For an upcoming project that involves some gray shale & hard glacial till, I'm considering getting a ripper for my 2005 NH EH80 CS (really a Kobelco sk80cs). Also, it would be better than a bucket for ripping our stubborn tree roots & stumps. I'm in the process of getting a quote on one from Werk-Brau, fitted with a KLAC size F quick-coupler attach plate & an Esco Ultralok pick-style tooth. They have a published model for a 5 metric ton machine (24" long shank, 2" wide T-1 steel, weight ??) & then jump to a model for a 12, 15 & 20 metric ton machine (30" long shank, 2.5" wide T-1 steel, weight 625 lbs). So, it will be interesting to see what they come up with. But I'd like to hear what rippers other users of 8-metric-ton excavators are using or would recommend. Give me some details, like what brand & model, shank length & width, type of steel, tooth style, weight, quick coupler style...and a picture...basically all the info you can come up with. If not on an 8 ton machine, what have you got on anything close...bigger or smaller?? Any & all ideas/opinions are welcome.
I built one this winter out of necessity for my 30 class to rip frost. I used some 3/4" plate I had laying around the shop. Its a 24" long tooth 6" deep. It worked great ripping 30" of frost and frozen gravel around new houses to put in electrical services. Its pretty handy paired with my thumb for ripping roots and small stumps as well. Bigger stumps I still go back to a 12" bucket. John
I know guys trash the SEC brand, but I bought new ripper for my 210 from Carroll Equipment in Skaneateles. $1700. I would guess your quotes are going to come in close to $5000. A new Craig, Werk-Brau, or CF would have been almost $9000 for me. I can buy 5 SEC's for that.
I have the ripper from Kubota for my KX057. It works great on trees, stumps sometimes require the bucket to dig down to get leverage on the tap root. If I remember, I'll take some pictures and measurements tomorrow when I go by the shop.
I made my ripper out of scrap I had laying around and used a shank from TSC(the kind that's made for a box blade). My machine is smaller then what your running but I'm sure one could be made. I use it very often, just took down a very large oak tree, made it quite a bit easier with the ripper.
Interesting...Carroll Equipment is "only" about 150 miles west of me. What kind of quick coupler do you have on your machine?? Did you cut the pin-on hangers off the SEC ripper & modify it to your coupler?? Or are you using a pin-grabber style coupler, so you could leave the pin-on hangers intact?? For me, just the Klac size F attach plate to fit my coupler will probably cost about $500, so I'd have to add that to the probably $1,500 for the SEC ripper, plus $200 or so to my farmer/welder friend to cut the pin-on hangers off & weld the Klac attach plate on, maybe looking at $2,200 or so. And i don't get my choice of ripper tooth...hummm...have to think about that when I get my Werk-Brau quote (I sure hope it's not $5,000!!)
Got by the shop, here's the Kubota ripper for the KX057, ~13.2klbs. And a video I made from a cush job last year using the ripper: http://youtu.be/QQ8JV00Yf0g
My coupler is OEM Case-New Holland. At least the tag says it's a CNH. But, it's really a JRB. This is my ripper. A pic of it anyway. Did I ever post more pics of my thumb? If not, here they are.
I wondered how your ripper could weigh "13.2klbs", then, duh, I realized you meant your Kubota KX057!! So how much does your ripper weigh, about?? I see that the shank is about 1" thick, but how long is the shank??...from point up to the mounting plate?? And in your video, you ripping pine trees out of what looks like sandy-clay is pretty impressive, but those pines look pretty shallow rooted compared to the old apple & elm I tangle with in hard glacial till. Still...
You're obviously proud of your thumb you made, & you should be, it looks great, & you did post pics of it before. You didn't actually say your coupler is a pin-grabber, but that's what it looks like in the picture, & I guess that would be consistent with it being a OEM Case-NH. The pic of your ripper seems to show std. pin-on hangers. Thanks for the info...
I don't know the weight, 150-175 is my guess. I can load it by hand into my dump trailer if I must. It's a 24" ripper. Most of those pines' tap root broke off in the ground. On the bigger trees the tap root can be over 10' long. Here's a couple from this month:
Well, it's been over 2 weeks since I asked my "normal" dealer for a quote on a Werk-Brau ripper for my 2005 NH EH80 CS (kobelco sk80cs), & no response. So, I contacted my local Andersen Equipment dealer (they are the largest volume Werk-Brau dealer in my area), and I got a quote in one day!! $1,670 + $150 shipping for a W-B ripper, model WBR2, 24" long x 2" shank, with Esco Ultralok U20 pick-style tooth, with a KLAC coupler size F attach plate, total weight about 410 lbs, 3 to 4 wks delivery. Their next largest size (model WBRT2, 30" long x 2.5" shank) weighs about 625 lbs & is too big. I'll probably give my "normal" dealer a call to see if he forgot me, or wants to beat that quote, before I pull the trigger. It's a far cry from $5,000 that Shimmy1 predicted, & at that price not worth screwing around with a SEC that I'd have to modify with a KLAC attach plate.
$1600 for a name brand like W-B, that is a no brainer. Can't wait to see it in action.
Glad I was wrong. Wonder who is buying the iron I was quoted?
StumpyWally; just a heads up on Carroll equipment, be VERY careful when dealing with them. I won't get into a whole rant on this thread, just wanted to write IF(big IF) you decide to do any business with them watch your back and make sure you check out whatever you're looking at with a fine tooth comb.
Thanks...I've heard the same thing, so yet another reason I wasn't excited about trying to buy a SEC ripper from them.
My "normal" dealer could not/would not match Anderson Equipment's price for the W-B ripper that I mentioned earlier, so we agreed as friends that I would order it from Anderson. Which I have done. Just had an afterthought...I have a lift eye welded on the back of all my buckets, very handy, so why not also on the ripper?? Any thoughts?? Anybody have one on their ripper??
You'll want to make sure the weld profile isn't in a wear area.
It is handy to have on the ripper. Just be sure to put it out of harms way. You can use it to load up the ripper for travel as well as lifting when it is attached.
I know it's acceptable to describe personal experiences about businesses on here. Mine was just fine. Bought $7800 worth of attachments over the phone. Lined up shipping with Uship. Everything showed up like it was supposed to, and was what it was supposed to be. Maybe I'll have a bad experience someday with SEC, but to date I have nothing negative to say. For the price, even if I were to get a bad one, I'd probably even give it a second chance. Just my 2¢.
So, I asked Anderson Equipment / Werk-Brau to quote adding a lifting eye to the my order for a ripper. Best case I figured $50...worst case maybe $100. They quoted $427 !! Yep, you read right!! After I told them they were insane, I asked why?? Werk-Brau's answer was that whenever "lifting" is involved, their lawyers force the price up to cover potential liability!! My thinking is it is WAY past time to shoot all the lawyers!! So, clearly, I'm proceeding with my ripper order without a lift eye, & I will have my own lift eye added after the fact!! What is a little disturbing is that when I ordered W-B buckets a couple of years ago, I ordered them based on a quote which included lift eyes on them. I never thought to get a quote without the eyes & then ask for the add-on quote for including eyes. So, I probably paid a premium for the eyes & didn't even know it!! Of course no one warned me. So, I'm warning all of you now...If W-B charges a premium for the eyes, I'm sure other manufacturer's do too.
Finally got my W-B ripper. Here it is... The shank is 2" thick by 24" from underneath the top plate to the start of the tooth shank. It's about 31" from the plate to the tip of the Esco Ultralok U20P tooth. Weighs about 410 lbs. It has a KLAC size F attach plate on it to match my KLAC quick coupler. Looks pretty fierce, huh?? I don't think I'll have to worry about breaking it!!
Boy thought this thread sounded familiar. I'm the mechanic who showed you the ripper before you picked up. Glad you are happy with it so far, we are all eager to know how it works out.
Nice to know you're on HEF. You're the first local guy who I've met who is...And yes, I do like the ripper, but it will be a while before I get a chance to use it. I got it quite a ways ahead of time relative to when I know I will need it. Do you work on Komatsu or Tak equipment, or both?? I'm not a user of Komatsu stuff, but some of the Tak stuff may interest me in the future.
There seems to be some confusion about how much my ripper weighs. I was originally quoted 410 lbs., but I noticed that the shipping weight on the FedEx delivery paper was 185 lbs. When I questioned Werk-Brau about this, their reply was that the 410 lbs is way off, that the std. weight in the price book is 250 lbs. assuming pin-on mounting, but the KLAC attach plate is lighter than the pin-on ears, so they now estimate that it actually weighs about 170 lbs.net, based on the FedEx ship weight & allowing 15 lbs for the pallet. Never ceases to amaze me how such basic info can get so screwed up!! But I have to admit, the ripper looks & feels like it weighs more than 170 lbs....maybe someday I'll actually get to weigh it.
We work on both, we are a dealer for Komatsu and Takeuchi. We took on tak to fill our utility machine market (skidsteere and mini excavators) and so far they have been a great line(I m not a salesman,just a tech)
nice lookin ripper, now we need some pictures of it when it's not all purty
Persistent as I am, I had a lift eye made for my ripper. Here is a photo of what I just rec'd...it weighs about 9.5 lbs. I designed it as a copy of the ones that were on my existing Werk-Brau buckets. I designed/modeled it in SketchUP, & then got some on-line quotes as follows: E-Machine Shop, A-36 Steel...$105.82 (plus shipping, they have their own on-line CAD design & quoting program, which is excellent) Discount Steel, A-36 Steel.....$ 78.95 (plus shipping) Discount Steel, T-1 Steel.......$ 80.65 (plus shipping) E-Machine shop was my 1st choice (I've had work done by them before, excellent), but they could not do it in T-1 steel, to match the ripper shank. So, I went with Discount Steel (Minneapolis, MN), for a total of $105.65, including shipping. Their CNC plasma cutter worked from an AutoCAD DXF file that I exported from SketchUP & emailed to them. I am very pleased with the lift eye they made. As you can see in the photo above, the plasma cuts are smoother than I expected. Also, as I discussed with them when I ordered, they err'ed on the conservative side with the plasma cut tolerances, making the overall piece about 1/8" to 1/4" bigger in both length & height, & the hole about 1/4" smaller in both dimensions (1-3/4" x 2-3/4" vs. 2" x 3" designed). For its purpose, this is fine & actually makes the lift eye stronger than designed. Here is a 3D image of the design dimensions vs. the as-builts as noted: Given the 100,000 psi yield strength of T-1 steel, the 1" sq. cross-section of the eye, & a generous factor of safety of 5, I would say the eye should be good for at least 20,000 lbs, or 10 tons. This is more than my excavator capacity. Now, to get it welded on my ripper.....stay tuned!!
Oh, I almost forgot...you might wonder why I didn't just buy a Crosby BH-313 weld-on, forged hook, w/ latch?? First , there was price: 5-ton - about $178 on-line, plus shipping. 10- ton, about $$237 on-line, plus shipping. Second , there was the real possibility that I would need to pull on the hook in a direction that would stress the closing latch, such as when just lifting the ripper to move it when it is not coupled on the excavator. My "home made" lifting eye is cheaper, doesn't have a directional-pull limitation, & is cheaper...
Where's it going to go on the ripper?
On the back of the shank, as high up as possible, tight to the Klac mounting plate. Yeah, you might be thinking if I pick up the ripper at that point, the Klac end might be heavier & would point down, rather than have the ripper end point down. Would reverse the direction of pull on the lift eye almost 180 degrees. Hard to know without actually welding an eye on it & trying it...& I only want to weld it on once!!
Might be high enough on the shank to not do that. Tack it on and pick it up will end up being the best way I think
I finally got a chance to have my lift eye welded to my ripper. Here is my lift eye after a little cleanup & ready to weld... ...& after welding... ...& finished, after painting... ...& an overall view, finished, after painting... Here is the ripper suspended from the lift eye... As you can see, I lucked out, as the ripper is almost perfectly balanced. I've since tried using it to take out a 6" apple tree...came out like butter!! If it stays dry enough before winter, I've got well over a dozen larger stumps to grub out.
Here are some pics of the ripper at work, "surgically" removing stumps from a ditch thru my woods. The "surgical" part is important, because the land is low & wet...once you break thru the vegetative "crust" you encounter clayey muck, so the smaller the hole to remove the stump the better. Incidentally, a long time ago I nicknamed my excavator "Wally"...& he loves to "Stump"...hence my HEF username of "StumpyWally"!!
nice
Well, here is my finished ditch with the stumps all ripped out... I would have liked to rake & grade it more with a landscape rake, but it's too wet now. Note the standing water & the muck in the pic below... Here's about 1/2 of the resulting stumps in my burn pile... And here's the other 1/2 of the stumps in a pile that I can't get out of the woods now because of the water & muck. Probably have to wait 'til it freezes in winter...or maybe burn it in place?? Here's "Wally" after the job, showing his "claws"...He needs a good bath before his winter storage!!
And here's a close up of the ripper, for those that wanted to see it after some use...
That is a good looking tool. Your added lifting eye looks well done, and I am sure it will come in handy.