SCUT cutting Fire Breaks, Best Tools?

[CompactTractorFan]

I am a volunteer firefighter and BX owner too. :thumbsup:

I am not really sure what would be the best method...Ratchet Rake maybe??? Why are you asking this? There must be a story behind this thread...

 

[mooseracing]

Dirt is the only firebreak, and nothing with compost type material (like a swamp).


Depending on the wind (it can be real light) it doesn't matter on the break. We had ashes over about a 100yds with a calm wind when the neighbors yard burned and we were putting it out. If I was paranoid or worried I would be setup with a trash pump an big tank.

 

[jenkinsph]

With something the size of a BX I would use a tiller set to run just deep enough to wind up with a little dirt on top. Run it up to top speed and travel forward as fast as you can and still have dirt showing on top. That would be the best results you can get with a small machine.

 

[Artisan]

Certainly a lot to be taken into consideration. I am appreciative of the replys
in detail. I found a Leinbach B245 Disc, a 20-18. It is too big for a BX25 I am
pretty sure, butsomehowever, I look at it and see it is a fairly simple machine
and modifications will not be rocket science, either drop 4 or 8 discs from
the outside of the gains.

The BX25 manual says, under IMPLEMENT LIMITATIONS / Disc Harrow =
300 Lbs & 54" wide.

The Leinbach website says my new (used) B245-20-18 weighs 575
Lbs w/ a max width of 6'-9" so looks like
I am going to be dropping 8 Discs, 2 from each gain and run 4- 3Disc gains.
In essence I am making a B245-12-18 I will start a new thread
called BX25 DiscOrama soon. The weigh, well, I am guessing it will be
a tad over 300 Lbs. That is OK per the IMPLEMENT LIMITATIONS of
the tractor, so long as conditions permit (PG 14 NOTE bottom)

So I am going w/ a 12-18 in the rear to start.

 

[Artisan]

DiscOrama link...

 

[leonz]

If you can purchase a disc plow in small enough width that is powered
by the rear power take off that would be faster than a tiller.

BUT saying in saying that the issue is any grass left un-covered adding to
the fuel load.

A larger tractor and PTO powered disc plow would be even better as the cut would be even deeper.



Another possibility to consider is a rotary plow.


In one example:


A 13 horse BCS two wheel tractor with a rotary plow will till 14 inches deep in one pass with the wheels
set at their maximum width at the first pass and every pass thereafter


The dual rotary plow will allow you to turn back on the same furrow and go back rather than turn around and
return to the starting point to till the furrow again.


A single moldboard fitted with a Weisse conservation tillage plow share will also plow down 14 inches
with good suck and the big plus is very low drag and it will do this with very lttle effort due to the plows
high trash clearance and very low drag.

Just a few options to illustrate the possible options to you as a pto powered disc plow may cost more than
a new 13 horse BCS two wheel tractor with a dual rotary plow.


EDIT: My aplogies for forgeting this:

1.A four wheel drive Ferrari Orchard And Vineyard Tractor with a front mounted flailmower and a rear mounted tiller would also work well
as it is a very low profile rubber tired utlity tractor that has an articulating steering sytem(swivels in the middle to steer) used simply as an illustration.


2.Another option is the WeedBadger used for tillage in vinyards and orchards as the weed badger would cultivate deep and also
eliminate brush for you too. The Weed badger is a mounted implement that is either side mounted or rear mounted depending on the tractor horsepower.

Adding what I said earlier the issue more of a brush fire
consuming the available fuel and jumping the firebreak
itself which does happen I.E. jumping across roads.


The fastest way to solve the problem is with a
very small dozer like a JD 450 size class with
a 6 way blade and a scarifier attachment on
the rear of the dozer.

This would allow you to employ a heavy tiller
afterwards in several passes as the ground
has already been fractured and damaged.

The scarifier would destroy any remaining
roots and the tiller would destroy any vegetation
every time you use it as the scrub would be gone.


A heavy tiller is not slow moving when it is set
at a shallow depth setting-4 inches for example
as the scrub would have already been removed
from the firebreak.

A landscape rake or a small hydraulic powered
stone picker could be used to level and remove
the rocks.

Removing the rocks after the tiller works would
make the repeated passes easier as the tiller
would be used at a shallow depth.

The more the area is tilled and or mowed the
less fuel load is available for a brush fire to consume.

 

[leonz]

With regard to your toothed disc and your tractor:

Adding a set of ag tires and tims will be tremendous advantage
for adhesion and traction.

It would be simpler for you to increase the Angle Of Attack
of the front and rear disc sets which allows a more aggressive
cutting action for the toothed disc set.

The one thing you need is to have the tires loaded if they are
not loaded already as this will increase your tractive effort and adhesion
with the fill set of discs and the disc will not be too much weight for the tractor.

If you start removing discs and disc arbors/bearing you will have problems
greasing the remaining discs due to fine dirt accumulating on the exposed ends.


You have a ground engaging implement and obtaining maximum traction and
adhesion is what you are concerned with and good tires and ballasted tires
will be huge help.

 

[case245]

if i were me i would use the fel with reg digging teeth after a few passes with fel then use a disk harr then after a few passes with disc use fel to remove the dirt and make sure ground is 110% bare dirt we used to burn the field off ever spring the methed worked ever time

 

[jenkinsph]

Besides tilling the surface a good addition would be to use a pinestraw rake to clean the surface of any left over debris that could burn. I would rake it in the direction of the impending fire. The cleaner the area you are trying to save the better as in less combustible material as fuel for the fire.

 

[mcald62]

I'm a career fire officer in a rust belt city,all structural firefighting.However when I was many years younger I did some serious brush fire fighting.I gotta go with the Ratchet Rake on the FEL.Pound for pound ,$ 4 $,the best attachment out there for removing brush quickly to to bare ground. I have also owned a small excavating company.Thats my 2 cents.