Kirboid
New member
I bought a Tufline 1S-28 (Cat 1, Single Shank, 28") from my local dealer for $800, not a bad price. I needed it to rip the vine rows (15 rows @ 475 feet each) prior to planting my vines. I have about 10" - 14" of loamy top soil, then a clay layer from 15" to 25", then a sandy loam further down. The top soil and clay layers have rocks of all sizes. The goal was to open up the clay layer to improve drainage and root penetration.
I planned to use it with my Case DX33 Hydro (33 hp) with R4 tires. Tufline calls for 30 hp minimum, so I wasn't sure what was going to happen. I did several test rips, and to my pleasant surprise, the DX33 was able to rip at full depth - as long as I didn't hit any big rocks. Small rocks were no problem, but bigger rocks (10"+) stopped the tractor with the wheels spinning. It is definitely usable with a 33 hp 4wd tractor.
A friend has a JD 5200 45hp full size tractor with ag tires and offered it to me. Bigger is better, right? I decided to use it to have a power margin. The good news is that it was able to easily pull the subsoiler, and extract large rocks bigger than 10" in the process. The Tufline does a good job of ripping the soil. The bad news is that I discovered what happens when an unmovable object (deep, giant rocks) meets an unstoppable force (the JD). Pictures below. Maybe I should have just used the DX33.
Overall, the Tufline did a great job. I'm thinking about other uses next - burying wire, irrigation lines, etc.
Rock Extractor! Yea!
Deep rock, never saw it coming!
Shear bolt did it's job!
Kinda hard to see, but the ripped area is lifted about 6" - 10" and about 8" - 10" on each side of the cut.
I planned to use it with my Case DX33 Hydro (33 hp) with R4 tires. Tufline calls for 30 hp minimum, so I wasn't sure what was going to happen. I did several test rips, and to my pleasant surprise, the DX33 was able to rip at full depth - as long as I didn't hit any big rocks. Small rocks were no problem, but bigger rocks (10"+) stopped the tractor with the wheels spinning. It is definitely usable with a 33 hp 4wd tractor.
A friend has a JD 5200 45hp full size tractor with ag tires and offered it to me. Bigger is better, right? I decided to use it to have a power margin. The good news is that it was able to easily pull the subsoiler, and extract large rocks bigger than 10" in the process. The Tufline does a good job of ripping the soil. The bad news is that I discovered what happens when an unmovable object (deep, giant rocks) meets an unstoppable force (the JD). Pictures below. Maybe I should have just used the DX33.
Overall, the Tufline did a great job. I'm thinking about other uses next - burying wire, irrigation lines, etc.
Rock Extractor! Yea!
Deep rock, never saw it coming!
Shear bolt did it's job!
Kinda hard to see, but the ripped area is lifted about 6" - 10" and about 8" - 10" on each side of the cut.
