difference between sub soiler and middle buster?

[aardvark]

I can't see a difference from looking at pictures in catalogs. I think I want a sub soiler to pull up some roots, but I can't tell how a middle buster would work any differently, other than it's more money, which would make the tractor lighter. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[JerryK]

You can only use the middle buster to pull middle sized roots, but you can use the sub-soiler on other sizes /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[shvl73]

I have a subsoiler & it has a narrow tooth. I think the middle buster has a small plow tip.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Do a Google search and find the website for Howse Implements, while I have a total disdane for their products (I.M.H.O. they have lousy fit & finish, are lightly made, and generally poorly designed) and have gotten rid of every one I have ever owned (except my Sub-Soiler-Middle Buster combo unit) they do make the best combo tool I have found. They have pictures posted on their site. The combo Sub-Soiler Middle Butser is a modular unit, the blades interchange. And as a bonus, you get a trailer hitch thrown in for free! I think the combo unit costs about $165.

You can see a picture of the subsoiler in my photo gallery in the photo section of TBN.

I have further modified my unit since posting the pictures in my photo gallery. The pictures show my sub-soiler with a plastic pipe attached to the trailing edge. The sub-soiler blade is held in with bolts. I swapped out the bolts with top link pins so now the blade interchange without tools. Further, a 2" receiver hitch is now welded on the frame. Further I'm working on TWO new attachements. One will be a sod-cutter to cut 8" strips of sod from around planter beds so I can lay in edging stones. The other will be a shrub puller. The beauty of the Howse A-frame assembly that works with their Sub-Soiler Middle Buster combo unit is that it allows you to swap out the blades, and if you have other uses, to make new ones as well.

To more direcly answer your question, a Sub-Soiler digs a deep but very narrow ditch. A Middle-Buster is also called a potato plow, it only digs down about 5 or 6 inches and plows a path that is about 8" wide.

 

[cisco]

Skurka's got it right. The subsoiler trenches deeper (mine gets to about 20 inches) and narrow (single blade of ? 2-3 inches width), and the middle buster, aka potato plow, about 12 inches deep and 9 inches wide (at least mine does - have no idea as to manufacturer, but it comes with a common shaft and the blades interchange - a common set-up). The middle buster is useful as a poor man's and low hp tractor plow, and also to open trenches to lay shallow drainage pipes, etc. The subsoiler is a good root killer, and when rigged right can also allow you to lay cable off a spool of wire or flexible and narrow (e.g., 1") pipe. There's obviously all sorts of stuff you can add to the A-frame.

 

[johnk]

Heres a pic of a fitch the middle buster dug..

 

[johnk]

And another

 

[johnk]

One more. It works to bury 4" corragated drainpipe. Actually put in 100ft and it took about an hour........

 

[philshel]

This is almost exactly what I need. I need to cut small drainage ditches alongside and/or at the base of hillsides. Does any one make a middle buster that is offset to the out side of the rear tires? Sort of a “side buster.”

 

[RonR]

Pulling a "sidebuster" behind a CUT, I don't think you could drive it in a straight line--I think it would turn the tractor as you drove.........

Just my 2 cents.........

Ron