Minihoe Attachments

[BobRip]

Has anyone made an attachment for the minihoe? i.e. you remove the bucket and put something else in it's place. I am thinking of a stump removal tool, but there must be other things as well.

[woodlandfarms]

Funny you bring this up. I found today part of a spring harrow. I am going to weld together a simple a frame, put the tines on, bolt it to the minihoe arm and make myself a blackberry rake... Evertyhing is closed tomorrow so Monday will be the day...

[Tim_in_CT]

I was thinking about doing the same thing. I have some extra tines from a dethatcher that I was thinking about making into a rake attachment for the minihoe.

ALternatively, what I would really like is a digging claw in place of the bucket. It would be useful to really break up the soil. My property is on a slope, and the contractor leveled the area for the house almost completely (it seems) with various sized rocks, so digging any holes is a PIA. The minihoe helps, but it seems a claw digger would do a better job of worming between rocks and yanking them loose. The ultimate might be a combination digging and grapple if I can figure out what that would look like.

[woodlandfarms]

Is this what you are talking about Tim?
http://www.how-to-plans.com/backhoe_thumb_plans.html

My Backhoe has a built in thumb... It is manual (not Hydraulic) but it is pretty darn handy... Get it.. Thumb... Handy.... Sorry, it is early...

Wait! Here it is...

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/a...9&d=1188135180

[KentT]

Bob,

I've given some thought to several things I'd like to do with either the hoe or modifying my now-unused HD rock bucket.

1. I'll like to have something bigger than the 9" bucket I have, or even the 12" bucket that PT offers. I'd like to have a larger 16" or maybe 18" bucket for digging and maintaining shallow drainage ditches. Something like a mini "grade-all." I've thought of cutting my rock bucket into three pieces, by cutting each end off. Then weld the two end pieces together to make this larger bucket, while welding new sideplates onto the center section and turning it into something more like a grubbing bucket. If I could straddle the ditch, I could use this bucket to dig and maintain it. If I couldn't straddle it, I could work from the side with the oversized minihoe bucket...

2. Just as a hoe mod itself, having used mine a lot for pulling saplings (either wild holly on my lot, or wild hedge bushes on my friend's property), I'd like something that would allow me to pull saplings larger than about two inches. I've thought of taking two long ripper shanks and fabbing up a mini-hoe mount that spaced them just wide enough to clear the thumb on each side. Then, welding a "toothed" serrated cross-bar between them that would mate up with the end of the thumb, so the cross-bar would pinch against the thumb. To use it, position the thumb against the base of the sapling and curl the ripper shanks. The ripper shanks would curl on each side of the trunk of the sapling, tearing through roots on two sides. Pinch the trunk of the sapling between the serrated cross-bar and the thumb, and pull it up and out...

I think this ripper-shank idea would also be useful for handling logs, large rocks, etc., in addition to just ripping out saplings...

Note that I'm trying to rip out the undergrowth by the roots so that I don't have to deal with sprouts -- cut off a 2" wild holly and one year later you'll have a half-dozen or more sprouts out of that small stump... I can pull bigger saplings than 2" now, if I "dig them out" by curling the bucket into the ground behind them, but I don't want to be digging holes all over the place to then need to fill it... I just want to pull them out, similar to hand-weeding a garden...

[J_J]

I was thinking about doing the same thing. I have some extra tines from a dethatcher that I was thinking about making into a rake attachment for the minihoe.

ALternatively, what I would really like is a digging claw in place of the bucket. It would be useful to really break up the soil. My property is on a slope, and the contractor leveled the area for the house almost completely (it seems) with various sized rocks, so digging any holes is a PIA. The minihoe helps, but it seems a claw digger would do a better job of worming between rocks and yanking them loose. The ultimate might be a combination digging and grapple if I can figure out what that would look like.

How about something like this.

[J_J]

Here are some more pictures.

[Tim_in_CT]

yep, exactly what I was thinking.



I have some mild 1/4" steel plate that I could make into something like this, but I am thinking that it won't last long in this application, should be some hardened steel.

I seem to remember this being sold on ebay or elsewhere, JJ do you remember where this comes from?

[BobRip]

Sounds like I should buy, rather than build the ripper. Anybody got sources?

[J_J]

yep, exactly what I was thinking.



I have some mild 1/4" steel plate that I could make into something like this, but I am thinking that it won't last long in this application, should be some hardened steel.

I seem to remember this being sold on ebay or elsewhere, J do you remember where this comes from?

MetKit Corp - Home Page

Look under New Products. I believe that it comes in pieces, and you weld it. It is 3/4 in thick, and 22 in long.

This unit will let you put a lot of forcei n a small area.