Sod cutter for FEL

[Chain Bender]

Kubota L3200, 4WD, HST, 525 FEL.

Should be pouring footers for new house, porch and garage/patio with 2 weeks. Just can't accept the fact or destroying 3838 sf of beautiful sod. So that can be cut up and relocated.

Wanting to build a simple cutter blade to bolt to the bottom of FEL bucket and pull rearward to cut and release sod approx. 16" wide and 2-3" thick.

I can fabricate, so if anyone has any experience with such a beast please share any info (pro-con).

Thanks in advance for in assistance.

CB

 

[mark02tj]

I would rent a sod cutter. Two weeks to design, build, use and troubleshoot something like that isn't much. But you probably work faster than I do.

Last time I rented a sod cutter it was around $25 for 4 hours. You can cut a lot of sod in that time. If you cut it, cut in in long strips and then make "cross cuts" every so often. Once cut, I'd use the FEL to go under it and scoop it up.

Just my $.02.

 

[boggen]

ditto mark02tj rent a sod cuter and be done with it... open up the old paper phone book. look up "equipment rental"

pending on how close a large city is, menards, lowes, homedepot might have a sod cutter rental as well.

 

[Chain Bender]

tks guys. Will look into rental, but I'm still going to try to build one. Nearest rental place is at least an hour down and back to go get it and return it. I'm thinking I can build one out of 1/4" X 4" flat stock, a little welding, some grinding to sharpen the leading edges and drill 2 holes in each flange to bolt it to bucket.

 

[boggen]

look at some "stump buckets" or "spade buckets" that fit on FEL bucket. maybe give you an idea of how to re-enforce things.

instead of making the cutting edge "level" with the bottom of the FEL bucket. make a "drop hitch" type of thing. were the
1/4" x 4" flat stock is mounted a few inches lower than the FEL bucket. and possibly mount it on the bottom side of the FEL bucket itself.

other words, if you end up going to deep, the bottom of the FEL bucket will act like skids and keep the cutting edge from going any deeper.

how the heck you would get the sod out from between bottom of bucket and cutter (not a clue) but on other hand you might be able to just keep on driving to make strips, and then come back with some sort of longer bucket to pick the strips up and move to were ever, or roll the strips up. toss in FEL and move to were ever.

 

[Xfaxman]

Do you have a place to relocate the sod to? It wont last too long rolled up, it tries to grow, that generates heat and kills the grass.

 

[petes]

I tried this years ago. I used about 18" of a flat lawnmower blade (hard steel) well sharpened along the leading edge, welded "wingtips" vertically to attach to a frame I made that hooked in place of my lawn tractor mower deck (frame was originally used for a mid-mount grader blade). It had precise depth control and was quite sturdy.

I found that the grass roots wrap around the cutting egde causing it to just plow up lumps of sod instead of nicely cut at a set depth. I believe the commercial/rental sod cutters use an oscillating or vibrating blade to "chop" their way along rather than force... think trying to push a knife through a steak compared to using a little sawing action.

 

[MinnesotaDaveChalmers]

I tried this years ago. I used about 18" of a flat lawnmower blade (hard steel) well sharpened along the leading edge, welded "wingtips" vertically to attach to a frame I made that hooked in place of my lawn tractor mower deck (frame was originally used for a mid-mount grader blade). It had precise depth control and was quite sturdy.

I found that the grass roots wrap around the cutting egde causing it to just plow up lumps of sod instead of nicely cut at a set depth. I believe the commercial/rental sod cutters use an oscillating or vibrating blade to "chop" their way along rather than force... think trying to push a knife through a steak compared to using a little sawing action.

Exactly my experience when I tried this about 15+ years ago.

 

[Sysop]

Better results can be had with the blade at an angle to the cutting path. |\| versus |-| (red being the blade, black being the direction of travel).

The most difficult part is keeping it at a consistent depth and variations of the topography. Best results will be on the FEL in the "float" detent. It will never be "pretty" like store-bought sod, only cheaper and more work.

If you want good cheap sod to replace what you are removing, your best bet is to pick a spot and build sod bins to grow your own sod.