Rate your regular tooth bar (non-piranha) for clearing brush and small trees

[HawkinsHollow]

deleted per request

 

[HawkinsHollow]

OOPS, DOUBLE POSTED. ADMINS PLEASE DELETE ONE! THANKS YOU!


I would like a tooth bar to clear brush and small trees and to increase my digging efficiency. I want a piranha but it looks like there is a serious wait time on them at the moment and they are $350 for my sized bucket. I can get a regular tooth bar tomorrow for $150.

My question is how well do regular tooth bars do at clearing brush and small trees up to 2-3"? I see why the piranha would be the superior product for that application, but if the reg tooth bar is close I might go that route. It has to be significantly better than a cutting edge alone. right?

 

[senecak19]

I have the older Ratchet Rake from Tractor Supply (yellow version). Bought it on clearance and it’s served me well. It’s not breaking anytime soon thats for sure. It’s made from some unbelievably thick metal. Something else is more apt to breaking before that thing does. Hookup only takes a few minutes. I’m happy with it. It makes quick work of clearing a ground cluttered area.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

I have the older Ratchet Rake from Tractor Supply (yellow version). Bought it on clearance and it’s served me well. It’s not breaking anytime soon thats for sure. It’s made from some unbelievably thick metal. Something else is more apt to breaking before that thing does. Hookup only takes a few minutes. I’m happy with it. It makes quick work of clearing a ground cluttered area.

Thanks for your answer but I am not interested in the RR. I need something that will facilitate digging as well. Not the RR's forte.

 

[oosik]

My tooth bar was made by Rankin. Eight teeth across 72". It does good for gathering up fallen material - limbs, trees, pine needles, etc. It is of little value for ripping out live, small pines. The teeth are smooth and offer no "grip". The teeth do improve the digging aspect of the bucket. However - you must be careful. I can quite easily be too aggressive and possibly damage something on the FEL. I do not use the teeth to rip out live trees. Too much force on the FEL hydraulics.

Remember - a tractor is NOT a bull dozer and is not designed to perform as such. Shallow digging and moving of piles of loose materials - that's OK. View attachment 685379

 

[PILOON]

I have a DIY toothbar.
4 ft wide 6 teeth.
Fantastic digging in rocky soil as small stones deflect the bucket resulting in frustration and very small loads.

Tilted near vertical and back dragging great to remove small bush and roots. (overburden)
Not very good to extract small trees as too wide and messes up more than you wish.

As I weld I made an oversized single 'tooth', clamp on style.*
Now that's an awesome tool! Pops small trees, shrubs etc and leaves the soil behind.
I drive in in under the root ball, rotate my bucket and they pop up and with a shake or two all the soil falls off.

* were I to make another I'd probably use 2 teeth about 6" apart and 12 " long simply as the single tooth often misses the ball center.

 

[oldballs]

I agree with oosik's post in that a tractor is not a bulldozer. I've used a WR Long Flat tooth bar in rocky piles of over grown dirt. It worked great to take the piles down and move the dirt/rock/weeds. Then I have also a piranha that's good for light digging of surface growth. Some of the results probably depend on the size of one's tractor and the exact chore one hopes to accomplish. Messing up the FEL is an issue if one gets it wrong.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[deezler]

A regular tooth bar is DEFINITELY better than a bare cutting edge, for digging or brushing. My 60" toothbar has 7 teeth; I find it pretty easy to line one up under a sapling rootball and pop it right out. Otherwise the spaces between teeth can also act like a funnel and grab onto brush better, too.

For digging into packed dirt, stone, etc, - it increased my capabilities by 200%. A full bucket is possible every time. I think regular tooth bars actually have the advantage here over a piranha type design, because you have even more concentrated pressure on the 7 teeth tips, and they are wedge shaped.

Where can you get a regular tooth bar for $150 though?!? I think I paid $350 for mine (Iowa farms).

 

[bearthebruce]

We debated Ratchet Rake or Piranha tooth bar. Since we had a lot of trail clearing work to do and much less digging work to do, we opted for the ratchet rake for now. It works well for ripping and clearing. Not so great for digging but still, I can dig with it for small clearing and such. Trying to get full bucket loads of loose stuff - not so much. I see a Piranha or other tooth bar in our future!

I agree with @oldballs:

Some of the results probably depend on the size of one's tractor and the exact chore one hopes to accomplish. Messing up the FEL is an issue if one gets it wrong.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

A regular tooth bar is DEFINITELY better than a bare cutting edge, for digging or brushing. My 60" toothbar has 7 teeth; I find it pretty easy to line one up under a sapling rootball and pop it right out. Otherwise the spaces between teeth can also act like a funnel and grab onto brush better, too.

For digging into packed dirt, stone, etc, - it increased my capabilities by 200%. A full bucket is possible every time. I think regular tooth bars actually have the advantage here over a piranha type design, because you have even more concentrated pressure on the 7 teeth tips, and they are wedge shaped.

Where can you get a regular tooth bar for $150 though?!? I think I paid $350 for mine (Iowa farms).

Thanks for the great reply. FB marketplace. I have not put eyes on it yet but looks brand new. This guy is in an agricultural area, looks like he is either a dealer in implements or runs a tractor store. Not exactly sure. The 5' tooth bars are only $110. It's about a 2.5 hour drive from me. Bxpanded is only 2 hours from me as well so I would probably go pick it up if I bought a Piranha. So are you saying I should save 50% and just go with a reg tooth bar?