Subsoiler for Yanking Rocks?

[sixdogs]

A rock battle can never be won. There are just too many and the numbers never diminish. One a good day you might break even.

I no longer turn my fields over. When I did, a rock picker kept the battle even, w/ patience and multiple passes. A backhoe is necessary for the enormous culprits. There are some in my fields that were too big to remove, and if I got them out, then what?

I simply dug a 8 ft deep hole right next to them and used the hoe to send them on their way. Subsoil and topsoil back on top RIP.

What I did was get out the occasion giant rock that was in the way. That worked. Then I got a 6' wide rototiller and just skimmed the surface without bringing up more rocks. Till extra slow, leave the rear lid down and it works. I seeded beautiful and smooth fields this way and minimal rocks surfaced, even though there were many beneath the surface. After tilling it needs to be rolled or packed to press any rock edges down.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

I ended up ordering a small, reversible subsoiler. If it will lift a 300-pound rock up to where I can get it with the loader, it will be better than gold.

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

The scarifier would be fine for a few big rocks that you know are there. My soil is *full* of rocks, of all sizes. The BB with scarifiers finds them and pops them and collects them--anything approx egg size, up to approx chicken size.

Of course you never win the war on rocks, but on newly graded soil where you plan to plant grass, it won't grow over a rock, plus if you mow your blades will eventually hit the rocks. So it helps to remove the rocks from the top 3-4 inches of soil. Then, once the grass is established, the sod does help keep more rocks from popping up due to frost/thaw. I also did this in the garden.

Most old farms here have a huge mountain of rocks somewhere on the property; probably the farmer laboriously picked them up by hand after plowing (suspect this was the kids' job; no wonder they all left ) over many years.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

I ordered a subsoiler, and I picked it up a couple of days ago. I put it on the tractor and hooked up on the rock. It would not budge. It was probably hung up on a root and whatever rocks were down there with it. I turned the tractor 90 degrees and tried again, and the rock came right out.

Fortunately, I had two large guys here with me. They rolled the tractor into the bucket, and now it's part of my collection of big landscaping rocks. The bucket groaned a bit. Heavy rock.

I would say it's about 30" wide and 20" across.

I didn't turn the subsoiler around to face forward because I was lazy. This made it harder to disengage once the rock was out.

Thanks for all the great information.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

Interesting fact about the subsoiler: the shear bolt appears to be metric. I busted it on a stump, and when I compared it to imperial bolts, it was somewhere between 7/8" and 1/2".

 

[sixdogs]

Interesting fact about the subsoiler: the shear bolt appears to be metric. I busted it on a stump, and when I compared it to imperial bolts, it was somewhere between 7/8" and 1/2".

What are the markings on the head of the bolt?

 

[treefarmerguy]

I bought a stump bucket to dig out a few stumps that were in the way and found that it's very good at digging out rocks also. Just drive up to the rock, put the bucket in front of it, dig, and then move it to where you want. I use it for rocks more than stumps!

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

The bolt head has these marks on it: "SC" and "BB."

I don't know what a stump bucket is, but it sounds great. I'm going to look it up.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

More rocks. This thing is a blast.

 

[sixdogs]

Interesting fact about the subsoiler: the shear bolt appears to be metric. I busted it on a stump, and when I compared it to imperial bolts, it was somewhere between 7/8" and 1/2".

I recall having one with a 9/16" or 5/8" grade 2 shear bolt in it. That's what I think you have.

Pulling rocks is fun if you have soil to put in the hole and a place to put the rocks. City people will pay for rocks and I've sold tons.