I was wondering what it is like to use a single tooth ripper on a hoe for breaking frost. I have a 98 Case 580sl with detachable hoe buckets and was digging in frost with a 24 inch bucket and thought there most be a better way to get through the top layer of frozen ground. I saw a homemade single tooth ripper in the net but wonder how well they really work. John
This is what we use in rock on the backhoes. It'll rip frost too.
It's made by Vail. Vailproducts.com
Thanks handtpipeline, that is just what I am looking for. I wonder if the Vail products are available in BC or Alberta.
I bought this one thru my local Case dealer. They're a bit pricey, I bought this the one I have in 1999 or 2000, and if I remember right it was about $700 then. But I've used it quite a bit, and it's still like new. I'm probably just on my 5th tooth too. The teeth last forever.
They work fine for frost, stumps in tight places and rocks under ashpalt driveways. The hardest part to getting good use out of them is to get the machine to stay put - being cold and slippery, the machine gets dragged around. There are several aggressive teeth styles available for the single-tooth ripper, and that helps too. I'll try to dig up a photo of mine when I get home tonight.
I need one of them. I fought with frost all mornin to only get no were and a crack on one of the shanks of a very worn 1ft bucket.:beatsme Gave up tryin, bring in the hoe ram.......
Do any of you use V bottom buckets in frost? They work good in rock, but never tried frost with one. We don't have the frozen ground problem here often, I wish we did right now so I could get some work done. It's pure mud here right now. The ground gets a frozen crust on it at night here lately, but you break right thru it and get mud. Here's a few pics of my rock buckets. The backhoe bucket is an 18", I had a 24" but it got stolen. The one on the 125 is a 24", and I've got a bigger one for a 170C (pc300 size machine) I think it's like a 30"
Here's that pic of mine. It allows you to get the most out of a 310 or 580 -class hoe.
I have a set of hensley frost teeth the pointed single tip kind. They work well under the right conditions but tryin to rip through 8inches of solid frost forget it. We have a 580Super K with a hoe ram on the job now to break the frost.
I have a Guest Ind. ripper for my Case 580SE it mounts inside the backhoe bucket and u rip with it then remove it and dig. I will put a pic up soon as i take on of it on the machine.
Hi new here, saw the post have you seen this ripper attachment for backhoes? http://www.larsonripper.com/
After reading this info that you guys wrote, I decided to order the Vail ripper for my Case 580SL. My Case dealer could get it as well. It took them a while to figure that out though. I will be able to use it to get at a broken weeping water valve that is below 2' of frost. I also need to fix up my driveway. I have some exposed bedrock that I would like to get rid of. This will get rid of some bumps and give me better drainage in my ditches. I am hoping to make some money with it as well.
Some advice for you, if they are still made the same (I'm sure they are), the pin that attaches the ripper to the bucket will come with a snap pin to hold it in. The snap pin didn't last long on mine, so I just fashioned a cotter pin out of a 5/32" welding rod, and it works great like that. Also, the pin has a grease zerk in one end of it. Keep it greased well, and it'll work great. If not, it has a tendancy to stay against the bucket, instead of swinging out into ripping position.
We have a ripper for a case 580 sitting in our shop. Never seen it move but we dont dig much in the winter. Ill see if i can get a picture for ya. Should be pretty easy to make one
Here in WNY the ground freezes up really fast and I could really use one of those attachments. The 1 ft bucket does well on the hard ground but the larger buckets have to do a little more pounding on the ground but will still do the job after some abuse.
Here is a Pic of my Ripper it mounts inside the bucket with a large screw clamp and it works pretty good i have had this for over 15 years and its been used on a few machines over the years and YES it has pulled a bucket apart in the past LoL
custom made one... also a good trencher haha the thing about ripping frost is its like ripping rock with your machine sitting on ice...it can get particularly tricky when you are on a side slope
I've got a real nice Werk-brau ripper that I used extensively on my old 510B for years.I did a lot of research on them and I thought they were all too light and woosy looking except the Werk-brau.It's got a huge excavator shank in her.I used to use it mostly for seamed rock jobs,sometimesfor frost.I've got to adapt it for my 410G now.