Ripper tooth for BH...Do they work well?

[TRUST]

I've been tackling some serious stumps lately and its not going well. I'm thinking of trying a ripper tooth for the BH. Can anyone recommend?

 

[Tom_H]

I have the BroTek ripper on my Woods BH6000 bh on a BX2200. I have not gone after any stumps yet, but the ripper allows me to rip through dry hardpan (slowly) whereas the bucket itself cannot dig in the dry hardpan. When the hardpan has been soaking under water all winter, the bucket can dig slowly, whereas the ripper can rip it apart faster. The only bad thing is that the tooth is regular steel and mine (which came sharp) was blunt after one minute in the hardpan (my hardpan is truly like concrete). I wish that BroTek would make it with a mount for a removable tooth so that an old tooth could be taken off and a new carbide tooth put on as needed.

 

[workinallthetime]

I have a b3030 with a 75 series hoe, i had a bx23 before, one thing I do to help with the stumps is move out away from the base. The roots get smaller and are much easier to break away from the the stump as much as 4 feet. One more thing you can do is not cut the tree down before you dig, the weight of the tree will cut your stump removal time in half just be careful

 

[Singlecoil]

I have found the Bro-Tek ripper quite helpful in digging out stumps. I dug this one out and the ripper helped a lot. The next time I will have a boulder in the loader bucket while I am digging with the ripper. There were several times that I hooked a root and probably could have ripped right through it, but the front of the tractor was coming off the ground.

 

[TRUST]

Thanks for the tips!

 

[spk64]

I've been tackling some serious stumps lately and its not going well. I'm thinking of trying a ripper tooth for the BH. Can anyone recommend?

Here is my experience with the ripper on a BX24
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/kubota-owning-operating/131888-stump-removal-brotek-ripper.html

 

[20 20]

I also just move out further on the root, but have considered a ripper tooth, just not sure if it'd be worth it. I have removed way over 100+ roots and hope to stop messing with them some day. If you really want to get rid of roots fast and easy rent a good sized excavator, they can make quick rootless holes. I also just did 15 trees root and tree in 1 shot, but this is not for someone with no experience.

 

[niedejb]

I would suggest getting the ripping/trenching plow with the ripper.

I ran a ditch from the house to the outbuilding ~130' and the trencher made it look easy.

Only went down 24" or so, but it took longer to cut and glue the PVC together than it took to trench.

 

[Singlecoil]

I would suggest getting the ripping/trenching plow with the ripper.

I ran a ditch from the house to the outbuilding ~130' and the trencher made it look easy.

Only went down 24" or so, but it took longer to cut and glue the PVC together than it took to trench.

I have the trencher add on for the ripper and haven't had a chance to use it yet and am curious as to how it worked for you. You drove forward with the trencher in the ground and had no problems? I'm a little worried about damaging the backhoe doing this, but figured if the RPM's were low enough, the tractor would stop before any damage occurs.

 

[Shutesbury]

I tried getting a large maple tree stump out with my BX24, and after trenching all around with the BH, found the remaining tap root system still held it solidly in place. My pickup wouldn't budge it with chains. I want a Bro-tek ripper, but it isn't in the budget.

I went to Tractor Supply and bought a ripper tooth for $38, bought a new 5/8ths drill bit for $14, and some 5/8ths 2" bolts, nuts, flat and lock washers.

A short time later, I had a reversible ripper tooth attached to my backhoe bucket. Originally I mounted it "tine up", but found "tine down" worked better to spear under the main root ball and strip away soil and break apart the underside roots that kept the maple in place. As soil accumulated in my perimeter trenching, I still had the use of the bucket to pull it out, without switching between a dedicated ripper, and dedicated bucket. I mounted it in 'bucket neutral' alignments, so I can pull in or thrust out; and it doesn't hit the BH frame when I curl the bucket all the way in.

The ripper is very solid, and I was lifting the tractor with the torque applied at times. I may sharpen the inner shaft edge above the tooth, to cut through roots rather than snapping them, but I'm extremely happy with this multipurpose adaptation, that cost less than $55.

Being able to switch it between "tooth in" and "tooth out" in five minutes with just a ratchet wrench adds to the versatility! I've only been playing with it for an hour before losing daylight, but I used it to grab some surface roots I've been bouncing over, on the way to the storage shed, and that worked like a charm, too.

Photos attached, in the "tooth out" original position.

 

[radioman]

very cool- I think you might want to add a reinforcing plate on the inside of bucket .

 

[stratton]

Thats a good idea. Sounds easy to do. Is there any worry on twisting anything since the ripper is off to one side?

 

[Shutesbury]

very cool- I think you might want to add a reinforcing plate on the inside of bucket .

I actually bought some flat stock to use as a reinforcing plate, but decided to try it with the large flat washers, lock washers then nut. I found no deflection of the bucket side after really wrenching at some roots, so I finished that stump, and then another, and still found no issues. Thanks for the thought, though. ;-}

 

[Shutesbury]

Thats a good idea. Sounds easy to do. Is there any worry on twisting anything since the ripper is off to one side?

No apparent torquing or twisting was seen in another couple of hours work with it. After finishing my first maple (about 20" diameter) I decided to put an edge on the shaft. I ground it with a 4" grinder, and expected it to cut through the 4" main side roots of the second maple I was tackling. It did not. Granted I could get a finer edge on it, but I don't think it would make much difference. Perhaps on some white pines I'll see more cutting action.

After tearing across the perimeter roots, the most effective use of this ripper is to thrust in in horizontally under the base roots, loosening and separately the soil from the root ball. As you do that, the stability of the stump changes dramatically. Leaving the tree intact above, to create more leverage to break the root ball free, was not an option, as these were near structures, and had been felled last year.

I didn't actually measure the usable exposed shaft length, but it must be about 16 inches, and that was plenty to get underneath and destabilize the packed soil. Again, the beauty is that I still had the bucket to keep my working trench clear, pulling out the soil I stripped out from underneath.

 

[crazyal]

I think you're loosing a little of the digging power by having the tooth facing backwards like that. Extending a cylinder has more force than retracting it since the piston has more surface area.

I've had luck with putting the tooth on the root and trying to just rip part of it out. I've also had luck putting a bucket tooth or two under the root and then curling the bucket to try and snap them. It doesn't try to lift your front wheels off the ground by doing so.

 

[Tachdriver]

I like your innovation here, well done. I may make something like it myself since I'm strapped for cash after my purchase. Except I may go the way of making it for the bucket changeout instead. Anyone else have any pics or mods like that ?



later

 

[radioman]

I like your innovation here, well done. I may make something like it myself since I'm strapped for cash after my purchase. Except I may go the way of making it for the bucket changeout instead. Anyone else have any pics or mods like that ?



later

thats funny now you mentioned that. it seems like brotek is making a come back. Brotek in fact makes a root ripper that mounts in place of the BH bucket.

 

[Ken_CT]

Here are a couple of pictures of the Bro-Tek ripper and thumb. They work great. We have no shortage of rocks in CT, but the ripper takes them out of the lawn without doing as much damage as the bucket.

 

[RayCo]

I seem to be too unintelligent to figure out how to buy a ripper tooth from Bro-Tek, which saddens me since I'm an IT guy by trade. I guess it won't be going onto my Christmas list.

 

[newbury]

I seem to be too unintelligent to figure out how to buy a ripper tooth from Bro-Tek, which saddens me since I'm an IT guy by trade. I guess it won't be going onto my Christmas list.

You used to have to deal with email directly to get anything. Does any one have any links to the "trencher"?

Also I like the concept of having a tooth horizontally to undercut the root mass. I've a maple with a deep tap root in hard clay.
I can trench around it and use a horizontal tooth to further tear it up.