Backhoe Added a ripper to my Woods BH90x: Trees beware

[IslandTractor]

(Warning long post with lots of photos)
One of the main uses of my Kioti DK40se with Woods BH90x TLB is clearing junk trees from an overgrown pasture/park. To date I have either cut them down then removed stumps or for smaller trees just used the grapple to uproot them. I knew some folks had reported positively on use of a ripper tooth attachment for the backhoe with the small BX TLBs and in searching on the net found a number of rippers sized for large excavators but found nothing off the shelf for my Woods BH90x. I had in mind the type of ripper design I wanted so I called up Bob at Michigan Iron and Equipment and asked if he could fabricate one for me. We worked together on some final details and a few weeks later I had a ripper.

It is a great addition to the TLB and the terror of wayward trees in my neck of the woods now. I'll try to review my initial weekend of work and show some photos here. The bottom line is that it extends up to at least 12 inches the size trees that I can remove whole rather than needing to chainsaw then dig out stumps. I haven't tried it yet over 12 inches but am pretty sure the limiting factor on larger trees will not be the ripper but rather my tractors ability to safely push over a large tree that has had roots severed. While this sort of work can also be done with a regular backhoe bucket, it requires digging up a lot of dirt and often requires digging further from the tree. A really nice thing about a single tooth ripper is that all the curl force of the backhoe is concentrated in one inch rather than across 12-18 inches. That means I can cut roots closer to the tree and with far less soil displacement. Faster too.

First a couple of practical points: it was a bit of a pain to exchange implements or buckets on a backhoe. These things are heavy and require lining up to the 1/8th inch. I spent the better part of an hour getting pins lined up and malleted home when installing the ripper. Any hints on making that easier would be appreciated. Second, because the ripper is less than a foot wide, you can get the backhoe much closer to trees than you can with a bucket. This is good and bad. The good is obvious. The bad is that hydraulic lines are vulnerable in ways that one doesn't usually worry about when using a regular bucket.

Ripper Design: My ripper is 25 inches long which is exactly the length of a standard BH90x bucket. The ripper was fabricated for the Woods power setting. The main shank is 1" with 1/2" tooth reinforcement and constructed with A36 steel with a quench hardened beveled cutting edge. Photos of the unmounted ripper are below. Note that there is a flat side extension at the back of the ripper about two thirds of the way up. This is partly a side support but also serves as a dirt scoop and brings up about a two shovel full amount of dirt if I dig the ripper in more than 12-15 inches. That means that I can actually clear a channel and dig down lower if I need to but for many trees that have shallow roots I can rip the roots with hardly any disturbance of the ground. Especially for smaller trees it was possible to just rip 12 inches down and then push them over. For larger trees I dug about 24 inches and for one big ole oak stump left over from last year, I have dug down about four feet using just the ripper (haven't got that stump out yet).

Ripper Function: The ripper works very well with the BH90x. I was especially impressed with how much quicker and how much less mess was left after ripping trees in the 5-12 inch range. Smaller trees I can easily push over with my grapple then stick the grapple under and dig them out. That makes a bigger mess though and the ripper was both faster and cleaner. I could rip several trees in a clump at one time then turn the tractor around and let the grapple quickly finish the job and take the trees away as a group. In the end what seems to work best for me is to rip the smaller trees on two sides then finish with the grapple while the bigger 7-12 inch jobs are ripped on all four sides then pushed over with the grapple/tractor.

What is most impressive to me besides the speed is how little mess is left over. I could literally clean up just by raking the grapple over the empty spot a few times after the tree fell to smooth things out then go grab the whole tree in the grapple and not need to return. It would not have been as easy if I did not also have the grapple but really the only difference would be in needing to chain the trees to a bucket to move them.

Here are a few photos below of my first weekend in action. I cleared about thirty trees varying in size from clumps of 5 inch choke cherry to several 12 inch ??tall lanky trees with deep tap roots. The choke cherry trees were uprooted very quickly and I spent more time repositioning the tractor/BH than actually working on their roots. One good swipe with the ripper on either side of the trunk then a shove with the grapple was all it took. The bigger trees with tap roots took about 15-20 minutes of digging on all sides before I could push them over. Now that I have figured out what it takes to do the bigger trees it would be faster as I would simply dig down further to begin with before trying to push them over.

In the end, I cleared the thirty trees putting about four hours on the tractor hr/meter and that included moving them about two hundred to four hundred yards to a pile. I know it is not a fair comparison but I did clear a plot of choke cherries in about two hours that was very similar in size and make up to an area that I had taken about three full days to clear with my CK20 TLB using grapple, BH and chain saw. That CK20 effort was successful but left the area looking like a war zone. The recent ripper cleared area needs only a quick raking to get rid of some remaining briar and small tree debris before it will be pasture again.

Two other uses for the ripper: 1) popping out old stumps: rotted stumps come out so easily I don't bother putting the stabilizers down. 2) surface rocks are easily removed without extra digging or disruption of turf. Find the edge of the rock, slide the ripper behind it and curl: out pops the rock. I did not try this with rocks I knew were large but I applied the ripper to half a dozen rocks with flail mower scars and they came out easily even though most were too heavy for me to lift.

All in all I am delighted with the ripper. It will make tree clearing and a few other tasks go much faster. Michigan Iron and Equipment was great to deal with. We had one glitch in the initial fabrication that required me to return the ripper for adjustment but MIE arranged that at no cost to me. I won't post the price I paid as I don't know if Bob's estimate for what it would cost him to fabricate the ripper was on target or not. I thought the price was fair and was about the cost of a small bucket from Woods. I'd certainly give the MIE Ripper a big thumbs up for those who are felling lots of trees and don't want to leave stumps behind.

Now, if I could just figure out a quick attach mechanism for the backhoe bucket/ripper....

[Sackett2]

If i had a back-hoe I would (try) to build one too. I can see how the uniqueness would make it so handy. Great job!!!!

[mjncad]

That ripper is so nasty looking, it would win the 'Klingon seal of approval.'

Nice job! Thanks for sharing.

[Kays Supply]

You left out one detail $$$$$$? Check with BOB, but we have to know. I have been lusting over a stump grinder to go on my mini excavator. This would be a compromise that I could live with at I hope a much cheaper price. I could also use it for other things and probably be much easier on the boom.

[IslandTractor]

You left out one detail $$$$$$? Check with BOB, but we have to know. I have been lusting over a stump grinder to go on my mini excavator. This would be a compromise that I could live with at I hope a much cheaper price. I could also use it for other things and probably be much easier on the boom.

Don't worry, it's lots cheaper than a stump grinder and lots more fun to use.

[kattywumpus]

I just thinking yesterday I need something like your ripper on my backhoe!!

I may need to call Bob at Michigan Iron and Equipment. Do you mind sending me a message with what it cost?

Have a great day Inland Ripper!

[wedge40]

The back plate on the ripper is Genious!!!
As far as swapping bucket and ripper.
I would make a rollable stand for the ripper, and between that and the movement of the BH arm's it should be easier. I know the first time I put mine on was a real PITA. I never did mine to work very well but with some modifications I think it'll be better..

Some more close ups and different angles of the ripper would be appreciate.

Wedge

[IslandTractor]

I have been thinking about a stand for the ripper and bucket. It would need to have easily changed height as it is fiendishly difficult to move the backhoe up or down 1/8 inch. I thought about using one of those HF hydraulic lift carts but that would seriously dent the budget. Maybe just using a screw jack will do it.

I'll post more photos of the ripper tonight. On the road now.

[Gordon Gould]

That is a really nice way to do your clearing job. With all that reach and cutting force while not making to much of a mess - beautiful.
On your stand: could you make one end pivot so you could sort of roll the thing to get small height adjustments easily?

[spo307]

When I change bh buckets I have a pin 12" long and a 1/4" small in diameter, use this pin to start the alignment from one side then start the bh pin from the other and wiggle it in. Aligning the lock bolt is sometimes tuffer, use a small 5/16 drift pin, nice fabrication on the ripper