I have a D6D dozer and I was interested in building a tree grubber for the blade, I was wondering if anyone had ever built one and if so what would there recomendations be for thickness of material, design, depth to hang down below blade, width of cutting edge. Any info would be appreciated, thanks.
If you're like me, you'll build it "Heavy Duty" the first time. Realize in about 20 minutes of working, that "Heavy Duty" isn't nearly so heavy duty as you thought, then rebuild it at least twice as strong as the first time.
Yair . . . Gearhead75. Over here in Australia I am unfamiliar with "grubbers". Could you explain just what it is and how they are used? Thanks and Cheers.
Almost sounds like your talking about a stump plow Gearhead75.Found a picture of one on wag-ways site,its for an excavator but people used to mount them on the front of the dozer blade . www.wagway.com/img/stump-plow.png Might even look for a Rome K/G blade for the D6D Cat,We have one and love it for clearing.
I thought he was talking about a brush rake. :beatsme
Scrub Puller I think he's referring to what we would call a cutterbar rake in Oz?:beatsme
td25c, I looked at the Rome K/G website and that's not exactly what i'm thinking about, this grubber would fit on my existing blade. I would weld ears up at the top of the blade with holes in them to allow the grubber to swing forward if you were wanting to backdrag. What i had in mind was 1in to 1 1/4 plate cut about 10 to 12 inches wide by 5 to 5 1/2 feet long and a piece of the same plate 20 to 24in wide welded to the two vertical bars flat ways and parallel to the ground with a bevel cut to make a cutting edge. this cutting edge would hang down 16in or so below the bottom of the blade, so when you go grub a tree you are only sinking the grubber into the ground instead of the whole blade, when tree and root ball are pushed away you can then backdrag in reverse and the grubber flips forward and the dozer blade is now flush with ground and you can semi fill the existing hole. MAYBE??
Thats about how mine is. I used 1.5" thick steel and they were 10" wide. I put them 30" apart and the blade at 15 degrees when it hit the ground. It will go in 20" deep, enough to get any Mesquite root ball. I also added a push bar at the top that is just a piece of 4" 16.60 pound drill pipe. It sticks out about 30" and helps the tree over before the cutter hits it.
Sounds like a root rake, picture off the internet. http://www.ctoa.net/ctoa/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/IMG_0129.jpg
Lonestarcobra, do you have any pictures of the grubber you have?
I will take one tomorrow.
Your looking for this? http://r3.cygnuspub.com/files/cygnus/image/FCP/2007/OCT/495x330/pinondozerbrushrake_10088549.jpg
No, that would be a rake in this neck of the woods.
Hi, Buddy, some pics please
Grubber http://brownebrosinc.com/images/Range-Management-Tools/DozerTools/Thumbs/tn_Dozer-Grubber.JPG Check link for pic. The "grubber" is used to dig out the root systems, primarily, of the mesquite trees. It's a tool to used against from small sprouts to large trees. The process is to grub the trees/roots out with the grubber and follow along behind with rake to rake and pile them for burning. The "grubber" may be largely a Texas/Oklahoma thing. I've spoken to people in other parts of the country and most have never heard of it.
Yair . . . JoeinTX. Gotcha mate. Now I understand the concept. What I don't understand is why this would be as effective as a conventional cutter bar between the ripper tines or a centre tine fitted with wings. I have used both and the advantage is that you can use them on a tractor fitted with a rake. Putting wings on a centre tine is very inexpensive if you can get hold of some heavy worn out cutting edge. Cheers.
Here are some pics of the one I built for my 22x D5B. It is a smaller version of the one on my D6 and does not have the push bar on it. It is a regional deal where there is Mesquite trees. Since Mesquites have tap roots that go down almost as deep as the tree is tall, the object is to cut it below the root ball and pull it out of the ground. By doing this it helps minimize regrowth. The blade is hidden in the grass, but is the same material as the rest of it with a beveled edge and is sitting at 15 degrees.
I hope I make sense here. The Mesquite is an extremely pervasive and resilient species of plant. It can be a tree.....or a bush......or a sprout. And in every variation it is an extraordinarily abundant pest. The only way to kill it is to kill at the root or to spend great time and effort applying chemical control. They will take a pasture over in no time if you're paying no time to controlling them. You don't just go into a field of Mesquites and knock them all down with a dozer blade and be done with them. No. Do that and 5 years later that same pasture will be overrun with them again. You take each tree or shrub or sprout out at the deepest root level possible. That's what a grubber does. You nail each growth type deep and hard and with extreme prejudice. You do your damnedest to dig them out of the Earth itself. It's not like root raking........it's not like root plowing......it's not like chaining. It's altogether and entirely a different way of brush control.
And, to note, the very Mesquite that the grubber was designed to work against is the same tree that Lonestar's grubber is chained to above. Damned tough tree and tremendous in the making of early America. The mesquite is an African sourced tree that boomed in the post-cattle drive days. Cattle movement is what drove it's introduction into so many parts of the American Southwest. The Mesquite produces beans which are good cattle feed but which also are great for transporting the seed and species.
Thanks to everyone who replied, I never really thought bout putting a cutting edge on center ripper, does anyone know if this would work on mesquites very well?
Yair . . . We do have the bloody stuff over here in Australia. It has been introduced as an "ornamental"(???) and to stabalise mine sites. Big mistake. Blade ploughs and cutter-bars are used at a depth of at least a foot to be effective. A chemical follow up is usualy needed to maintain effective control. Below is an extract from a journal documenting an early trial at Quilpie. The problem is the price for cattle is much the same as it was when this trial was conducted and the costs per hour have gone through the roof. Two hundred and fifty ha of dense mesquite (P. velutina) were blade-ploughed in 1990 at 'Comongin' (Quilpie) and reseeded with Mitchell grass, buffel grass and forage sorghum. Following good rains in 1991 and early in 1992, mesquite seedling regrowth had become a problem with densities of 1095 plants per ha (P. Jones, unpubl.). Despite seedling regrowth, the blade-ploughing produced substantial pasture growth and part of the huge seed source was eliminated. The improved pasture growth offset the cost of the operation: in the trials, a 385 hp D-9 dozer was required to pull a 4 metre 'Homan' blade-plough. The machinery was capable of treating approximately 1.14 ha of mesquite per hour at a cost of $148 per hour Best hopes for a biolgical control Cheers.
Yo Lonestar, have any pics of it on your dozer or in action? My ranch is covered with mesquite and my 6-way can pull out a lot of the root system but it's a slow tedious process (bit of a trick) to get the roots to pull with the tree.