Tool for picking up rock

[5030tinkerer]

During my construction process, I had to drop three loads of 3" limestone gravel on an 1100' drive to help the trucks get in and out. Now that that's over and I have my permanent drive in, I have a need to pick up that gravel and allow it to go back to being the corn field that it started out being. Any ideas on the tools I could use for this job? I was thinking about using my tiller after a rain and at slow RPM to dig up the gravel (it's gotten compacted in a lot of places) and then going over it with the Landpride Powered Rake (it's an older unit with the splined shaft) to windrow the rocks to one side. Would this work or would I damage my tiller or rake? Then again, maybe this is what these tools are (or reasonably could be) for?

The challenge then would be picking up the rock, but perhaps keeping the bucket in a float position would pick them all up. Thoughts? Outside of these tools, I own a rear blade, but I can't see that helping.

 

[IslandTractor]

?Landscape rake angled.
? Rock bucket on loader
? Harley rake (same as the powered rake you mentioned I believe.

In any case, I don't think you are going to do it with one pass of any tractor powered tool.

Good luck.

 

[MarkLeininger]

I'd put teeth on the bucket and use that. Probably have to bring in some dirt unless you have a lot of topsoil and could drag some to fill in where you dig out.

 

[Lasgambler]

Rock Bucket on FEL and a good bit of seat time would be my guess.

 

[Rara Avis]

During my construction process, I had to drop three loads of 3" limestone gravel on an 1100' drive to help the trucks get in and out. Now that that's over and I have my permanent drive in, I have a need to pick up that gravel and allow it to go back to being the corn field that it started out being. Any ideas on the tools I could use for this job? I was thinking about using my tiller after a rain and at slow RPM to dig up the gravel (it's gotten compacted in a lot of places) and then going over it with the Landpride Powered Rake (it's an older unit with the splined shaft) to windrow the rocks to one side. Would this work or would I damage my tiller or rake? Then again, maybe this is what these tools are (or reasonably could be) for?

The challenge then would be picking up the rock, but perhaps keeping the bucket in a float position would pick them all up. Thoughts? Outside of these tools, I own a rear blade, but I can't see that helping.

Your other option is if you have kids, if not hire a cub scout troop, and pay them to put last of the gravel into your FEL bucket...

 

[dangerdoc]

During my construction process, I had to drop three loads of 3" limestone gravel on an 1100' drive to help the trucks get in and out. Now that that's over and I have my permanent drive in, I have a need to pick up that gravel and allow it to go back to being the corn field that it started out being. Any ideas on the tools I could use for this job? I was thinking about using my tiller after a rain and at slow RPM to dig up the gravel (it's gotten compacted in a lot of places) and then going over it with the Landpride Powered Rake (it's an older unit with the splined shaft) to windrow the rocks to one side. Would this work or would I damage my tiller or rake? Then again, maybe this is what these tools are (or reasonably could be) for?

The challenge then would be picking up the rock, but perhaps keeping the bucket in a float position would pick them all up. Thoughts? Outside of these tools, I own a rear blade, but I can't see that helping.

Packed in rock will take forever to scoop up with a tractor and loader. A blade is going to just scoot it around and spread it out farther. I'd hate to think what that much rock would do to a tiller.

Honestly, hire a trackloader and dump truck. They'll clean up the mess in short order and can put it directly where you want it. In order to get rid of all the rock, you will lose a significant depth of topsoil, the trackloader can fix that in short order also.

 

[wstr75]

Contrarian Thought:
Get what is easy to get out with your equipment and then plow the remaining gravel deeply into the soil with a turning plow. Your planter will skip and jostle around when going through that area, but the corn when its growing and during harvesting won't care.
Bill in NC

 

[sugarmaple]

Contrarian is on the best track, I believe, with cubscouts being a close second, but 30-40 yds of rock is a lot. A rock bucket, perhaps outfitted with a smaller than three inch and somewhat wornout screen from a rock crusher on a skid steer and dry soil conditions should work, as would several cycles of breaking up the soil with scarifiers, leveling, rockbucketing, and York raking as necessary. Invite a TBNer or two with equipment, have a barbecue and a bonfire; sounds like fun, too bad you're half way across the country. And you would end up with a very useful pile of 3" stone!

 

[have_blue]

During my construction process, I had to drop three loads of 3" limestone gravel on an 1100' drive to help the trucks get in and out.

I was thinking you could run an ad, and someone may agree to remove the stone and replace it with 3 loads of topsoil. It would be close in my area, where gravel is getting pretty spendy.

 

[gabby]

The easy part would be to stir it up with scarifiers to loosen it and work the rock to the surface.

The hard part will be picking it up. That's a lot of rock. Good luck!

 

[wedge40]

I've seen some "screens" on here that would let you scoop a layer of dirt and rock off the top, run it through the screener and the dirt falls through and the rock stay on the top. If the rock is small this would be a smaller screen and more work get the dirt and stone separated.

Wedge

 

[teg]

What are your plans for the rock after you it pick up? If you don't have a need for it and want to get rid of it... dig a big hole next to it, push the rock in and it cover up...

 

[5030tinkerer]

So...after failing with several tries using a power rake, tiller, York rake, other misc tools and even kids to pick up these loads of rock, I now see that there are tow behind rock picker tools (see attached).

I am now trying to decide between a used tow behind picker and a rock bucket (see attached).

The idea is to use the tool both for reclaiming this 1100' path (and re-using the rock on a new section of driveway), but then also use it annually to reclaim the rocks that inevitably get pushed to the sides of my 800' driveway (especially due to plowing activities).

I like the bucket idea since there are no moving parts to maintain, but am concerned about the amount of time that I'll need to spend with it to get the 1100' job done along with the reclaim work each year. I also like the idea of the portability of the bucket and the fact that you can "shake" the bucket using loader hydraulics to minimize dirt pickup. The big concern continues to be the amount of time it will take to use the bucket.

Any ideas?

 

[IslandTractor]

I have not used either rock collecting device but based on my experience with other implements I'd go for the 3PT mounted drag rather than the FEL mounted sieve to do a project such as a 1100 foot driveway. That sort of work would be very hard on an FEL. I'd guess that the 3pt rock collector would be much more expensive though.

 

[BarryinMN]

I have settled on a skidloader run by my brothers kid.

The bucket is a modified manure fork - welded on 12"-15" tip extensions. She spent the weekend in it and went home tired, muddy and grinning from ear to ear.

Also have a rock bucket similar to your picture but with a grapple. Tines are too close together heavy clay/sod will not drop thru. 6" spacing works better but is easier to bend. Other problem is tractor hood blocks sight lines for smaller rocks >500lbs.

I have a tow beside melroe type picker for sale if your interested.

 

[5030tinkerer]

The rocks that I am looking to pick in the 1100' temporary drive are only 3". There isn't any vegetation there, only the rock. Six inch tine spacing won't do me much good there.

Sadly, the rocks that I would be clearing annually are mostly going to be only 3/4". I expect that the drive edges will eventually be lawn, so am half hoping that an angled York rake will pull the rock up out of the grass without dropping earth onto the drive.

FEL wear is an interesting concern - can't say I thought of that one. I wouldn't expect to be doing this work at any appreciable speed (likely 1mph or less, really, especially for the 1100' run). I imagine that would help on the wear.

 

[CurlyDave]

I am now trying to decide between a used tow behind picker and a rock bucket (see attached).

I tried using a rock bucket to essentially "mine" the rock out of about a 40 yard pile of dirt with many many rocks in it, maybe 10" and below.

While I got about 3 yards of rock out of it, I decided it was not worth the effort and will willingly pay the $15-20 per yard for trucked in rock.

The main problem is that if the dirt is dry enough for the rock to separate easily it forms a huge cloud of dust with you and the tractor right in the middle.

A second problem is that shaking the bucket to separate the rock from the dirt looks to me to be very hard on the machine.

In your situation, I would far rather scoop up the rock dirt mixture and use it for very deep road base somewhere else, adding more base rock and then gravel on top of it. Then import topsoil. Not the least expensive, but I decided my lungs were not going to take sitting in that dust cloud for weeks on end.

 

[dangerdoc]

The rocks that I am looking to pick in the 1100' temporary drive are only 3". There isn't any vegetation there, only the rock. Six inch tine spacing won't do me much good there.

Sadly, the rocks that I would be clearing annually are mostly going to be only 3/4". I expect that the drive edges will eventually be lawn, so am half hoping that an angled York rake will pull the rock up out of the grass without dropping earth onto the drive.

FEL wear is an interesting concern - can't say I thought of that one. I wouldn't expect to be doing this work at any appreciable speed (likely 1mph or less, really, especially for the 1100' run). I imagine that would help on the wear.

In general 3/4 rock that goes off the road is just gone. You can pull a portion of it back onto the road with a rake or blade. In general, I have not noticed that the rake was better than the blade for this job. Either way, you are going to pull a lot of dirt and organics onto the road. The organics will dry and blow off the road, the dirt will be incorporated into the road. Most of the rock that leaves the road becomes incorporated into the surrounding sod.

 

[jinman]

. . . I now see that there are tow behind rock picker tools (see attached).

I am now trying to decide between a used tow behind picker and a rock bucket (see attached).

For your application, I think the rock picker might work better. It will shine on large flat and consistent areas with baseball to football size rocks.

The rock bucket is something you can use on hillsides and gulleys. It allows you to dig and pry out large rocks as well as small ones. I consider it a more flexible tool for that type of work. The picker would be no use at all on these jobs.