What attachment do I need

[Bullzibart]

I need some help with picking out the right 3 pt attachment. The main use would be retaking overgrown land and putting it back into useful land. I have two lots cleared and need something to brake up the dirt and make it easy to pull the roots and small stumps out. Most all the stumps are less than 4 inches. One lot will be my house lot which has been stumped and leveled but is still to rough to mow. The other will be turned into a paintball field. Both have lots of rocks both small and large and the brush is starting to take over again. I also have a few miles of logging roads that need to be smoothed out and feed planted.
I already have a landscape rake and a rear scraper blade. Neither of these seem to do what I need to do. I have thought of maybe getting a one or two bottom plow but think that may be a bit of an over kill.
Sorry for the long post but any help would be great.
Bullzibart

 

[millsnhills]

Bull,

Knowing a little about your tractor would be helpful but from reading your post my vote would be on a good box blade.

With the teeth all the way down you can get the soil broken up, pull up smaller roots,stumps and rocks. With the teetk all the way up you can pull or push the soil for leveling. It would take you some time to get use to it but it is a great overall implement.

 

[greg_g]

28hp is reasonable hp for a decent 5 ft box blade, but I can't really recommend the investment unless you're running R1 (ag) tires. Even with 4wd, R3 (turf) and R4 (industrial) tires will just spin when the scarifiers snag some of the more stubborn roots.

Once the roots are out, you'll need some kind of harrow to break up the remaining clods. After that you can level with the rear blade, and do the finish work with your landscape rake. Consider removing alternate tines initially, replacing them as the big chunks get smaller.

After it starts greening up, you'll then need a HD finish mower or rotary cutter to keep nature from reclaiming all your hard work.

//greg//

 

[Bullzibart]

I will be using my JD 4210 with R4 tires. I would like to find something that would just rip and tear all the roots and brush. Something like the scarifiers do on a box blade. I saw a large farm tractor the other day with what I am looking for but was way to big. It had a few claw like spikes that was pulled behind and would loosen things up but not really level things out.

 

[dliston]

You might try a box blade with the scarifiers all the way down, but holding the box up, off of the ground with the three-point - just burying the scarifiers in the dirt. May be you could borrow one from someone to try it.

Doug

 

[TNhobbyfarmer]

<font color="blue"> I saw a large farm tractor the other day with what I am looking for but was way to big. It had a few claw like spikes that was pulled behind and would loosen things up but not really level things out.
</font>

The implement you saw was probably either a rebreaker (sometimes called a rooter) plow or possibly a chisel plow. Either would probably work for your needs, but your tractor isn't large enough to pull either one. It might be easier for you to hire someone with that kind of equipment to do the heavy work and then you can go back with a box or maybe a grader blade to do the finishing work.

 

[KiotiJohn]

I've managed to do a good bit of what you're wanting to do with my boxblade. I don't particularly agree that the R4's will simply spin, but you'll get some of that too. Loader rear tires would help to eliminate that problem, or wheel weights, but you can't always use wheel weights on an R4 rim.
When I've had roots or small stumps stump my progress (pun intended), I've simply dug a scarifier in deep and then lifted the hitch to help break it free. Works pretty well for me, and I have R4's and a 21HP tractor.
John

 

[Bullzibart]

I think I found what I'm looking for. I found a picture of one on JDs web site. Its called a v ripper. Now I have to see if they make it small enough for my tractor and find out how much. Maybe I try to build one myself.

 

[newcountry]

I thought when I was shopping for box blades I saw just the scarifier part w/o the box blade. I was looking at LandPride.

 

[Bullzibart]

Thanks for the reply. I went to LandPride's web site and they do sell just the scarifier. I also found the nearest dealers and will be pricing them out both ways ( with and without the boxblade ) Monday.

 

[DavidVT]

Nice find!

http://www.landpride.com/lp/products/sf25_specs.html

I am doing exactly the same thing and you have saved me a search. I see a local dealer about 30 miles away may have one of these...

Hmmm

 

[DavidVT]

I got a reply back on this landpride from a local dealer.

Quoted $700 or $800 depending on which size I would want and not in stock at this time.

 

[psuedofarmer]

have been working on a similar project for nearly a year. the fields i'm restoring had hundreds of small stumps (4" to 12" diameter). here's what i did:

1) drag fields with scarifiers all the way down. this will remove some stumps, rocks, grasses, etc.
2) use BH to remove those stumps that the box scraper could not move
3) drag fields again with scarifiers - in my case, i had some friends come over so we can remove those rocks we could move by hand, others were chained and dragged to new stone walls

the box blade with scarifiers is the best tool (IMHO) for reclaiming old fields. it works, but takes multiple passes (and also requires to you push/pick up) to clear it up.

i'll post before/after pics on my website soon.

good luck.
pf

 

[Highbeam]

I want to see this website. I have been doing this work with a small bulldozer. I plan to move to a tractor so I want to be sure that some of this work can still be done without the brute force of a 10,000 lb tracked vehicle.