Yair . . . I took some time out to watch a bloke struggling to rip dryish clay with three tines on a hitrack D6. As I have mentioned the dirt is just the same as it was fifty years ago when I decided Mother Caterpillar only put the three slots on the main beam so you could pull one tine at full depth in the middle if you couldn't pull the two. Three tines I always found was neither your azz nor your elbow. You couldn't pull them full depth or, if you could it would pull out in lumps and not shatter. When conditioning for bulk pushing I reckon straddle ripping with two tines gave far better production . . . some times you can even do the first pass spaced even and then cross rip with a straddle. For a general purpose tractor on a station or what all that centre tine in there can be a bitch when ripping trees and stumps. Just thought I'd mention. Cheers.
Just because you can make a machine move does not mean you are an operator.
Hello Scrub, I actually prefer three shanks if the dozer will pull them at full depth, if not I switch to 2. I mostly run a D8R or a 155 for any bulk that I have to move and in most dirt I have no problem. I move around quite a lot so the conditions and material do vary. Where I am at the moment a D8 with a single shank is not man enough!!
xxx
LDK, I'd like to see a pic of what you're ripping. Where I'm from most dozers don't have rippers.
Yair . . . Gotcha LDK. I just put it out there, an old blokes idle thoughts. (grins) We have all worked under different conditions and I watched this feller battle with three tines pulling up big hard chunks of clay . . . a sort of back up again and bust it carry on. I reckon if he'd taken a few minuted to drop out the centre hook he would have got a better shatter and it would have flowed between the tines. Cheers.
Hello Pete, In saying that I move around, I maybe should have been clearer..... I am in Morocco at the moment and the bulk part of the project is over, thank goodness. Here some of the upper layer was rippable with a D8R for everything else they used hammers/breakers. The job I was on before here was in the UAE, obvously a lot of sand there but would still need the ripper at times to be productive. And when you hit the material they call "subkah" you were ripping all day long. Prior to that I was in Russia, about an hour and a half out of Moscow. It was agricultural land and the soil was a bit of a mix but in my opinion to be as productive as possible it needed ripping and three shanks worked well for me. I personally don't like to use a tractor large or small without rippers. For a few years I was a partner in a company in Argentina and we bought a couple of new dozers a JD 750J and 700J we ordered them with rippers, so I put my money where my mouth was! I think a tractor is way more productive with them. I could keep going with the list of project locations but at the risk of being boring I will stop, other than to say the D11 in my avtar was in Japan, it had three shanks hung on the back.... no chance of burying them there. That job was drill and blast every day of the week! If you are really interested I will try to remember to dig out some pictures this evening after work, which is where I am heading now. Russ
Hello Scrub, I am not disagreeing with you in any shape or form, I would most likely have been removing the center shank too. I am an old fella too, so they say. Chasing 62 but its others that think I am getting old, not me!
Just a Pup!! Like Me!!
Could only wish I had access to a ripper for my old junker! Do come in handy!
I keep watching for a old steel wheeled pull type cable ripper for my 2U series D8. Last one that sold locally on a auction a few years ago had real gold plating under the rust if the price was any indication. Incidentally they had receiver pockets for three ripper shanks also.
Pete 1468, The first picture is in Morocco, the other 2 are in Russia.
This was on a project in Tunisia
Being used to ripping for scrapers, it was always 3 shanks and you didn't have to go much deeper than the scrapers could cut. By being able to keep moving at a good speed it seemed like you got a good shatter. But struggling around on the front idlers didn't get much done. Of course this all depends on the material being loaded.
xxxx
I feel sorry for you guys that have rock like that. I guess I'm lucky where I live you can keep pushing dirt the deeper you go. I have to corner bit my old dozer to get under some hard pack once, I needed to change cutting edge and bits. I always like to know what works in other areas of the globe. Thanks for the pics.
That would be a welcome to My world rocks. We live in a little corner of MO, close little town is 'Stoney Hill' and is so for a reason! We have slab hard limestone that is somewhat acid resistant called dolomite, have it around 8-14 feet below grade IN SPOTS, where along creeks or paddocks it extends out to the surface where it can be harvested if care to. Makes it a problem setting ponds even foundations if too shallow in soil or if has marked regions of Karst. Not so much the latter here but getting under some slabs with a loader or dozer to break them down is not fun and rippers you are lucky to get a single shank to bust thru.
I got lucky on my D6C as it is one of the only of its vintage I know with rippers. Digging ponds they are great! Our soil is soft down a few feet but below 4-5 feet its yellow clay and it gets hard. Blade just chatters along or machine goes in a circle using corners. Digging a square pond 10' deep, I would rip one way FULL DEPTH 3 shanks, then cross rip and it would come out as loose fill. So much faster than just a blade! Local operators upgrading are now buying 6R's and T's with rippers as they are seeing their benefits.