Ripper

[Iplayfarmer]

What is it about a bedrail that it has to be made from such hard steel?

 

[farmboy12]

how i mounted my shanks

That looks like a great design. Easy, too. Nice work!


Kyle

 

[Iplayfarmer]

More work tonight and more pics.

I got the good angle (not the bedrail) cut, drilled, and welded in place.

I also got the stock cut and drilled for the A-frame to accept the 3 point. Notice how I tacked the two pieces together before drilling to be sure I had exact mirror image sides. Now I have to figure out how to bend the angles in the A-frame without a torch to heat the metal.

 

[J_J]

More work tonight and more pics.

I got the good angle (not the bedrail) cut, drilled, and welded in place.

I also got the stock cut and drilled for the A-frame to accept the 3 point. Notice how I tacked the two pieces together before drilling to be sure I had exact mirror image sides. Now I have to figure out how to bend the angles in the A-frame without a torch to heat the metal.

A shop press could bend up to 1/2 in steel. You could cut the metal to the angle and weld together. You could take the pieces to a fab shop and let them bend them. Back yard style, place the steel between two cement blocks, or wood, or other pieces of steel, and use a steel wedge or sledge or both. If you can mount the steel solid somewhere, you might be able to use a hydraulic jack.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

A shop press could bend up to 1/2 in steel. You could cut the metal to the angle and weld together. You could take the pieces to a fab shop and let them bend them. Back yard style, place the steel between two cement blocks, or wood, or other pieces of steel, and use a steel wedge or sledge or both. If you can mount the steel solid somewhere, you might be able to use a hydraulic jack.

It was the hydraulic jack comment that got me thinking...

I removed the grease zerk from the curl pin of the loader and clamped each strap to the loader arm so that the end was between the bucket and the arm (see the first picture). Then, I just "dumped" the bucket and the result was a bent strap. I repeated the process for each end of each strap.

A few minutes of welding later, and I have a very homemade looking ripper that will hopefull be very useful come spring.

There is one major design flaw... The angle iron that I have in place to hold the shanks is right in the way of the hitch pin. I'll have to do some grinding or something to take care of that.

 

[AKfish]

Good job on the solution to bending the 1/2" flat-bar! Very creative.. got a chuckle outta that!

AKfish

 

[AKfish]

What is it about a bedrail that it has to be made from such hard steel?

Didn't you ever see how close you could get to the ceiling by bouncing on the bed...? Or have 3 brother's "dog-pile" you first thing in the morning?

AKfish

 

[Iplayfarmer]

The snow has finally melted, and I took the ripper on it's maiden voyage. Thanks to all the input from members here my welds held, and the reinforcement on the back of the shanks held.

I did, however, turn the A-frame for the 3 point linkage into a pretzel. I ripped about 100 feet of ground with a single shank just to see how it would do. Then I dropped the shank further into the ground, put the tractor in low range and 4 wheel drive. The results are pictured. (Sorry about the poor quality of the picture it's a camera phone picture.)

In the picture, I've already turned the shank around to approach the fix. I just backed up to a fence post and bent the A-frame back to where it should be. I've since added a bunch of metal to the front and back, but I haven't taken any pictures of it yet.

 

[J_J]

You may have to go with 1/4 wall box tubing, cut the A arms at the correct angle and weld. Should be much stiffer.

 

[Baby Grand]

IPFarmer-

Here's what you have now:

OI
I
I
I
I
OHI
I
I
_J

The "O"'s are the attachment points; the "H" is your box beam. This design has the potential to create a huge bending moment about the "H". The problem is that your design is a 2D truss that's all in one plane. You can add a lot of steel to this and maybe get it to hold or you can modify the design to have a 3D truss:

OI\
I\\
I \\
I \\
I \\
OHIHHH\\
I
I
_J

I think this might be done with a lot less welding and steel.
Think "triangles, triangles, triangles ..."
Just my $.02

-Jim

 

[Baby Grand]

Well, that didn't work.

 

[Baby Grand]

' OI '
' I '
' I '
' I '
' I '
' OHI '
' I '
' I '
' _J '


After:

' OI '
' I \ '
' I \ '
' I \ '
' I \ '
' OHIHHHHH '
' I '
' I '
' _J '

 

[Baby Grand]

I give up. I guess I'll have to download Sketchup and fritter away a day learning how to use it or buy a scanner ... grrrr.

 

[Willl]

Or a camera.

Draw something up in 'paint'

 

[yeagisyeag]

I give up. I guess I'll have to download Sketchup and fritter away a day learning how to use it or buy a scanner ... grrrr.

Hope you don't mind, Baby Grand, but I think I know what you're getting at.

Please excuse the crudeness, I'm still learning!

Jim

 

[Baby Grand]

Exactly! Thanks.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

I claim the right to resurrect this thread since I started it in the first place.

I've used this ripper a lot since I built it, but it's never been as sturdy as I'd like. I spent some time in the garage tonight and made the design changes pictured below. I took it out for a test run tonight, and I dropped the three shanks as far as I ever have and didn't get any bending. I think that dropping the lift arm attachment pins lower helped as much as the added steel did. Hopefully I have a final product now.

P.S. This is the first real project I've made since I got my horizontal band saw working. It was very nice to cut the mitered angles on that piece of steel that is reinforcing the front of the ripper.

 

[Baby Grand]

Congratulations - that looks plenty beefy. Can't wait to see pictures of ripped soil!
-Jim

 

[VroomVroom]

Thats a 4 inche square stock, then how wide are the shanks? 3 inches? I'm also curious about why some subsoilers have shear bolts, and others do not. Thanks.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Thats a 4 inche square stock, then how wide are the shanks? 3 inches? I'm also curious about why some subsoilers have shear bolts, and others do not. Thanks.

Why some have shear bolts...

3 inches sounds about right for those shanks.

I've used it quite a bit this spring. I've used the new improved ripper in conditions that stopped the tractor, and I didn't bend the implement. That tells me I've finally arrived at a design that's good enough for my needs.