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

[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.