Tooth bar uses?

[VTtractorguy]

Hi guys. I don't have my tractor yet and am working diligently to try to have it (either 2320 or 2520) by summers end. I hope this doesn’t sound dumb, but the only FEL experience I’ve had is with a rental for a few days… Regarding the toothbar option, what are the uses for it? I see obviously that it is a great help in picking stuff up but does it really turn the FEL into a digging machine? I’d love to get a BH but can’t afford it at this time. I just built a house and have a lot of landscaping to do such as scalping the grade down around the house in areas to make way for patios, decks, stonewalls, etc. Will the tooth bar help in this? And is the FEL designed to do digging and/or plowing without excessive wear on the 200CX frame & tractor? Thanks for helping a newbie…

Stewart

 

[jbrumberg]

VTtractorguy:

A toothbar allows you to dig into denser material easier than with just a cutting edge. I am able to dig into bark mulch, composted manure, 170 yards of dirt, and dig up rocks/boulders and small trees much easier. Scalping and grading down areas of your property should not be a problem. A nice combination is a FEL with a toothbar and a good boxblade. Using your anticipated tractor with common sense and keeping loads centered in the loader should not overload the FEL assembly and/or frame. Good luck ! Jay

 

[Chris2520]

A toothbar is a must for any tractor with a loader. and you can dig in some pretty hard stuff with it. I know i have. you would not be able to do it without it.

As jay said use common since. it is a tractor and not a bulldozer.
but i would say yes. you need a toothbar. you can really cut some ground with it. pop up stumps and bushes. dig under rocks. you need it.

Chris....

 

[JDFANATIC]

Toothbars really do make a difference:

 

[ragkar]

Another reason for the toothbar is the extra depth that it gives the bucket. See the jdfantic's picture on the post above this one. If he hadn't had the toothbar, he wouldn't have been able to pick up that concrete slab.
Another guy says that if you put one tooth under a tree root, it snaps easily.
An underrated accessory for lifting and carrying is forks. I just got back from fetching a 23" diam 23" long oak log. My bucket with toothbar couldn't handle it. But the forks fit easily under it. You'll want a rear counter weight if you plan on lifting heavy things. Oh yeah, forget the fixed forks, the so-called floating forks are a lot better.

 

[EdC]

VTtractorguy

A toothbar was important enough to me the very first implement I bought after purchasing the rear blade with the tractor was a toothbar. It helps a lot. I went from not being able to dig into a bank because it was so hard to getting almost a full bucket on the first go. I also use mine as rippers when I have the bucket facing downward at about 30 degrees and backdrag. Really loosens up the soil.

My opinion is that 7 teeth work a lot better than 5 but your mileage may very.

 

[jdbower]

A toothbar is also useful for brush removal, bushes can get caught between the teeth and uprooted without needing to resort to more drastic tools. I'd make sure that your toothbar is removable (as most seem to be) because the bucket without one is useful for smoothing out the ground after you rip it up or as a makeshift snow removal utility.

 

[Mayor]

The toothbar is a must have!!!

 

[jbrumberg]

The toothbar is a must have!!!

I will provide pictoral evidence of the utility of tooth bars. The first is an old posted picture. The second happened today. I discovered another use for toothbars today as well- you can strip lower branches off tree and shrubs before you push them over from various angles and then pull them out with the FEL hydraulics. I was able to pop a plumb and an apple tree today using this technique. By stripping the lower branches I possibly protected the radiator from branch reactive response . Jay

 

[jbrumberg]

There seems to be a lot of traffic on TBN tonight. The second picture:

 

[jbrumberg]

A Public Safety Announcement!! I was able to do the previous with trees/shrubs with <5" trunck diameter. I tried this technique with a dying plumb in the ~5" size and it started to put me on three wheels . I will try the old long chain off my drawbar for this tree. Jay

 

[EdC]

jbrumberg

I have pulled out sagebrush with the toothbar but never anything any bigger. Might have to try it on something bigger, with a large bit of caution though.

 

[lincolnvt]

I am quite happy with my toothbar. It is mounted on a 61in HD bucket and works great for general landscaping and as previously stated adds capacity to the bucket for carrying things. I also got the cutting edge and will swap them in the winter time. Where are you in VT - which dealer are you talking to if you don't mind me asking. You can also PM me if you want to hear about my dealer experience which was and is great.

Cheers,
Brad

 

[VTtractorguy]

WOW… What a great response for the new kid on the block… I appreciate all the helpful info. The tooth bar is now top on the list.

I thought you guys would like to see some pics of what I am up against after building this new albatross (I mean house)… which we are going to be digging out from underneath for a long time. I don’t think the tooth bar can help me with that though. As mentioned, a 2320 or 2520 is in the near future – hopefully a month or two. So for now I’m just planning on what to do with it… lots of landscaping projects, cutting up and moving wood, etc.

As you can see our terrain is quite hilly with flat areas where the house sits. Around the house I plan to scrape the grade down and build rock walkways that extend around back to rock patios surrounding the deck. Lots of trees to plant too. You can see from the longer shots that there was a beautiful 200 year old stone wall that our clueless site guy wiped out and left in a pile of rocks. Do you think a 2320/2520 can handle those rocks? Or should I rent a big machine with a FEL and BH to do the work? The plan is to rebuild the wall from the edge of the driveway to the woods on the right as you drive up. Some of those rocks are huge and may be hard to get a perspective on from the pics. But it looks like what you did JDFANATIC with your 2210 was no problem. That 2210 looks like a workhorse! In any case, the tooth bar will definitely help.

Our driveway is gently sloping about 2000 feet. I’ll have to get a blower to take care of the winter months and a rake or BB to do the grooming.

We have about 11 acres, half of which is woods. I want to clear another 2 to 3 acres where there are hundreds of feet more of stone walls. A horse barn to the left is in the future as well. I think after cutting trees, the FEL with tooth bar will tear through the smaller stuff and make way for the barn & lawn. Can’t wait to get started.

What do you guys think the best tires will be for this land? R4’s over Turfs? In the spring we get quite a bit of water runoff around the land so I’m a bit worried about R4s tearing up the lawn. But I don’t think the turfs will work well in the woods – especially hilly woods.

Any other thoughts on implements to tame this land?

Anyways, thanks again for the info.

 

[Efreet]

Regarding the choice of tires: the R4's seem to be a popular choice, and when ordering my tractor I specced those out (not out of any particular experience, but just the fact that I liked the "manly" looks of the industrial tread). The JD dealer strongly advised me to consider the R3 turfs instead. His reasons (closely matching those of an independent and highly knowledgeable person) were the following:

* on a small tractor like anything in the 2000 series the turf tire "floats" better under most ground conditions
* the R3's will make larger surface area ground contact due to the tire and tread shape (and lower operational pressure), effectively increasing grip
* when spinning in wet clay both the R3 and R4 will quickly turn into a slick ball of slime, and they suck about equally. R1 ag tires would help in these conditions.
* for winter conditions and heavy snow a turf tire with chains will provide the best grip, bar none (short of running on tracks)

I would usually be suspicious of a dealer pushing me one way or another on a choice like this, but he had no obvious reason to do so; there was one 2320 with R4's arriving at the dealership quickly, and going with R3's just made the tractor a special order and added to the wait time. I got similar feedback from several other sources on this question (including several people on this board).

Now that I have the tractor, I have worked it in my woods and my fields, as well as digging with the FEL and moving dozens of yards of material. I could not find fault with the turfs, and could recommend them to anyone. That is not to say that I am poo-pooing the R4's as the only fair way for comparison would be to run two tractors with the two different treads side by side. But my experience has been that the R3's are giving me superb grip under normal or dry conditions, but they are NOT recommended for digging in a clay pit in the rain . As an added bonus, they have been forgiving on my lawn when I did some sharp turns with 4WD engaged. As far as the winter performance goes, I will be able to speak to that in six months.

 

[JDFANATIC]

VTtractorguy,

What a beautiful spread you have there! I think you have a definate need for a box blade, FEL, and probably a few other implements! I have turfs on my 2210, but agree they are useless in wet clay. A friend on mine has the industrials on his 2210 and swears by them (and he has golf course-like turf). I think that argument will go on forever.

 

[VTtractorguy]

Thx Efreet and JDFANATIC. Agreed on the tires. I'm thinking I'll do the R4s as I do have clay around here and want to go in the woods to do clearing. I've been told that there is a new type of chain that works well with these tires... Something about extra lugs that give better bite when some fall between the bars. Not sure what that is but we'll see.

JD, you think a BB is the better choice for this driveway as opposed to a rake? Is it also good for smoothing woods dirt once the roots & stumps are out?

This is the third house we've built (glutton for punishment) and is by far the one that needs the most landscaping.... I really need this machine.

 

[Efreet]

To clarify: I ended up going with the turf tires, and they work for me great, including the woods and the field. The point about clay was that BOTH the R3 and R4 seem to struggle in wet clay just about equally, and only an ag tire or tracks will perform significantly better under these conditions. The turf tires seemed to have some advantages on a small tractor, and so far they are working for me just fine. I am not sure whether you are planning to use your tractor in the snow, but given that you are in Vermont you very well might. I have heard some pretty strong statements in regards to the best tire choice in snow, and it always seems to be "turf tires with chains".

Regarding the attachments: I have a box blade, and it would be my first choice for driveway maintenance. I do not have a landscape rake, although I am planning on getting one eventually for certain types of finish work. But for leveling, smoothing, spreading stone, etc the boxblade is likely to be your most versatile tool.

 

[VTtractorguy]

To clarify: I ended up going with the turf tires, and they work for me great, including the woods and the field. The point about clay was that BOTH the R3 and R4 seem to struggle in wet clay just about equally, and only an ag tire or tracks will perform significantly better under these conditions. The turf tires seemed to have some advantages on a small tractor, and so far they are working for me just fine. I am not sure whether you are planning to use your tractor in the snow, but given that you are in Vermont you very well might. I have heard some pretty strong statements in regards to the best tire choice in snow, and it always seems to be "turf tires with chains".

Regarding the attachments: I have a box blade, and it would be my first choice for driveway maintenance. I do not have a landscape rake, although I am planning on getting one eventually for certain types of finish work. But for leveling, smoothing, spreading stone, etc the boxblade is likely to be your most versatile tool.

Yup... going to be snow blowing that long 2000' driveway and will be doing some loader work to pile the snow high in areas. Maybe the turfs are best. I guess I can put the chains on for deep woods work if need be.

Sounds like the BB will be it for the driveway. What uses do you think the rake is better than the BB?

 

[jbrumberg]

VTtractorguy:

Nice pictures ! I see a tiller in your future for garden and flower beds as well as an old beat up junkyard car/truck hood (AKA "stone boat") to help you skid the larger rocks that you can not lift. Jay