Portable rock soil recycler for tractors

[BGigHarbor]

Great posting, much appreciated.

One concern I have is that my tractor's lifting capacity is less than I hoped for and I need to make sure I can actually lift and move it. Not sure how I do that.....The FEL is rating for around #1900 total but I am not convinced I can lift that.

I do have pallet forks which are #150 lighter than my bucket.

The sides of my trailer are fixed so maybe I could lift the unit up a little on each end and block it high enough to get my forks into it.....

I do really like my BCSs, but I also have a riding lawn mower which I prefer on flatter ground as I don't have a finish mower for the BCS. Just a flail and a rotary brushhog mower.

So my riding mower is faster, cuts lawn much cleaner and of course less tiring. Wouldn't give up either....

I have a power push mower, weedwacker, BCS 852 with the rotary, JD lx277 riding mower and within a year 6 ft brushog style mower (probably a LP).

(I see you bought the BCS diesel. I've read that is a fantastic motor, but I have an fairly extreme aversion to diesel exhaust from a previous job so I bought the gas version. And I've had a smaller BCS 725 harvester as a dedicated rototiller for maybe 15 yrs and its great compared to rototillers I have used and worn out prior to that.)

 

[Coyote machine]

BGH, see if your loader rating is at the pins. If so, the lift capacity further out in the bucket/fork legs is reduced from the # at the pins. If you have the rock sifter placed at the tongue end of your trailer could you get up close with the forks, with the trailer wheels chocked, and take it off the front of the trailer on level ground?

 

[BGigHarbor]

BGH, see if your loader rating is at the pins. If so, the lift capacity further out in the bucket/fork legs is reduced from the # at the pins. If you have the rock sifter placed at the tongue end of your trailer could you get up close with the forks, with the trailer wheels chocked, and take it off the front of the trailer on level ground?

My FEL (la1055) is rated at 2361 lbs at the pin and #1784 500 mm forward. I've been unable to pick up certain things that I thought I should be able to, thus the concern. The specs on the screener are over #1600 with the defllector. Although the specs on my FEL are as high as the lanet's if I am reading them right and obviously he can lift his screener.

Would be a major bummer to bring the unit home and not be able to lift it......

My only trailer is a utility trailer with fixed sides (which I had custom built for hauling heavy wood) and it is too narrow for the unit to go in sideways so the fork holes will be on the side of the trailer.

 

[Coyote machine]

Could you drive under a large leader/branch and strap/chain the unit to same, then drive the trailer out from under, then lower the sifter to the ground? Or strip off enough parts to be able to lift it off the trailer from above with straps/chains placed close to the pins on the forks? If you could raise it off the trailer bed you could avoid having to lift it over the rails, and just drive out the trailer? Yes to any?

 

[BGigHarbor]

No low branches on the new property.

I think I could figure out a way to get it off the trailer (or rent a trailer with no sides) but the unit with the vibrator and deflector is rated at 1800 lbs. I am not sure my la1055 fel can pick that up on my l5460. Maybe from the inside?

 

[lanet]

One option that I didn't purchase was the highway wheels and tow hitch for the unit. From what I've seen, these units can be towed behind a pickup truck. That may negate the need for a trailer and could allow you to tow the unit if you can't lift it. You might be able to rig up a way with your bucket that you could lift the hitch and use the tow wheels to move it into position.

 

[lanet]

I just checked OMH's website and they don't have the wheels and hitch listed. But I'd suggest calling them and talking to Brad (he's the owner) about them. He may have taken them off the website but still have some available and could send you some pictures.

 

[BGigHarbor]

I just checked OMH's website and they don't have the wheels and hitch listed. But I'd suggest calling them and talking to Brad (he's the owner) about them. He may have taken them off the website but still have some available and could send you some pictures.

They claim they have lifted the unit (barely) with a Kubota 7800 with a la402 FEL (without the deflection stuff). My la1055 fel is rate much higher so hopefully it won't be a problem. They told me the weights listed are a bit high, to round up for shipping purposes. Up to a few hundred pounds high.

I am seriously considering one although once you total up what I want it is over $6500, plus tax.....and I've never actually seen one in person.

Update: Pulling the trigger on one today to be delivered Friday. Fingers crossed I can lift it off their flatbed trailer.

 

[BGigHarbor]

Received my slg-78 yesterday.

Seems promising to be very useful, but I think my expectations were a bit high. I don't think it'll be as convenient and flexible as I was hoping for $7k.

Some of my "concerns" from looking at what pics I could find proved grounded although none total dealbreakers. It's designed for a machine with a stronger FEL than mine, and more importantly a flatter bucket like skidsteers etc have.

I can't really move the unit using the bucket arms on the outside, my FEL can only lift the unit inches up and only when conditions are perfect. With the bucket grabs on the inside, it's designed for a flatter bucket and my standard Kubota bucket is taller than a skidsteer style flat bucket in the front and therefor hits the cross piece and is 6 inches short of sliding into the "clamps". It sort of grabs, but barely and and the unit is heavy and awkward enough I think it could easily slip off the bucket in that position and might be exciting. I wondered about this and it seems like a problem as moving the unit with the bucket is alot more convenient that driving off, getting the forks, moving it, and then swapping the bucket back in to work every time I want to move the unit. Note, a flatter bucket like a small skidsteer bucke is very low in front, and is below that crosspiece.

I can lift it from either side with my pallet forks (because it allows the FEL pin to be closer to the weight), but that isn't as convenient and also the slots are huge compared to my forks and for example from the outside the forks angle up drastically in the slot and hit the crosspiece inside. And with the forks it seems kind of less stable than I think it would if the forks fit the slots better. One "solution" I'll try is to put a 2x4 on top of the forks once inside the slots and see if that tightens up well it sits on the forks. Peter told me it is designed for much thicker forks than mine.

It comes with a 3/4 x 4 mesh (and I ordered a few other sizes). I ran some pretty nice dirt through it and it fed pretty well. I tried some pretty nice dirt but with grass growing in it and within a few minutes it seriously plugged up the thing under the crossbar of the deflector such that I am going to have to go out this morning with a bar or something and work it clear. This was a major dissapointment (so far anyway).

So at least with that mesh it doesn't seem to like woody/grassy mixtures as they plugg up the unit under the cross bar and stop all feeding. Has to do with the limited space under the deflector bottom crosspiece and the reliance on gravity to work everything through that "narrow" slot. I am hoping I'll work out better ways to sift dirt with other stuff in it, maybe with the larger mesh first. Got so say I was expecting it to eat this mixture I was feed it right up but it plugged so bad in 5 minutes I called it a day.

After I get some time with the unit, I can report what I"ve worked out. Bottom line is moving it with my tractor is not as convenient as I think it should be, and I think it is going to be MUCH fussier about what I feed it than I hoped (at least with the deflector and the new rubber mat they have) . Taking off the deflector looks to be a major effort, so I am hoping I can figure out something that works better when trying to screen dirt with grass in it.

I've attached a few quick pics, one with nice dirt and everything working well and the other showing how my tractor style (taller towards the front) bucket hits the crosspiece and can't fit into the grab arms. I can't yet think of a solution. Maybe if I never use the grab hooks on the outside, I could have them modified somehow to allow the bucket to fit. Maybe angle the grabs slots down so the bucket is lower. If the slots themselves were lower it would work better, but that is not something I can change of course and that might foul up the balance of lifting it. Basically the unit is not really designed for the compact tractor, as that is not their usual contractor customer.

Third pic is how after maybe 5 (perhaps 10) minutes it was totally jammed with grassy dirt. I realize the unit is not designed to take dirt with grass in it, but I am really hoping to improve my techniques with this sort of material somehow with time.

 

[BGigHarbor]

Spending the day with the unit and still thinking it will be useful when I get it figured out a bit more.

My opinion so far (strongly) for anyone thinking of one to definitely get the vibrator and the deflector. They have a fairly expensive rubber mat that I think will be useful in some situations, but I think lanet's piece of plywood on the deflector gets you most of the functionality for less if you are so inclined.

I'd also advise to have a flat work area as otherwise it's hard to interfacce the screen in a level and controled manner with any speed.


A noisy dusty proposition in any case, but I am having fun for now as I am sticking to dirt with no wood matter or grass that seems to kind of form a blanket across the screen under the deflector.