Some basic attachment questions from a newbie

[dochockin]

I'm trying to crash course myself into tractor knowledge. I'm about to purchase a Kubota B2920 with a FEL. I have 5 acres, most of which is slightly sloped (almost flat) pasture, with some driveway and garden, and very little woodland or scrub. The soil is gravely (rocky) silty loam, not too much clay. I plan to use the tractor to help with redoing fences, planting trees, mowing the pasture, moving materials, digging trenches, maintaining the driveway, snow is not an issue. I've made decisions about the larger PTO/3 PH side of the attachment world (flail mower, box blade, ballast box/carry all and I'm looking into the 3 PH 'telescoping' upgrade) but would like some advice regarding some of the handy extra bits I might want. I'm not interested in a BH.

I have about $2000 extra to spend on smaller attachments. I'm trying to decide the best ways to allocate said money. In general, I have more time than money, so if I spend twice as long and save 75%, I'm ok with that.

Specific questions:

Will a Piranha Bar do the work of both a Tooth Bar and a Ratchet Rake?

Will a Rip and Dig be sufficient for fence posts and planting young trees (compared to a more expensive and less versatile PHD)?

Will pallet forks suffice for moving piles of brush/branches?

And in general are there any super handy attachments or mods I may be unaware of, but will love to have?

Thanks!

 

[Wagtail]

Will pallet forks suffice for moving piles of brush/branches?

G'day Mate. Unless you were considering a Grapple for your FEL, then the pallet forks will work. I'd recommend using a good length of chain to secure the load onto the forks, utilising a 'come along' to tighten.

Best of luck.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Rip and dig is a poor option for fence posts and trees, too big a hole (4' wide). I bought a BX25 and that BH is used way more than I thought at first. Onlp;y way to efficiently dig holes. A tooth bar will make a digger out of your FEL other wise forget it except for loose material. 4 Clamp on forks make a pretty good way to handle brush and small logs. If you change 3 PT implements a lot, a quick hitch is sure nice.

Ron

 

[bcp]

Will a Piranha Bar do the work of both a Tooth Bar and a Ratchet Rake?

Will pallet forks suffice for moving piles of brush/branches?

And in general are there any super handy attachments or mods I may be unaware of, but will love to have?

A Piranha bar will dig dirt like a tooth bar, but won't dig out larger rocks as well. Neither will rake/groom like a Ratchet Rake. Ratchet Rake won't dig at all. Tooth bar is the worst of the 3 on pulling out brush.

Pallet forks tend to pick up the middle third of a brush pile, then the outer parts pull the center off the forks. Very frustrating. It works much better if you make the pile on the forks so everything is centered. If you can get a rope of cable under the brush to tie it to the forks, that helps a lot. Forks are great for moving wood large enough to be called logs. Get a bunch of pallets and keep all you can on them.

Get a carryall that has the "forks" not connected together at the end, so you can make several different kinds of pallets to slip on for carrying things. With front forks and a carryall, you can double what you carry. And the carryall can lift about twice what the front forks will.

Then get a boom pole, too.

Bruce

 

[jeff9366]

The Ratchet Rake is great for tearing out brush. Fair at tearing out subsurface roots down to 3", including wild grape vines and multiflora rose corms. It is good for tearing out Palmettos, which plague us along the Gulf Coast.

Ratchet Rake is also good for raking resulting debris into piles. You will inevitably rake up some dirt with the debris but with practice you will learn how to roll debris end-over-end to reduce dirt proportion. Ratchet Rake is much better at raking debris into piles than a Landscape Rake.

Ratchet Rake is good for moving small amounts of dirt for minor grading/leveling and filling of pot holes.

Ratchet Rake is NOT for digging; ZERO.

YOUTUBE LINK:
Paul Keagy Food Plot Readying - YouTube


Pin adjustable stabilizers are a very large improvement over Kubota turnbuckle "check chains". The leading aftermarket supplier is Mark Hodge at STABILWORKS.

YOUTUBE LINK:
Kubota tractor stabilizers Kubota [url]www.stabilworks.com - YouTube[/url]

 

[jeff9366]

Rip and dig is a poor option for fence posts and trees, too big a hole (4' wide).

???

Width of the Rip & Dig is 13-1/2".

LINK:

http://www.ratchetrake.com/images/rip_and_dig_brochure.pdf

 

[jeff9366]

Will pallet forks suffice for moving piles of brush/branches?

If you will be moving debris regularly, like to a burn pile, spend the money for dedicated debris forks rather than making due with pallet forks.

COPIED IN FROM AN ARCHIVED JEFF9366 POST:

I am going to be CONTRARIAN and vote for purpose built Debris Forks and a Ratchet Rake for cleanup. This combination, alternating, works great for brush and vine cleanup. Usually have one or the other of these tools on the bucket. The combination is still MUCH less than a grapple and observes the KISS Principle.

The clamp-on, aluminum, 2,000 pound capacity Debris Forks from Payne's Forks were $800 in kubota orange. They have 14" of support under the bucket; stick out 26" in front for good pickup. Steel Debris Forks are less $$ but, being twice as heavy, you lose lift capacity. I have a LA504 loader on the B3300SU, so theoretically I can lift 504 Kilograms = 1,100 pounds under ideal conditions. Not close to 2,000 fork capacity. After 18 months of heavy use, aside from a few paint scuffs in the bucket where the screw pads contact, Payne's Debris Forks have given excellent service.

Well worth it for me, a heavy user.

LINK:

Paynes ALUMINUM Debris Forks

 

[Tractor Seabee]

???

Width of the Rip & Dig is 13-1/2".

LINK:

http://www.ratchetrake.com/images/rip_and_dig_brochure.pdf

Jeff, Sorry I was not aware "Rip and Dig was a brand name. Looked at the web site. It would probably dig a hole 12-18" deep OK. I plant trees that need a hole 2' deep and 18" across. Posts; if you are doing a lot then an auger is a must. Works good for small trees too. I use my 8" bucket on BH for small holes and the 12" for the bigger ones. Again, depends on how often you need this stuff and whether it is cost effective to spend bucks for the once in awhile jobs. I would have it all if I had money to burn. I make a lot of my stuff like the tooth bar. In the process of making a universal attachment to replace the FEL bucket and mount a variety of attachments; pallet forks, rock digger, brush rake, grapple, trash and root comb (like the ratchet rake). I made a set of forks to mount on the 3 point QH that are 4' wide and 42" long. Can lift almost a 1/2 cord of wood with my little BX. Those forks are de-mountable so will adapt to the FEL unit also. When you buy a BX the BH cost is almost half of what it is to install later. It has been the single most used attachment other than the FEL. I am convinced it was a good investment.

Ron

 

[GPintheMitten]

I have both ratchet rake and rip and dig. The RR does was others said and can also be used to groom gravel drives. The RR will not dig.


I have used the rip and dig to plant trees with a 22 inch deep root ball by 40 in diameter. Worked great for that. I also dug a 100 foot trench 18 inches deep for buried conduit for electric circuit. It worked good for that.

It would not dig effectively for fence post holes.

 

[dochockin]

GPintheMitten:

I've seen your thread on the R&D, part of the reason I'm interested in one. Why do you think it won't work for post holes? Too wide of a hole? I'm not doubting, just trying to judge some tools capabilities before I buy.

Seabee:

Yup, if I had money to burn... heck, even if I didn't have enough to burn but just had more than I could spend... I considered a BH, but it would add almost 50% to the price of a tractor and FEL. Even my local dealer suggested it wasn't a great idea, seeing as the turning radius is limited and one has to constantly move the tractor. He suggested renting mini-excavators for digging jobs. So... no BH for me. In any case I'm interested in your homemade implements... I assume you have some decent welding skills?

Jeff:

I like the Stabilworks stuff... but they don't ship across the border, so no use to me. I've read about folks upgrading Bxx20 3PH systems to Bxx30 3PH systems, so I plan to research that avenue as a possible upgrade for the turnbuckles... at this point though, I won't be switching off the rear implements that often.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

GPintheMitten:

I've seen your thread on the R&D, part of the reason I'm interested in one. Why do you think it won't work for post holes? Too wide of a hole? I'm not doubting, just trying to judge some tools capabilities before I buy.

Seabee:

Yup, if I had money to burn... heck, even if I didn't have enough to burn but just had more than I could spend... I considered a BH, but it would add almost 50% to the price of a tractor and FEL. Even my local dealer suggested it wasn't a great idea, seeing as the turning radius is limited and one has to constantly move the tractor. He suggested renting mini-excavators for digging jobs. So... no BH for me. In any case I'm interested in your homemade implements... I assume you have some decent welding skills?

Jeff:

I like the Stabilworks stuff... but they don't ship across the border, so no use to me. I've read about folks upgrading Bxx20 3PH systems to Bxx30 3PH systems, so I plan to research that avenue as a possible upgrade for the turnbuckles... at this point though, I won't be switching off the rear implements that often.

You have to be a good welder if you want things to not break. A horz band saw, drill press, arbor press, torch, reamers, end mills for the drill press to use as a milling machine and the skills to use all that are also a requirement. I've done all these things most of my life and I am one of the old guys now. I am also going to build the telescoping sway braces like Stabilworks as soon as I find the right materials. I am also scratching my head over the rest of the cumbersome BX 3 point system. Want to get down the links and pins and no tools to hook things up.

Ron

 

[GPintheMitten]

The Rip n dig will dig a 2 ft deep hole and to get that deep, you would probably need about a minimum of 3 feet diameter hole. I try to set my posts 42 inches deep.

 

[bp fick]

This is just a thought, and you've probably already settled on the B2920, but honestly? The extra horsepower cannot be used by the FEL and that is governed by the pump, which is the same on any of the 20 series Kubota. That extra power is best utilized by the rear PTO in operating power hungry attachments such as a chipper.

Just something to mull in your inner thoughts, but attachments make a tractor useful. Otherwise, it is merely a mobile engine. You might be able to spend that extra $1200 of the 2920's surcharge on implements. If money is tight, and it almost always is, consider the lower horsepower 20 series B's and put the money toward tools to get the job done. Again, just a thought to mull over. Be sure to post photos of your new tractor when it arrives. We all love new baby pictures.

 

[dochockin]

I did price out the Bs, and was even looking at the BXs. The local dealer has a (new) 2011 B2920 he's trying to sell with a freshness discount, so it's actually cheaper than a B2620. I'm considering a flail mower, so I assume the extra HP will help with that. I will post photos

 

[Gary Fowler]

A PHD is what you need for fence post and even then you will be doing a lot of hand dirt packing around the post or putting in a lot of concrete to fill in the hole. We used a PHD just for corner post and used steel T-post for the rest of the fencing on our 42 acre tract. MY BIL drove hundreds of T post with hand driver but I found that with a ground helper(BIL), I could push them in with the FEL as long as I didn't hit a rock. I just had tractors (2) both with FEL for 3 years and finally bought a B26 TLB and cant believe how much I have used that little tractor. In the 18 months that I have had it, I have put nearly 300 hours on it and about the same on my RTV in 3 years both of which I couldn't do without. I realize a backhoe is a major purchase and so is an RTV but they are worth the money for me as the RTV saves me lots of walking and is very handy for hauling materials, tools, tree limbs, dirt etc. and with the Backhoe not having to dig with a shovel and pick axe AND to have it available whenever I need it. Renting is great for the one of a kind task that you may need a hoe for and if that is all you need one for IE, digging one trench, then by all means just rent one, but I use mine almost daily for everything from planting plants, digging up rocks which grow profusely here, digging up stumps, dead trees, moving larger rocks, piling debris, cleaning grown up fence rows and many other things.
My backhoe has a hydraulic thumb which is indispensable for me as I use it to move downed trees out, pull up fence post when needed, lift rocks to put in the RTV for hauling away and just about anything that I would have to do by hand and a strong back (which I no longer have) so it is a life saver for me.