moving big rocks with a B7610/B7800?

[Slacker]

I have moved lots of rocks like that with my b7500. One bit of advice, make a sled. I have an old car hood that I chain to the drawbar. Rocks can be easily rolled on the car hood and then dragged with the tractor. I can handle much larger rocks with this method than I would be able to handle with a loader (even a larger loader). I also think it is safer.

ps - get the largest tractor you can afford. You won't regret having more horsepower.

+1 on the sled. Its what I use. I moved very large rocks with a JD 750 (20hp)
on a hood and it was quite easy. I tried picking one up and the hydraulics just went into bypass, but I could push them around no problem.

 

[The Gardener]

... make a sled. I have an old car hood that I chain to the drawbar. Rocks can be easily rolled on the car hood and then dragged with the tractor.

This sounds great. I have used a piece of plywood for years, but a metal car hood would slide so much better.

Could you please post some images of how you connected your chains to the car hood.

Thanks So Much!
The Gardener

 

[Egon]

My B7100 HST Kubota has moved rocks of the sise shown except for the last one.

I drag them by using chains around the rock and attaching to my three point hitch and then lifting the hitch to get downpressure on the rear tires. The bucket will be full of rocks to keep the front end down. The biggest problem is going downhill. The hitch must be short, one must go straight downhill or the rock may decide on it's own course and pull the tractor with it. Rounded rocks are the most difficult to move.

Please Note: This is not an approved method. I would not do this without an HST transmission. My foot is also resting on the clutch when I do this. I would never tie a rock to the loader if it can't lift it.

Gona get slamed by SLAMFIRE again!

 

[The Gardener]

The biggest problem is going downhill.

Agreed.

I have no doubt that you have mastered the technique. Yet, I'd still worry about a boulder behind me on a decent. I always air on the side that something can go wrong, and, if it does, what is the worse case scenario.

1. The boulder takes off right or left and the tractor rolls.

As unlikely as this sounds, it could potentially happen, and that, to me, is enough of a reason to choose a different method.

I have always favored and used the sled approach. My sled has been plywood with 2" x 5" walls bolted in place on some occasions. I curved the leading edge of the plywood by soaking it in water and then applying bucket pressure in the sun for several hours.

I was fortunate in that all of my boulder moves with the plywood were uphill pulls. If I had to go downhill, I would have attached the sled to my tractor bucket with the curved, leading edge out in front. With some chains and/or rope and some hooks bolted onto the plywood, I suspect I could have held a boulder snugly in place for the decent ahead of the tractor.

I have since sold the tractor, and we have used the plywood sled behind our car using the trailer hitch and ball. Again, all of our pulls are uphill.

Just voicing a suggestion because of a concern.

Sincerely,
The Gardener

 

[WayneW]

Wayne,

Could be wrong, it's hard to tell from pictures, but....

The rocks in the picture look to be about 3'x'3' x3' of granite. If so,that would put them about 4500 pounds, which is about double the weight of the tractor. I don't think they are liftable without a MUCH larger tractor.

Rolled on a sheet of steel and towed, sure! But not lifted by a small SCUT or CUT.


jb

I'm no rock expert, so I can't say what type of material the rocks that I've moved are. Though I do know that there were no where near 4500 lbs. If I had to guess, I'd say maybe 1000-1500 lbs. Of course that is a complete guess. Though I did try to prop some rocks up on bricks and lift it with the carry all on the 3pt. It didn't budge them. So I figured they were over 1060 lbs.

Perhaps I misjudged the size the the rocks in those pictures. To me some looked flatter in one dimension, instead of being a round rock. Over this weekend, I'll take a few pics of the rocks I've moved, and post them here.

I have also used the sled method, though my homemade "sled" tore up the ground pretty well. (An old car hood would be better I'm sure) Did have one roll away from me once. No, it wasn't tied to the sled. Very scary on a hill when a large round rock gets rolling.

I've found that dragging it with the bucket, even just a hair above the ground, did less damage.

 

[Raddad]

For the really big rocks, I built a basket with some grade 5 bolts, washers and 3/8 chain. I roll the rock onto the basket using my tractor. On some 3 point hitches there are two sets of holes in the lower links, for the lifting arms to attach, use the holes near the ends of the link. These give the 3 point less travel but more lifting power. I use a long tool bar on the 3 point hitch and then lift the rock. This way the rock is directly below the link ends so I have maximum lifting power. I think on most tractors the 3 point has more lifting power than the front end loader. Do everything you can to weight down the front end and you will be surprised at the size of rock that you can move. I think it’s safer than using my front end loader for the really big rocks. I have moved some this way that I couldn’t completely lift off the ground but with that much weight on the tractor it had pulling power enough to drag the rock and this was using my old B7100.

Regarding buying a B7610, if price is an issue you can find B2400s for less money and they are basically the same tractor.

 

[Charlesaf3]

wow, the car hood sled idea is a good one! Yet another thing learned off here.

 

[Minicup28]

I agree with the car hood sled also. A long time ago when I was young we pulled a large iron stone boat with horses and later with a JD 60. We would roll the rocks onto the boat and drag it to the nearest gorge and roll them off.

 

[m7040]

If the rock is too big to lift or hard get to go into the bucket I will generally just push it with the loader bucket. The damage to the gound is pretty minimal and it gets the job done right there without having to go look for a sled or other device to use. When the Logs are too big to lift with the FEL such as one time I had a 5 ft diameter log about 20 ft long I hooked up the tree point with a chain to lift one end slightly and then dragged it on the ground. worked just fine.

 

[rswyan]

Here's one I dug out with the LA402 on our B2910. Couldn't lift it but I was able to use a chain to drag it up out of the hole and then roll it to where it currently resides. It's granite and was probably 28" or better in diameter.