ETA Subsoiler

[Sysop]

Just order my ETA Subsoiler today. Got my shipping information and they said it will ship tomorrow. I can't wait!

 

[Xfaxman]

:thumbsup: Updates please.

 

[Sysop]

Well, since ETA (and many other implement makers) state they only ship free to business addresses, I had asked my dealer if I could have implements shipped to their location and pick them up, they said that would be fine by them. Even told me if I got something too large to load by hand they'd fire up a new tractor on the lot to assist loading (that will be really nice when I order my BushHog RMB1445). When talking to ETA they said the subsoiler was small enough they could ship it to the farm fine, but since I already had things setup for the dealer to receive it, I stuck with that plan.

ETA was a breeze to deal with, they got the item shipped out today as they said they would, and they sent it as two packages. FedEx says each of the two weighs 63LBS and they estimate arrival at my dealer on Thursday... I'll update with pics, assembly, and first use thoughts as things progress...

 

[EverythingAttachments]

We appreciate the business Sysop. I look forward to hearing about your subsoiler when you get it!

We do offer several attachments with free UPS/Fed-Ex ground shipping within 1,000 miles to a farm/residence.
The most popular items are:

ETA Subsoiler
ETA Post Hole Diggers. Yes! All of them except for the 7500 HD Category 2.
ETA HD Potato Plow/Middlebuster
ETA 3pt Receiver Hitches
ETA 3pt Garden Bedders except for the GB70(70" wide)
60" and 72" ETA Pine Needle Rakes

There are more, but those are the most popular items.
Travis

 

[Sysop]

I've been impressed by you guys since I learned about you. I will be opening a second shop at my farm and will soon have a business license for that location. I have plenty of room for UPS freight semi trucks at my place (been there several times in recent history), forks to unload stuff off the back of a truck, and I'm right along one of America's oldest "coast to coast" highways so trucks have no issues finding me. I'll soon be working around the "business location" limitation of the free shipping (sort of what I'm waiting on before getting an ETA grapple!) . Too bad I'm not a rich man or I'd keep you guys busy in shipping, you have LOTS of toy-erm ---I mean tools, that I'd have a use for...

Keep up the good work!

 

[Sysop]

Well, it arrived fine. FedEx apparently banged the boxes around a good bit and the box the blade was in had a couple small holes and the foam filler was partly in pieces, paint got a little chipped on a few things, but no worries; it is nothing any worse than I have intentions on doing to it during normal operations. Here was how it arrived:

After assembly (which was a breeze), I thought I'd give it a whirl before putting it in the barn. One of the places we drive by the barn has quite a bit of compaction and water stands when it rains, so I thought I'd test it on that. Knowing that it will probably be the hardest part of my land I figured it would be a good test.

Made one slow 60' pass just beside where the tires of our vehicles compact, awesome.

Started to make another pass a few feet from it and made it about 30' and bang went the sheer bolt. Knew I needed the sheer due to the rocky soil here, thank goodness for it or the whole thing would have been a pretzel. I was in low range at 1500RPM and hardly moving, so pretzel may be an exaggeration, but needless to say I'm tickled to have spent the extra on one with a sheer bolt design. Here is how far I made it on the second pass:

I fully expected if it was going to sheer, this part of the land would be the place it would sheer, so no big deal. The only concern I have is when the sheer bolt sheered, half popped off, the other half bent and acted as a wedge that bent the bracket slightly.

Upon inspection, I can see there are masses of fill weld between the plates that make up the bracket, and none at the tip of the square rod spacing the two plates apart. I'm thinking if I straighten the bend and put a little more weld at the tip of the square rode spacing the two plates, it may provide a bit of extra support (since the bend occurred at this exact spot).

Overall I am pleased with the weight and design. I am very pleased I got the sheer style instead of a rigid unit. I would purchase again even with the minor day one setback.

 

[whis]

the welds in the last pic don't look real good. I would grind part of it out and then weld all the way around

 

[Sysop]

Woke up to a PM today from Travis concerned about the issue I experienced. He asked for some additional pictures, asked if the bushing around the sheer bolt was in place properly, few other things. Was concern perhaps I had the top bracket upside down, I don't think it was as I understand by the geometry of it, the slot formed in the one side of the bracket is made to allow full motion of the main upright blade plate. Not saying I didn't have a brain fart, but I don't think I put it on upside down...

When he had asked if the bushing was in place, he'd mentioned they sometimes will come loose in transit and the sheer bolt relies on it to sheer properly, if it wasn't installed that could be the reason the bolt bent rather than sheered. I had recalled that the bushing was partly out, and when I tapped it back into place I had noted that it wasn't as long as the thickness of the plate and when tapping it in I made sure it was centered. Upon going out and taking the additional pictures, I noticed the bushing was off center, and the side that wasn't filled with bushing was the side the sheer bolt had bent on.

I sent the additional images, he called me, we discussed the bit about the top bracket, they're sending out the needed parts to get me back in operation and I'll send the old parts back to them. Another reason to go with Everything Attachments, they care. Impressively good bunch of guys.

 

[C4Ranch]

My boxes looked the same I think it's just the weight and awkward size.

I'm surprised you sheered the bolt, I got a few spares but haven't sheered one yet.

I use mine to pop rocks out of the ground, and has worked beautifully. Once I hit the rock, extend my top link and up 3pt and there's the rock.

Glad ETA took care of ya.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

My bother has one without a shear pin but I now see the top link moves at the rear connection so his makes sense now. I was just laying in a barn without good lighting. I plan to use it to rip up the acre we cleared at church for a new parking lot. The ground is low and on a field half a mile away it was much dryer after I ripped it deep about every 3'. We do not have rocks in the soil however. I may do it after I get down a layer of the clayless gravel and that should help with the perk for years to come. I have never used one without a shear pin but I have never sheared a pin but by going very slow and very deep the tractor would spin out if hitting something solid under ground.

 

[Baby Grand]

<ship>

. I have never used one without a shear pin but I have never sheared a pin but by going very slow and very deep the tractor would spin out if hitting something solid under ground.

That's been my experience, too. As long a you're geared way down and moving slowly, you just lose traction.

 

[Sysop]

I had no doubt ETA was the way to go due to their reputation. I hope I didn't assemble anything wrong and it was simply the bushing being a bit short, although I would be sorta shocked if an 1/8th inch short on the bushing would make the sheer bolt that finicky and bend rather than break. Perhaps just an oddly strong sheerbolt? After getting home and getting things together to ship back to ETA, I noticed that orienting the top link bar correctly, oriented the ETA sticker somewhat upside down, which is now making me question which way I did have it on there... I understood the geometry and how it was supposed to go together before assembling it, but during the assembly process did I look at that sticker and put it in upside down? I really can't say at this point, but I'm sort of leaning towards possibly a combination of things... I'm just happy to have dealt with a reputable company like ETA who stands behind their products and wants their customers to have the proper tool for a job. There are hammers of many styles, having the right one for the task can make all the difference in the world...

I hope to give them much more business in the future as my projects require new tools. Next thing I'm sure I'll need and be looking to order is one of their wicked root grapples to clear a good bit of undergrowth in my hills. There are a couple other projects pending of greater priority such as a building to store all the toys in (running out of room in my barn). But I have a feeling I'll be ordering several goodies from them for the next several years for quite a few future projects.

I seem to build pretty decent tractive force with my tractor (with the loader and loaded tires I think I come in about 6000#), very little has made me spin a tire. When I do, my hydrostat generally has enough pressure built up inside that once I release the pedal to come to a stop, it still pulls for a moment. That's partly why when pulling a hard load I tend to start at an idle and only bring the throttle up as much as is needed to do the work, so if something does grab and cause pressures to increase, it can stall easier and it is not creating excess power against whatever has grabbed in the moment between when I let off the HST and it quits pulling. This is how I was taught to plow with geared tractors so if something would catch, the tractor would stall instead of mangle the plows. The same seemed to hold true with HST. Going slow also is pretty much needed for the draft control to work, which it seemed to be doing well on both passes up until the loud POP of the sheer bolt. I had been watching the 3 point and watching ahead to keeping my line, just so happened at the moment of the POP I was turning my head forward to check my line, so I didn't see it happen and reacted on the sound alone.

My parts arrive tomorrow, I can't wait!

 

[C4Ranch]

Great to hear. It's hard to tell, but based on where the paint looks worn off and where it looks like the main beam hit it kinda looks like it was upside down to me. I also can't see the top link bar sticking above the top of the main beam in your pic.

The top link bar should be angled a little upward when the main beam is vertical. The "groove" should be on the top. You can zoom into my pic and get an idea. Sticker right side up.

I too have been very happy with ETA and would buy from them again.

 

[Sysop]

I too see where it appears to have made contact where it shouldn't have, which is one of the reasons I do question if I did indeed install it upside down. At first I attributed those marks to the being part of the big bang of the sheer pin half breaking and half bending and everything coming apart.

I wasn't able to stop by yesterday and pick up the parts ETA sent to me, I ended up dealing with work emergencies from dawn to dusk, which spilled over into today, and partly got brought home with me tonight. I was able to stop by today and nab up the parts, brought them home and unboxed. I also fired up the tractor long enough to go get the rest of the unit and bring it over near the house to work on as soon as I have time.

Upon unboxing, I noticed ETA tossed in two of the bushings. Not sure the reasoning, but it is always great to see a company go the extra mile in being sure you have everything needed, and even the occasional spare.

Summary to this point:
Everything Attachments rocks!

Will update more as more happens. Thanks!

 

[BlacknTan]

Glad to hear that ETA backed up their product.

This tool does not look compatible with a real Quick-Hitch, the full frame one, but does anyone know if it is?

 

[Sysop]

No clue on that. I've never had a need personally; this being my only tractor, having telescoping lower arms, and my current lineup of implements makes one more trouble than benefit. ETA or any other ETA subsoiler owners with quick hitch experience are welcome to chime in with relevant info (no need to worry about hijacking my threads, I love conversation).

On another note, I found myself with ten minutes to walk out back and snap a couple side by side pics of old versus new.

Original on right shows the sticker was indeed reversed on my first one, but would have been oriented properly if put together properly... I really don't think I could have gotten it backwards by mistake, but I'm still as confused as ever on which way I actually had it together. Still makes me rather angry (at myself) to think that I'd got things reversed somehow...

Original on left is significantly shorter than the one provided. Travis told me they would send one that had not been ground to length and some may need ground off, I told him that wasn't a big deal as I have nearly a dozen ways to manage that. I haven't yet test fit it to see if it needs ground or not, I'd imagine since he said it would, it will.

 

[C4Ranch]

Both stickers are upside down!!! That groove must be facing up so the main beam can tilt into the groove.

Travis, time to retrain your sticker stickerer.........

 

[Sysop]

Errrr, yea, what he said... lol I was looking at the picture and got to thinking backwards again... Quite possible I did put it backwards I guess...

 

[C4Ranch]

I'm looking forward to you going back after that spot the last one broke... Bet you tractor right through it....

 

[Sysop]

Well, no such luck. I had too many chores to finish up last year to have a chance to play with it more. Just had my first chance today, Happy Easter!
Rather than doing around the barn to dry up some spots, which is where I broke it last time; this time I was breaking up the hard packed clay that resides deep under the garden (that hasn't been a garden for 30 years) and causes a few spots to hold water. This time it was going along smooth, draft was just high enough to keep it from bogging the tractor too bad. Ground speed was minimal. Everything was going so good I went and grabbed my phone to take a quick video of it in action to give the ETA guys a "happy customer" action video.

On the very next pass I came across a deep rock that stopped the tractor. Tried to lift it with the 3pt and wouldn't budge. Backed off and raised it a little a couple times to find the top of the rock and pull over it then dropped the position control to go back down once past the rock. Kept going and had no issues. Once I got to the end and raised it, I shut the video off and backed up for another pass and when getting ready to drop it and turned to look, I saw I had bent the entire mainshaft. Now looking at the video I can see that the soil seems to be raising more on the left side (upper side of the subsoiler) in the video after hitting the rock, which was the direction the mainshaft twisted. Frustrated I didn't think to take more pictures, I just went and got the two bottom moldboard to turn the surface over before my daylight ran out...

I must not have had it together properly the first time, hence the shearing action. This time it was together right and didn't shear when needed. I really like the unit and I'm sure a lesser unit would have been worse off. But I'm beginning to think this subsoiler might not be intended for a 40HP 5000# machine to be pulling on it.

Anyone out there from ETA wanna quote me a replacement main shaft? (yes the big 1/2" plate with the angles ground onto the front.)

Here's the video in all it's unexciting glory...