BH 77 Ripper options

Tompet · Mar 9, 2014

I was thinking about getting a ripper tooth for my BH77 and have a two part question. Anyone switching different bucket sizes out on their BH77 and how long does it take to unbolt pull pins etc.? Also, has anyone purchased a ripper tooth for their BH77, if so what brand? I have some specific use for some tight work on a home renovation (roots and rocks) that the bucket is just too wide and I need some pin point force.

The two I found were bro-tek on left and michigan iron on right, any opinions, experience, thoughts on these two brands or other vendor links are appreciated.

Kubota BH77 Backhoe Ripper (URT-50) - Hound Dog Attachments Backhoe Ripper Tooth Kubota Backhoe Rippers

Bro-Tek Ripper Tooth

Found this...interesting video on the link below...but a little big!

TRENCHING FANGS

Tompet · Mar 11, 2014

I know a couple of members have rippers and I searched some older posts, but anyone with some feedback?

jim_wilson · Mar 11, 2014

Thanks for sending me a message Tompet - I haven't been on TBN a huge amount lately so I missed this thread.

I bought a Michigan Iron ripper last year for the BH77 on my B3200. I had a number of tree stumps to rip out - and the bucket just wasn't cutting it.

I have the 16" bucket that came with my BH77, the Michigan Iron ripper - and a 12" bucket.

Swapping them out is a "little" bit of a pain in the butt - but it's not too bad. I found the simplest thing to do is put the hoe boom down close to the ground so that I can "roll" the bucket or ripper up to it - then I put the pin that goes thru the end of the boom. Once you have that pin in - getting the other one in and aligned is relatively easy. The hardest part actually is lining up the retainting bolt holes so you can get the bolt thru.

I keep a dowel and a mallet around to (Gently) knock the pins and get them aligned.

The Michigan Iron tooth stood up to everything I threw at it. I had a very large willow stump (about 5ft in diameter) to get out and a large (about 2-3 foot in diameter) ash stump to remove. The willow was the worst - but the ash wasn't much better. I basically had to rip them apart with the tooth to get them out. I had tried using the 12" bucket previously and that just didn't cut it. The ripper came in very useful because I could stick it right down in the ground and rip out all the roots all around the circumference of the stumps to make sure they was nothing holding them in.

My Michigan Iron doesn't look exactly like the one in the picture you have - if you want I can grab the camera and get a picture of it so you have a better idea of what mine looks like.

Tompet · Mar 11, 2014

Thanks for the quick reply JW!
The description you provided was informative. The Michigan Iron ripper is more costly than the Bro-Tec.

From the descriptions the MI ripper has a wider "shovel" at the top giving it kind of a trenching action. Does this sound correct? Also, is the top of the ripper the same width as the end of the dipper or thumb so you can trench and dig deeper than the length of the ripper? A trenching blade is optional on the Bro-Tec.

From you description the switch out doesn't sound too bad. Btw, I did read your posts on hydro thumb and QA BH bucket ideas.

And yes, if yours looks different a post with a photo or two would be much appreciated!
Thanks again.

jim_wilson · Mar 11, 2014

The Michigan Iron ripper has a wider top too - so you can get a bit of "shovel" action out of it too. I don't know if I'd really recommend it for that kind of stuff though. I don't think (in my opinion) - that either one of them would be greatest for digging a trench.

After using the Michigan Iron one I think the one thing I might look at is the dimensions of the Bro-Tek vs the Michigan Iron. If the Bro-Tek isn't as long - you might get more ripping action out of it. There were times when using the MI ripper that I thought it might have been losing some power because of the leverage effect on the hydraulics of having the ripper a lot further out than the bucket normally is.

To my eye - the MI ripper looks more "spikey" though than the Bro-Tek does - so it might do a better job pulling things apart. Hard to say really without using them side by side.