homemade ripper

[TNGP]

So, the need for a tool has struck again! Have to put a hot wire up around the house once I'm feeling up to it. But to do this job, I need a ripper to help bury the wire to the fence. Looked around and found a single option for a 2" hitch mount. So, I asked a friend to help me make one and vuala! A mean looking ripper was born. I just tried it out in the woods. 4 inches down and the high range bogs. Flip to low range and it just goes until I hit a root. That stopped me in my tracks. Great ripper and didn't break the pin!

 

[roadhunter]

Nice!

 

[TNGP]

Thanks man! It works like a dream and my baby tractor can handle it. From a distance it's like I'm working with a Cat D9 (or at least in my mind it does)!

 

[stuckmotor]

Looks like it'll hold up. Can you go deeper by making successive passes in the same furrow?

 

[FredH]

Real Nice . :thumbsup:
Now add a piece of pipe down the back of it with a curve at the bottom that angles away from the direction of travel , thus when you start to lay your wire , You feed it through the pipe , secure end to something solid , then commence to rip and feed wire as you go .

Fred H.

 

[TNGP]

That angled pipe deal is a good idea and probably the next step. I didn't have time to do it for this project, but next project you can bet it'll be done!

Multiple passes and I can get it hitch deep. Bit on one pass I can get it about 10 inches in. The mud in the picture is from one pass.

 

[Gordon Gould]

You and your friend made a good looking ripper. Nice job!!

gg

 

[Renze]

Real Nice . :thumbsup:
Now add a piece of pipe down the back of it with a curve at the bottom that angles away from the direction of travel , thus when you start to lay your wire , You feed it through the pipe , secure end to something solid , then commence to rip and feed wire as you go .

Fred H.

You would need another pair of hands pushing the wire down into the pipe or friction will make the wire rip apart. Perhaps a pulley down below would work

 

[TNGP]

I wonder if you were to put a spool above a belled entrance if the friction would be enough to use unspool the wire in the trench. I wonder if the material of the tube would affect it any. If it were sch80 PVC with a gentle 90 degree turn at the bottom would allow the wire/cable to slide through.

 

[jwmorris]

I wonder if you were to put a spool above a belled entrance if the friction would be enough to use unspool the wire in the trench. I wonder if the material of the tube would affect it any. If it were sch80 PVC with a gentle 90 degree turn at the bottom would allow the wire/cable to slide through.

Sounds like what I did on the drip line plow I built. Some photos of it in #5 of this thread.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/336278-drip-tube-plow.html?highlight=Drip+line

Drip line is more fragile that most any wire you will come across. As most wire will at least withstand the stress of being pulled through conduit and the stress of "plowing" it would be much more local than pulling a long run through EMT.

 

[TNGP]

That looks like a professional setup there. How much time do you have running that rig? Any failure in the design yet? I will eventually need to add something like that to my ripper to run power to the guest house and barn. Would you suggest metal or plastic tubing for the wire guide section? I would think plastic would have less friction but less strength and metal could develop damaging jagged and sharp ends at the entrance and exit.

 

[bigdeano]

I made this one for the sleeve hitch on my garden tractor. It lays wire a foot deep if it doesn't hit rocks too big. I used a 3/4" 90 deg electrical conduit bend and a pipe nipple. I added the plastic pipe reducer on top to act as a funnel. There's an arm to hold a wire reel. I buried 300' of cat5 wire with it and it worked real well.

 

[jwmorris]

That looks like a professional setup there. How much time do you have running that rig? Any failure in the design yet?

Would you suggest metal or plastic tubing for the wire guide section?

I would use metal myself and again wouldn't worry about it riding through a little metal, a long pull through EMT conduit and wires rub on metal a lot.

I built that one for the Dallas division of Valley Crest and they used it in conjunction with some Vermeer machines. They had a deadline to hit landscaping the tollway and didn't want to spend another $50k so I built that one for use behind a tractor, I have never been called to repair it.

 

[downsizingnow48]

I made this one for the sleeve hitch on my garden tractor. It lays wire a foot deep if it doesn't hit rocks too big. I used a 3/4" 90 deg electrical conduit bend and a pipe nipple. I added the plastic pipe reducer on top to act as a funnel. There's an arm to hold a wire reel. I buried 300' of cat5 wire with it and it worked real well. <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=474340"/>

Looks good straightforward and effective.

 

[kthompson]

Looks good. Can not tell with the mud on the plow but if you don't have sharp edge on the shank get that done. Torch edge will be fine but that will help with roots a lot. Also when you hit a root keep pressure on the plow and slowly lift the plow, sometimes that will break a bigger root that you will expect.

My subsoiler is basically straight shanks also but wish they were tilted back for think that also helps.

 

[jimmysisson]

In New England we're allowed to direct-bury power cables in many areas but I don't recommend it. They seem to fail in winter (maybe rocks growing up by) when they're toughest to fix. A trench and conduit give much more peace of mind.
Jim