Subsoiler/ripper attachment

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thebuildist United States of America
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Subsoiler/ripper attachment

Post by thebuildist »

When I moved into this house 15 yrs ago, it had a switch in the kitchen that turned on a barn light hanging from a tree down by the road. So years ago I tapped into that line as it runs up the tree and installed an outlet. That way I have a nice power supply for my Christmas lights down by the road.

But last year it didn't work. I made a mental note to track down the problem, knowing that if the feed coming up into the outlet box is dead, then there's a wire break somewhere underground, and I just need to lay a new wire. And I don't want to lay a new wire. So I ignored it.

So last year I ran a 100 foot cord for Christmas lights, and repeated the same this year.

But my procrastination hit a snag when the 100 foot cord, which looked fine to the naked eye, apparently had an internal fault. And while I was at work that fault overheated and lit the yard on fire, at which point my wife had no choice but to call the fire dept. (I only had about 800 watts running through a 12 ga. cord, so it should have been fine.)

Needless to say, my extension cord "pass" has been revoked.

And the underground wire is live when it enters the dirt, and dead where it comes back up 100 feet away. So time for a new underground wire, which means time for a 100 foot long trench.

I said all that to say that I now need an implement that I've had on my radar for a while, namely a "subsoiler." The dirt around here is generally a hard-packed red clay that's full of rocks. None of that nice black northern loam that I enjoyed as a child. You have to fight for every inch in this stuff. So having a ripper on the 3 pt. could greatly speed up the trenching process, as you can at least break up the hardpack so it can be shoveled out.
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I went to the scrap pile to see what I have available to build one, and while I was out there I looked at what was already installed on the tractor:
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And I realized that all I need is a vertical strongback/bar, and I can just pin it right onto my (heavily built) ball hitch adapter. The hitch adapter already has those nice vertical flanges, and the ripping bar can just slide in between them. Then a horizontal pin at the top to lock into vertical.
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So I cut off a 24" piece of my 1x4 steel plate from which the backhoe frame will soon be built. (I'm really glad I bought that second length so that I now have a bit of extra) and laid out a likely looking shape using a straight edge and scribe.
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And then cut it on the mini bandsaw. The little saw does a fine job, you just have to exercise patience cutting something 1" thick. I probably stood there for about 20 straight minutes to make 24" of linear cut in the steel plate. I could have used my big 18" floor model bandsaw, but this little one can follow a scribe line really clean, where the bigger one wanders a bit.
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For a pin I rustled up an old galvanized bolt from a telephone pole. It's 11/16 thick, so I cross-drilled the flanges in the hitch adapter to that size.
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One trick I've learned making your own pins is the value of treating any bare metal with cold blueing. It doesn't increase the pin size at all, and it gives it a bit of corrosion protection.
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Next I drilled the new ripper bar, pinned it in place, and measured it for some spacers to make it snug-ish between the flanges. Some old hole-saw plugs from 3/8" plate turned out to be perfect.
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Then I pinned the new ripper bar in place and drilled and tapped it 3/8 coarse, just so it isn't swinging free.
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lastly I want the cutting edge to be vee shaped, just so I'm not pulling a 1" wide plane through the soil. So rather than grinding it sharp, I welded some 3/4" angle iron in place. Once that wears through it'll be easy to just replace the angle iron, so I consider it a wear item.
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Lastly, shoot a coat of paint on it to give a little rust protection.
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It's pouring rain today, so no action pictures yet. But I'll post back with observations and pictures of how it performs.

Bob
"Never be afraid to try something new. How hard can it be?"
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Spike188 Canada
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Re: Subsoiler/ripper attachment

Post by Spike188 »

Great craftsmanship Bob. Let her rip and tear.
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Re: Subsoiler/ripper attachment

Post by DavidBarkey »

Nice work Bob .
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Harry United States of America
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Re: Subsoiler/ripper attachment

Post by Harry »

Bob, it’s always a pleasure to read and looks at pics in your posts. It really helps people like myself who are visual learners. :thumbsup: :peace: Harry
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Re: Subsoiler/ripper attachment

Post by Eugen »

Nice work Bob! I have a ripper myself, not as well done as yours. My 644 had a really hard time pulling it, if it went a little deeper. Looking forward to seeing yours in action! :thumbsup:
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Re: Subsoiler/ripper attachment

Post by Harry »

If you guys remember I posted a pic of a excavator bucket tooth that was found after the contractor dug a big hole in my backyard for the new septic system. I was going to make a subsoiler from the tooth. It’s a project on the back burner for another day. :peace: Harry
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Re: Subsoiler/ripper attachment

Post by Eugen »

You might need a Cat D9 for that @Harry ! :D
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Re: Subsoiler/ripper attachment

Post by thebuildist »

Well I had a bit of time today and the weather permitted, so I got started on my trench.

The ripping bar installed in literally seconds. Then I adjusted the top link to get a strong backward rake. I later dialled that back about halfway, it seems to to do better that way.
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The first pass went surprisingly easy, for most of the length. I got bogged down in the ivy patch, I think just by the combined bulk of the ivy vines.
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That wad of vines there is about 6 feet long and weighs around 40 lbs.

But the regular soil ran just fine.
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It pulled right through tree roots surprisingly easily. I saw a couple 2" roots that ripped in two, and I couldn't really even remember a lurch in that location.
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I went ahead and ran a couple passes at 10" or so deep, and called it good enough.
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Even though the roots were cut in half, they were still sticking into the trench, which made it difficult to clean out the trench with a shovel, and meant that I had to feed the new wire down past the roots, pulling the roots out of the way one at a time. So digging and progress was slower than I would have liked.
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But I got about 30 feet dug and the wire laid, out of about 80 total. So meaningful progress, hopefully I can make more progress this weekend.

Bob
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Re: Subsoiler/ripper attachment

Post by propane1 »

I’m wondering if you had a piece of pipe on the trencher at the back with a 90 elbow and feed the wire in the trench while trenching. Would that have worked ?

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Re: Subsoiler/ripper attachment

Post by Eugen »

Mission accomplished! It's a good thing you don't have to worry about freezing ground there. :thumbsup:
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