What did I find at salvage yard

[RoMad]

Against the good advice I have been reading here I decided to build my own box blade. I found some used ones within 70 miles on craigslist for $250 to $300 that looked pretty good, but about the same time they began cleaning up a construction lay down yard at work and I got some nice steel for free. So far the only thing I have had to buy is the material to make the scarifiers out of and the welding rods. I am not sure what I bought today, but I think it will work. The short pieces I will cut in half to make two tips out of. The long pieces are 1/2" x 2" and will make the shafts. The long pieces are stamped MADE FOR US NAVY and dated 1966. What are the short pieces? The guy had a whole barrel full of them and charged me $5 each for them.


Here is what I have done so far. Pretty much complete except for the scarifiers. A lot more time into it than I planned. It is 60" wide and should weigh in a little over 400lbs. My tractor is 53" wide and 21 HP.

 

[ultrarunner]

Looks like it should do a good job... nice work.

 

[porky69]

Short pieces are "spikes" for use on a field cultivator in place of the sweeps.

Generally used for ripping instead of cultivating.

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

Looks good so far. The spikes are cast and you will have a hard time welding them to any thing that takes a lot of pressure.
Bill

 

[RoMad]

Looks good so far. The spikes are cast and you will have a hard time welding them to any thing that takes a lot of pressure.
Bill

I never thought of that, but now that you mention it, you are probably correct. I may have to make a bracket they slip in that has a bolt that will go through the existing hole in them. Or I could save them for something else and order the weld on tips. I saw some of those on line, just don't remember where.

 

[rankrank1]

Agri-Supply has the normal box blade ripper shanks for a very reasonable price. If I remember correctly they even have two different lengths

 

[6011Artist]

The ripper shanks are hardened steel so unless you can harden the ones you build, I would buy them. You'll find that the arms will bend if not hardened. And if you hit a root or stump, you might even bend the hardened ones.

I took my shanks out of my box blade, put them on a seperate 4" bar and call it my root rake or sub-soiler. Built the 4" tubing the same way it was installed in the box blade, just doesn't have the box on it. It digs a lot deeper and does a lot more without the box.

 

[weldingisfun]

The ripper shanks are hardened steel so unless you can harden the ones you build, I would buy them. You'll find that the arms will bend if not hardened. And if you hit a root or stump, you might even bend the hardened ones.

I took my shanks out of my box blade, put them on a seperate 4" bar and call it my root rake or sub-soiler. Built the 4" tubing the same way it was installed in the box blade, just doesn't have the box on it. It digs a lot deeper and does a lot more without the box.

How many bent "hardened" ripper shanks do you think you'll need to prove your point? I have plenty. :ashamed:

 

[David s Von Gieserbrechta]

The scarifier tips, do they have a stamp on them? They look like deep tiller cultivator spades and if that is what they are they are probably made of ductile iron, and if thats the case they will be plenty strong enough but you ain't going to weld them to anything and expect them to hold.

As for the shanks, your going to need some special stuff as that is where most of the force is exerted. If your still set on DIY I would suggest going to a farm implement dealer and getting some deep tiller shanks and cutting them down, these are made from spring steel and will take just about anything that your tractor will throw at them.

 

[Damifino]

Nice job on the build, one thing I see may be a problem is that plate steel you have to mount your rippers, the first rock or root or even hard pan will twist that like a pretzel.

Typically there is a 4" x 4" x 1/4" box tube running full length of bb, then cut your slots top and bottom to fit your rippers with metal pin keepers to secure the rippers.

 

[blueriver]

I took my shanks out of my box blade, put them on a seperate 4" bar and call it my root rake or sub-soiler. Built the 4" tubing the same way it was installed in the box blade, just doesn't have the box on it. It digs a lot deeper and does a lot more without the box.

Would you post a picture of that ....

 

[RoMad]

Nice job on the build, one thing I see may be a problem is that plate steel you have to mount your rippers, the first rock or root or even hard pan will twist that like a pretzel.

Typically there is a 4" x 4" x 1/4" box tube running full length of bb, then cut your slots top and bottom to fit your rippers with metal pin keepers to secure the rippers.

I know it looks like it in the picture, but the piece across the front is not plate, it is a tee. It is 3/8" thick x 6" x 3". I think it should be plenty strong enough. If I have a problem there I have enough more material to box it in.

As far as making the scarifiers, I am not bent on making them, I was just trying to save a little money and I really like digging around the salvage place . I will probably order at least the tips. Since my property is all sand I probably can live without them for a while. I am going to haul the box blade to my property tomorrow and try it out.

 

[LD1]

I would go ahead and box it in now if yo have enough material already.

C-channel, I-beam, a Tee configuration like you have, none of them have good torsional strength. They are strong in one direction or another, but twist with very little force. And the rippers are like a big lever hooked onto it to try to twist it. Tubing is very strong torsionally.

If you wait until it is already twisted to box it in, you may have a hard time getting it back to straight and looking right again. It would be far easier to do it now IMO

 

[6011Artist]

blueriver, I'll get some pics possibly tomorrow and post them.

It works great. I did that in 1998 I think. It has been used from ripping up yucca plants, subsoiling, tearing up huge piles of dirt/brush left to rot but the stumps were still intact but smaller to ripping small scrub oak stumps out of the ground.

Someone else said that it needed to be built out of 1/4" thick 4"X4" tubing. I built mine from that and the shanks were ripping the slots. I later welded some blocks on it to prevent the rips but if I was going to build a new one I'd use heavier tubing.

 

[Damifino]

I know it looks like it in the picture, but the piece across the front is not plate, it is a tee. It is 3/8" thick x 6" x 3". I think it should be plenty strong enough. If I have a problem there I have enough more material to box it in.

As far as making the scarifiers, I am not bent on making them, I was just trying to save a little money and I really like digging around the salvage place . I will probably order at least the tips. Since my property is all sand I probably can live without them for a while. I am going to haul the box blade to my property tomorrow and try it out.

If you're property is in Lecanto, you should be good to go, If you hooh to one of those scrub oak roots, well you will see. Good luck neighbor and like I said, nice build.