Hydraulic Breaker on TLB

[Bill in VA]

I had no idea you could use a breaker on the smaller machines.

To get more to my intended usage of the machine it would be used for the following:

Maintaining about 1 mile of dirt road that loops through the property. This crosses shale beds in several spots and there are several areas that should be knocked down and leveled right now. We also need to create some drainage trenches through several of these high spots. Additionally we want to dig shale from our own shale pit to maintain the road. The original breaker question was primarily for some of the tougher shale removal.

Snow removal (we had a 35" and 20" snowfall this year)

Landscaping work including transporting and positioning boulders (say largest is 2 by 3 by 5), cutting swales, and creating minor contours.

Digging footers 2' deep and wide

clearing brush and small (4" dia) trees

Install some drainage lines in trenches 2-3' deep and 1' wide

Move logs that are up to 30" dia and whatever length it could handle

Get cats out of trees, drive away grizzlies, and bury relatives I don't like but I digress...................plus probably other things I shouldn't use it for.



The original question was about the breaker but I guess I should extend it to:

"In anyones experience out there what minimum size TLB (L39, L45, M59) have you done these things with and felt confident in the machine

Please note I will not use this machine commercially, I don't have another property to transport it to, and I'm not into working fast, just confidently.

Thanks again for your replies

 

[bulldog69]

Hi Bill,

I think any of the TLB machines would do a good job on all you mentioned except the moving of the boulders in the size range you stated and I have a thought about the breaker.

Not knowing what type of stone you are refering to I will throw this in on the type I do know a little about. I have been in the lime stone industry for 20 yrs. On a regular basis I had to deal with the Georgia DOT doing rip rap jobs. State specs for type 1 (largest size material) was 30" x 30" not weighing more than 1,000 lbs. We never could match the weight requirment with a rock that size. On certain job site we had to weigh individual rocks and a 30x30 would be in the 2,000 to 2500 lb range. A rock the size you described would be in the 5,000 to 6,000 lb range. The density of your material may allow what you have to weigh less but I thought I would throw that in for you to consider.

As far as the breaker goes I would look at it in this way if it were my machine. How much abuse would I allow my tractor to go thru before I said enough is enough. I know that you probably see breakers mounted on small machines all the time just as I do. I bet 99% of the ones that are seen getting the guts beat out of them aren't being operated by a owner operator that paid for it out of his pocket. They are being treated that way by someone who will be able to go to their boss and tell them when it breaks and a company will absorb the repair cost. Unless I planned to get all my breaker work done and then pawn the machine off on someone else I believe I would just rent one for the ruff stuff.

That my 2 cents about the breaker.

 

[LarryRB]

I had no idea you could use a breaker on the smaller machines.

Get cats out of trees, drive away grizzlies, and bury relatives I don't like but I digress...................plus probably other things I shouldn't use it for.
Thanks again for your replies

I have two sister in laws I'd like to send your way on a "special" camping trip..

 

[rScotty]

I have an Kubota M59 TBL and my buddy has a nice 580 Case 4WD TBL. Both of us enjoy getting together to play in the dirt. Twice in the last few years when we had serious work to do on my land we hired a local guy who has an excavator and another with a bulldozer. Those machines can move a staggering amount of dirt and rock. In about six hours on Sat. afternoon the excavator and cat can do what would take us TBLs a month or more if we could do it at all....but in fact we just couldn't.
The sad truth is that it takes half a month or more with my M59 just to move and begin to landscape the enormous piles rock and dirt they leave behind.
So my advice is to use your machine for what it is intended to do and hire out the big work.

rScotty

 

[CurlyDave]

A rock the size you described would be in the 5,000 to 6,000 lb range.

A piece of concrete 2' x 3' x 5' would weigh just about 4500 lbs.

Most rocks are a bit more dense than concrete, so bulldog is spot on.

 

[AKfish]

Rent or rent or hire or hire...

Mention here on TBN regarding to be on the lookout for "incredibly cheap skid-steers". Hard use on the "Breaker Line"

AKfish

 

[bulldog69]

The average person never gets the opertunity to see what one rock actually weighs. I have broke some rocks before with my Link Belt 4300 that after getting them down to a size that the crusher could handle it would be more than a 40 ton cat 769 could carry. This rock was only about 10'x10'x15' or somewhere in that nieghborhood and after busting it apart it prodused around 50-60 tons of material. Hard to imagine but it's true.

I agree with rScotty about the sheer volume of dirt that a good operator can move in a day with a trackhoe. When I was doing bucket work in good dirt I could load a 40 ton 769 Cat truck in 5 buckets. When I say load I mean load. It would be from the front of the cab guard, falling of both sides and running out the back. I could load a truck in about 1 min and 25 sec. My best day ever was 331 loads; @ 40 tons = 13,240 - @ 50 tons = 16,550. Thats a lot of dirt.

 

[AKfish]

My best day ever was 331 loads; @ 40 tons = 13,240 - @ 50 tons = 16,550. Thats a lot of dirt.

Let's see.... I only need about 10 minutes of your time!! :thumbsup:

AKfish

 

[bulldog69]

Rent me a machine and get me up there. I have always wanted to see Alaska.

 

[AKfish]

Not very impressive to look at right now...! No grass yet - no leaves out yet, either. I was finishing up on some of my corners on the 4 acres I cleared this past winter and hit ice at about 6 inches.

Still have my rear chains on - or I'd be pushin' and pullin' with the hoe and the loader to get myself out!

Did catch some fine halibut today, though. 4 of us caught 14 and kept the biggest 8. Maybe 25lb average.

AKfish