Subsoiler

[woodlandfarms]

Does anyone use one with there PT? I need to run a bunch of irrigation line and we do not have much of a frost issue.... Was wondering if that was a good idea with the PT... I have never felt confident it was capable of great ground engagement. And if I did do a subsoiler, would it be pushing or pulling?

 

[stray]

Most likely you would be pulling with a lot of back and forth motion and lifting and lowering. You can do it in most dirt but don't in vision it to be like a regular tractor would pull it. My 2 cents from the work I have done.

 

[MossRoad]

I pulled water line with my PT425 last spring. It was crazy easy.

I have a plow share that goes straight into the ground about a foot. I push it through the soil with the PT to make my slit. Then I went to the starting and ending points and dug a small pit hole at each location.

The bottom of the plow has a hole at the rear. I used some stout rope to tie the water pipe to the plow, put it back down in the starting hole and retraced my line. It is fairly easy to follow a line with the PT.

It went in like butter.

What I was surprised about was this...

The pipe followed a serpentine route with a bit S curve. After I was done, I was actually able to slide the water pipe back and forth by hand! There was very little resistance. I was kinda shocked that I could pull 100' of plastic pipe with not much effort at all. HOWEVER, if you drive over the trench, it will compress the dirt on the line and make it a bit tougher.

It is a very doable job with the PT. You may want to focus on the task of fastening the pipe to the shank of your slitting device. Cheap nylon rope breaks on tree roots and rocks. They make some Chinese handcuff looking wire mesh tubes specifically for this purpose when using vibratory plows.

I think you can do it. It is worth a try.

 

[Baby Grand]

...

They make some Chinese handcuff looking wire mesh tubes specifically for this purpose when using vibratory plows.

I think you can do it. It is worth a try.

The hancuff is called a Cable Grip - should help to narrow your search. I worked a few hours at the Economy Cable Grip Co in S. Norwalk, CT.
-Jim

 

[MossRoad]

Thanks for the tip!

 

[wasabi]

I pulled water line with my PT425 last spring. It was crazy easy.

I have a plow share that goes straight into the ground about a foot. I push it through the soil with the PT to make my slit. Then I went to the starting and ending points and dug a small pit hole at each location.

The bottom of the plow has a hole at the rear. I used some stout rope to tie the water pipe to the plow, put it back down in the starting hole and retraced my line. It is fairly easy to follow a line with the PT.

It went in like butter.

What I was surprised about was this...

The pipe followed a serpentine route with a bit S curve. After I was done, I was actually able to slide the water pipe back and forth by hand! There was very little resistance. I was kinda shocked that I could pull 100' of plastic pipe with not much effort at all. HOWEVER, if you drive over the trench, it will compress the dirt on the line and make it a bit tougher.

It is a very doable job with the PT. You may want to focus on the task of fastening the pipe to the shank of your slitting device. Cheap nylon rope breaks on tree roots and rocks. They make some Chinese handcuff looking wire mesh tubes specifically for this purpose when using vibratory plows.

I think you can do it. It is worth a try.

in hindsight would you have attached the pipe on the first run through? what was your most effective technique when you hit roots or rocks?

 

[MossRoad]

in hindsight would you have attached the pipe on the first run through? what was your most effective technique when you hit roots or rocks?

On hindsight, yes, I would have attached it on the first run through because it was so easy going in our sandy soil. It had also rained quite a bit, which loosened the sod up, I'm sure.

A couple things I would have done differently...

1. Sharpened my plow share a bit more so it cut the sod better. In a few spots it tore the sod instead of cutting it. I had to go back and kick it back into place in a few spots. No big deal. You can't even tell I was there a few weeks later.

2. Used something better than cheap poly rope to attach the pipe to the back of the plow share. I broke it by rubbing against stuff. It wasn't from the force of pulling, that's for sure. It was from abrasion. If I had to do it again I would find some steel cable instead of rope.

As for roots and rocks.... I don't have any. However, I did not know that before I started and that is the main reason I made the first pass without the pipe attached.

One thing great about the PT425 is that I can see the bottom of the quick attach from the driver's seat. Re-tracing my first pass with the second pass was very easy. :thumbsup:

 

[BobRip]

I think doing it in the Spring with wet ground is very important. Our soil is like concrete now.

 

[MossRoad]

Yeah. Parts of our county are clay. Our side of the county is sand, sand and more sand. That, and sandy loam. Some of the richest farm soils in the country. :thumbsup:

 

[wasabi]

Appreciate the insights....for our needs I'm still thinking this through. Our soil is sandy loam but with rocks and lots of roots. I've no doubt the power is there but I'm not so sure pulling pipe will be the ticket even if we slice smooth. I'm pondering a slightly wider v shaped slicer with pipe on a spool above....pipe feeds through a backwards facing tube into the "trench" behind the knife...maybe 1 foot down