Hi all, I'm using a D31P-17a to tear out some fencerows on my farm. So far all is going well and the remaining trees are starting to fear me. Now that I'm starting to make piles I've realized I need to think about final cleanup. I think a deep ripper may be the trick to ensure I've gotten all of the roots ripped up before I make a tillage pass. I've seen rippers on larger dozers but wondering if anyone has a ripper on a dozer my size. I have a pair of hydraulic outlets on the back of my dozer so I'm thinking that it was set up for such a thing. Anyone know of a model number for an appropriate sized ripper? How universal are the mounts across brands/sizes of dozers? Any aftermarket companies that may have an appropriate sized ripper you could recommend? This dozer runs good but will be used on weekends only so I don't need the highest end ripper for it. Thanks all!
A root rake for the blade might be a better setup. Certainly easier to find and install. They do a good job of cleaning things up and cover a lot more ground per pass as well.
Root rakes don’t go as deep do they? I’ve been looking at them too but it seems the deepest I’ve seen are 8-10” teeth. Thanks for the response.
That doesn’t sound real deep but you’d be surprised what they’ll pull up. It wouldn’t be hard to add to one or find one that’s setup to go deeper already. What type of tillage are you planning on?
Except for a possible tap root, trees, even large ones, have almost all of their roots in the top 8 or 10" of soil. When I grind tree stumps, I almost never go deeper than 10" to get everything, except the tap root. And, many trees do not have a tap root, just near-surface roots.
I've got a D31-20 which has a 3 tyne ripper fitted. I bought it as is and have since found out that it is non genuine Komatsu, possibly Massey Ferguson. It is the parrallogram type rather than the radial type found on the small Cat dozer. It is a really good bit of gear and makes the dozer much more productive, in hard dirt that you can't push you simply rip it and then you can dig it. It will pull the two outside tunes in all but the hardest of dirt and I made a blade plough (winged tyne) from the middle tyne which it will pull buried in nearly anything. If you Google blade plough or cutter bar you will see what I'm talking about. I simply got some worn out scraper blade and cut it to fit and welded it onto a long tyne I had made up to suit. If your stumps are only small this would be ideal as it cuts off below the root ball and lifts it to the surface. I wouldn't have bought the dozer without the rippers but I imagine you would be up for 5-10k to have them fitted and plumbed in.
Something else to consider. instead of fitting rippers to your dozer, fit a 3 point linkage. For the ripping you what to do a Yeomans Plough may do the job and you will have a very versatile little tractor for future use.
Yeah good point, the 3pl would be handy as well. All depends on what your major intended use will be and how deep your pockets are. Something else I forgot to mention I have got proper single bar grouser plates on my dozer, so if you are running the pyramid tracks then the ripping/pulling/pushing capability will be greatly diminished.
Here's a pic of a D31s-16 Loader.