Tree spade

[SCOTCHERS]

For those of you that know where these tree spades are in a specific tread, I've seen a few on the forums. JJ I'm interested in a couple pics you had under home made attachements etc.
Do you have any others or did you make them yourself? How much ball park for materials.
Any and all information would be great. I'm a landscaper and this would be an awesome attachment.

I'm looking for a tree scoop,scrub scoop etc like that of a tree spade
Any and all pics would be great or home made ones that have been made

I own a PT425 in the Maryland area.

 

[J_J]

For those of you that know where these tree spades are in a specific tread, I've seen a few on the forums. JJ I'm interested in a couple pics you had under home made attachements etc.
Do you have any others or did you make them yourself? How much ball park for materials.
Any and all information would be great. I'm a landscaper and this would be an awesome attachment.

I'm looking for a tree scoop,scrub scoop etc like that of a tree spade
Any and all pics would be great or home made ones that have been made

I own a PT in the Maryland area.

I have a bunch of pictures. I will see if I can find them. Most of them are made with 3/8 steel. I just purchased a Case skidsteer with a lot of attachments, including a tree scoop, homemade .

I would suggest that if you have the capability and material, to build your own, to match the capability's of the 425. A good metal shop can roll or bend that 3/16, or 1/4 steel to your specifications. If you are going to so the straight sided scoops, just have them cut the metal and you do the welding. There is a bunch of them on Ebay. They are not cheap. The white scoop, is mounted on the end of a fork. The third picture has a concave front to better cut roots.

The cost is related to the kind and amount of steel used, plus the workmanship of yourself or someone else. You can figure $200.00 to $1000.00 on material and labor. If you can find used, that would be good.

I did make a light duty scoop out of a bladder type water tank, by cutting it to shape, and bolting it to one of my forks. You can find those tanks for free.

 

[SnowRidge]

I wouldn't expect the PT-425 to have enough weight or grunt for a brute force tree spade. I notice that PT doesn't make a spade for any of their machines. Makes me wonder why not?

 

[J_J]

I wouldn't expect the PT-425 to have enough weight or grunt for a brute force tree spade. I notice the PT doesn't make a spade for any of their machines. Makes me wonder why not?

I believe that it could push a light weight blade in the ground. One of the PT owners pushed their forks in the ground deep enough and were able to lift the PT off the ground. Most of the scoops are pushed in the ground by shifting the front end around until it is at the depth they want.

 

[Bob999]

I believe that it could push a light weight blade in the ground. One of the PT owners pushed their forks in the ground deep enough and were able to lift the PT off the ground. Most of the scoops are pushed in the ground by shifting the front end around until it is at the depth they want.

Perhaps a small PT could push a tree spade in the sandy ground typical of Florida but I don't think my 1845 would be able to push one in the clay/shale soils on my property in Pennsylvania!

 

[MossRoad]

You'd be surprised at what a PT425 can push into the ground... here's the technique I used to bend the heck out of my forks....

Point the forks down at an angle under the stump or whatever you want to force out of the ground.

Push the joystick forward until the front tires come off the ground a couple inches.

Wiggle the joystick left and right rapidly and it works the forks into the ground pretty fast.

Repeat until the forks are buried and the quick attach plate is flush with the ground.

Then use the curl/dump action left and right in conjunctions with your foot pedals to drive the tractor back and forth and bounce around furiously until you realize there is some monster tap roots under the stump and you are never going to be able to pop out a stump that big with the PT425!

Extract the forks from the ground by reversing the order above and notice the nice arc you now have in one or both forks. TAA DAA!!! Success. You have bent your forks without cracking the cross tube on your FEL arms if you are lucky.

But seriously, the PT425 could push a tree spade UNDER something, but it does not have the weight or traction to push THROUGH something like large roots. You will bend, spindle and mutilate something trying to force it.

It will work on small trees and shrubs and will also do well for digging holes for transplanting.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Here is mine. something I built myself. The really cool ones are the skid steer versions with the hydraulic arms. Problem is they weigh too much for anything but maybe the 1445 or 1460 You need at least 3000lbs worth of lift. - 1500 lbs for the device, another 1500 for the tree and dirt.

My bucket works OK, In the summer the ground is too hard, in the winter, the ground is too heavy with water. Not the worst implement, but does not meet my expectations.

 

[Bob999]

You'd be surprised at what a PT425 can push into the ground... here's the technique I used to bend the heck out of my forks....

David,

I think there are at least two factors that come into play when thinking about the ability to use a tree spade on a small tractor like the PT425. First is soil condition--soils vary widely as I tried to point out in my previous post. Second is the size of the object you are trying to drive in the ground. The two pointed steel bars on a forklift drive into the ground much easier than a tree spade--just as a tree spade is easier to drive into ground than a regular bucket.

The mini-hoe for the PT is an 8 inch bucket with teeth and my experience is that it can be used in my areas of the clay/shale soils on my property but that it really can toss the 3500 lb 1845 around. I also find that it is not usable when I get into some of the harder shale areas on my property. All tree spades I have seen have a considerably larger contact with the ground than the 8 in bucket on the mini-hoe.

 

[ponytug]

Bob,

I agree. I tried David's patent applied for stump removal technique once, and it was pretty clear that in my soils even the side roots weren't going anywhere. I've been dreaming of a diamond concrete saw to go after each root, or a hydraulic tree shear.

I probably just have to suck it up and rent the grinder and take them out. But I have a number of stumps on inclines that really are too steep for equipment. (Yes, Virginia, you can get the 1845 out on the 40 degree slope, but do you really want to be leveraging it around? Mowing is one thing, prying, pounding... I would opine is something else.)

All the best,

Peter

 

[MossRoad]

David,

I think there are at least two factors that come into play when thinking about the ability to use a tree spade on a small tractor like the PT425. First is soil condition--soils vary widely as I tried to point out in my previous post. Second is the size of the object you are trying to drive in the ground. The two pointed steel bars on a forklift drive into the ground much easier than a tree spade--just as a tree spade is easier to drive into ground than a regular bucket.

The mini-hoe for the PT is an 8 inch bucket with teeth and my experience is that it can be used in my areas of the clay/shale soils on my property but that it really can toss the 3500 lb 1845 around. I also find that it is not usable when I get into some of the harder shale areas on my property. All tree spades I have seen have a considerably larger contact with the ground than the 8 in bucket on the mini-hoe.

I agree with you about soil type 100%. That is a major factor.

However, my forks are pretty blunt ended. The tree spades look to have a pointy tip and tend to be sharpened. I have an old tank laying around somewhere. Maybe I will mock up a small shovel over the winter and try it out. Won t cost me anything but time.