Mangled my subsoiler pulling rocks

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I had my subsoiler on from using it to bury some radio fence wire, and so I decided to have it *ahem* "assist" me in removing some rocks from a newly reclaimed area, making a "road" more passable for my tractor to get through.

Kinda mangled it; didn't realize the main frame was bent until I realized that the point was busted off.
I'm not broken up about it or surprised, given that it was expected to do a job a few years ago and did that and more and was bought from TSC (ie - I knew it was light duty, was happy that it did what I asked it to already, got more than that out of it etc).

So my question is, is pulling rocks out of the ground something that people use these for? It worked fairly well at it without me having to backhoe a crater around the thing, and if a heavier duty one can be put to this task I may get one, as I expect to need a subsoiler for its proper use at some point anyways. The rocks in question were probably 300-500# and not entirely buried (or I'd've left them well alone, happily ignorant of their existence in my pathway), but the mechanics of this use obviously put a lot of strain on the implement overall. The tractor didn't care much one way or another (now THAT would've gotten me in tears).

 

[BukitCase]

Might wanna be careful how far you take this - I'm pretty sure that THIS time, the subsoiler died to save your TRACTOR - case in point; I have a friend that discovered a rock maybe 6" below surface, wanted it gone because that was his chosen garden area - has a JD with hoe attachment (small by my standards, my smallest tractor(s) are 45 horse, his is 22 IIRC) - by the time he was done, he'd hired a local gravel pit guy with a full size excavator - ended up just digging a big hole BESIDE the rock, which turned out to be the size of a VW bug, then rolling the "bug" over into the deeper hole, and smoothing things out... Steve

 

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Might wanna be careful how far you take this - I'm pretty sure that THIS time, the subsoiler died to save your TRACTOR - case in point; I have a friend that discovered a rock maybe 6" below surface, wanted it gone because that was his chosen garden area - has a JD with hoe attachment (small by my standards, my smallest tractor(s) are 45 horse, his is 22 IIRC) - by the time he was done, he'd hired a local gravel pit guy with a full size excavator - ended up just digging a big hole BESIDE the rock, which turned out to be the size of a VW bug, then rolling the "bug" over into the deeper hole, and smoothing things out... Steve

No doubt; I was only going to pull rocks that showed some potential in being pulled. Farther up the same path there's something that looks like a small ridge of an obviously larger rock that's a couple feet further to the side; I investigated it but decide it was probably going to be a boulder you'd be proud to climb and could stay were it is, I'll just be careful if I have to drive the tractor over it or dump some dirt on it to round things out a bit

 

[Wyobuckaroo]

I had that problem once.. Kept scalping a rock about the size of my palm with the MMM deck..
Decided to dig it up.. Used bucket, shovel, sub soil shank where I could..

Rock ended up the size of a wash tub... Luckily didn't break or bend anything..

 

[RSR]

I've found subsoilers very effective at loosening up ground around rocks, and helping pull them out. But, make sure you get one of sufficient heft to not, er, mangle it. Okay, too late on that advice.

I opted for a heavy duty one from EA attachments last year, paired with a 45hp tractor, and have been very happy with what I've been able to do with it. Of course, we all have similar stories of "Oh, I think I'll take out this small rock" which turns into a much larger job.

My experience started with about a 1 ft x 1ft exposed area of an annoying rock poking up at the edge of my driveway. It ended with a rock that was too heavy for my loader to lift (2700 lb capacity at the pins, at max height), that I had to take a sledge hammer to in order to reduce it in size by about 20%. Finally I was able to get some chains around it to pull it out.

 

[spruce Deere]

Yep, if they don't unearth with the sub-soiler working at it a little, beware.

I had found one of those hidden and forgotten jems sub-soiling. It would stop the 790 as the tires spun down... I ended up working up the buried boulder, roughly five foot long by three foot wide, with my 1150 case. A 20,000 lb. Dozer.

As I started working it with the dozer I remembered my grandfather telling me of a 'house' size rock he more or less just pushed more dirt over to be able to farm over it in this area of the field....luckily it was not that big.

 

[jmc]

I managed to twist a box blade scarfier once. I was probably in a turn when it snagged a root. Not surprised about a subsoiler.

 

[RSR]

I think old time farmers are much smarter than us weekend warriors that think, "I'll just go grab my tractor and get this out in no time."

This is the progression of mine.

1) I'll just loosen it up with a shovel and pop it out with my grapple. No dice.

2) Maybe I can pull it out. Another fail.

3 and 4) Desperation - Take a sledgehammer to it and try to break down the size.

5) Finally! I still couldn't come close to lifting it with the loader, but was able to drag it out.

6) Of course, now I have a huge rock sitting in the middle of my driveway that I can't move. I guess I push it to the bottom and try to make it a landscape feature? Yeah, I should have just left well enough alone.

 

[ning]

I think old time farmers are much smarter than us weekend warriors that think, "I'll just go grab my tractor and get this out in no time."

This is the progression of mine.

1) I'll just loosen it up with a shovel and pop it out with my grapple. No dice.

2) Maybe I can pull it out. Another fail.

3 and 4) Desperation - Take a sledgehammer to it and try to break down the size.

5) Finally! I still couldn't come close to lifting it with the loader, but was able to drag it out.

6) Of course, now I have a huge rock sitting in the middle of my driveway that I can't move. I guess I push it to the bottom and try to make it a landscape feature? Yeah, I should have just left well enough alone.View attachment 693156View attachment 693157View attachment 693158View attachment 693159View attachment 693160View attachment 693161

I've got a bunch of rock piles, but I'm ok with that; better a monolithic pile than a tractor road with a big bump in it to upset your load.

 

[fried1765]

Might wanna be careful how far you take this - I'm pretty sure that THIS time, the subsoiler died to save your TRACTOR - case in point; I have a friend that discovered a rock maybe 6" below surface, wanted it gone because that was his chosen garden area - has a JD with hoe attachment (small by my standards, my smallest tractor(s) are 45 horse, his is 22 IIRC) - by the time he was done, he'd hired a local gravel pit guy with a full size excavator - ended up just digging a big hole BESIDE the rock, which turned out to be the size of a VW bug, then rolling the "bug" over into the deeper hole, and smoothing things out... Steve

Even with a small backhoe, the easiest way to deal with rocks too large for the machine to handle, is often to dig a deep hole alongside, and roll the rock in.