I'm looking again at getting scarifier shanks for the ripper on my 730A Champion. I got a great price on new Cat style shanks from the Bedrock dealer, $44cad. for the basic shank and $11 for the tips. I highly doubt I could find Champion/Volvo shanks cheaper. I doubt I could find used shanks any cheaper. The notches are different on the Cat style but I think could still work or be modified to work. I've seen some JD shanks with the notches on the back and was wondering if it makes a difference? I'm also wondering how the shanks and keepers work. I see Cat has pockets with a raised tooth to fit on the notches on the shanks and the keepers go behind the shanks to hold them in place. They are completely boxed in. Champion style look to just hook on the top plate of the beam and use kind of an odd J shaped keeper behind them in place. Everything is open around the shanks except for the top and bottom of the beam. I'd like to use Cat style keepers/wedges because they are the least expensive but I may need to make my own to fit. Do the keepers need to extend to the bottom of the beam? I'm guessing they do but not sure since the Volvo style don't. They seem to curve to go parallel with the back of the beam and not to the bottom of the slot. The curved keepers seem odd. Was hoping someone might have some good pics. of how the scarifier shanks are mounted on the ripper beam of different make graders? If I need to modify Cat style shanks maybe I could just cut a couple notches in the back side of them?
thesr are Volvo.
I think the shape is so they don't jump out
Thanks very much for the pics.! It confirms how the shanks mount to the beam. The keepers are an odd shape and half the length doesn't do anything but keep them from bouncing out. It looks like the bottom slot is narrower than the top slot in the beam so the shank is straight down. Cat style there is a pocket with a raised boss for the notches on the shank. I think I can either grind the slots in a Cat style shank a little wider to fit the Volvo beam or just weld a small piece of thinner plate on top of the beam to fit the shank. The shank would be about 3/4" higher so no big deal. Could either make the keepers/wedges or see if I can adapt the Cat style. I don't think I could even buy used Volvo/Champion shanks for less than the $55 I was quoted for Cat style from the Bedrock dealer. $44 shank and $11 tip. Keepers with the rubber grommet to keep them in are $10. Nine of each with GST is $630 which I think is great price. The owner of Bedrock is a forum member and sent me a PM and e-mail. Seems like a really nice guy and stands by his products. They've also got great reviews for their thumbs from a few members. Shank 9F5124 for Ripper Buy Scairfier Shank for 12H 140H 160H 140K 12M 140M Ripper -- 9F5124 from Bedrock Attachments. We supplies wide range of Motor Grader Shank. www.bedrockattachments.com
Upper and lower holes are same size, but the notch in the front of the shank is the same as the thickness of the lock, and the lock keeps the notch forward.
The locks I think are optional. The shank shown on mine were bought last summer, but I just use the same old locks. The teeth wear really fast, so if you think you will use them a lot, get spare teeth for your shanks.
I thought the teeth would last a while in packed dirt and clay but I could hardface them. I'm not ripping up gravel roads. I measured the holes/slots and they are both 3 1/4". In the pic. of the Volvo shank above it looks like it pushes on the back of the lower slot. That's why I thought the lower slot may not go as far back. I thought the shanks hang at 90 deg's. to the beam but when in use appear they are angled back a little. The locks don't come with the shanks with most brands. When I talked to the owner of Bedrock he said they normally do and I saw ads where they do in addition to the teeth but I guess the Bedrock dealer I got the quote from sells them seperate. That's OK as I may not be able to use the Cat style locks. The prices I got are still at least $15ea. less than anything I saw online. I highly doubt I could get shanks cut out of plate for $44 and then I'd have to figure out what to do for teeth. I'm hoping I can give a deposit and take a shank and lock out to the grader and see what the best option is to adapt the Cat style shanks. The Cat style pockets have the bottom further forward so the shanks are at 90 deg's. to the beam. It appears you have to remove the lock and then tilt the shank back so the notch clears the boss and it slides out on an angle. The Cat shanks are listed as 3" wide. The Volvo shanks are listed as either 3" or 2.9" wide depending on which brand they are. Here's a pic. of the side profile of Cat style pockets that shows the bottom coming forward and a slight taper on the front to allow the shanks to slide in and out. I'm curious why any style don't just have the locks the same height as the beam and just slide down behind or in front of the shank.
when hard facing we do three vertical runs on the front ,one each side and one up the middle,and one across the bottom. we dont do anything on the back ,this lets the back wear faster and keeps the tip sharp. nothing worse than hard material and blunt ripper tips cheers
Yeah, it's common to hardface the front so they are self sharpening. Hardfacing the back can cause spelling where the hardfacing basically rips off in chunks. On the bottom might spall too.
Most scarifier teeth have no back like a ripper tooth would. They are driven on with a hammer, and the back is open I guess there is a back when they are new. Mine are just always worn out They don't last long
There are long versions of the teeth too. For the shanks they apparently have 3/4" wide notches and the Volvo/Champion beam is 3/4". I'm wondering what's the best way to get the shanks to fit the beam? From what I've found online the notches in the shanks fit pretty loose with anywhere from about 1/8"+ to 1/2" gap. Not sure if I should grind the shank notches a little bigger on each side or grind the beam down about 1/8" or do both. Grinding the beam would convert it to any Cat style shanks and leave the shanks as they are but kind of a pain to grind. I'd only need to grind the slots a 1/2" back × 1" wide. Would be perfect for an end mill in a milling machine but that's not an option. Grinding the teeth would be much easier but I don't want to weaken them by making the raised bosses on either side of the notches too thin. I'm not sure how loose the shanks need to be? If I could grind 1/16" off each side of the notches would be ideal and super easy.
That's good to know. I hardfaced the tines of my 3pt. rototiller and I think will get twice the life. It wasn't the real hard/expensive hardfacing though. They still wear pretty fast but I'm tilling a mile long MX track with a lot of sand. 3 or 4 laps and takes about an hour and half. I cultivate first if it isn't too hard packed. With the scarifier teeth on the grader I'll be able to rip up the hard pack the cultivator just rides over. Way too hard on the rototiller! Will work good on the oval track too if the car and bike guys start showing some more interest.
This is on a Cat. The shanks came from an old Galion and the keepers are made from 1/2"x1" bar. The pocket is just like in your picture.
Perfect! Those shanks look to have wider notches but above the notch on the front looks to be less than 3/4" so I think I'll be able to grind the slots a little bigger. How much play is there on the notch without the keeper?
I'd guess with the keeper in there's about an 1/8", maybe a little less of slop. Enough that I've never had them get jammed up with mud and rocks. So 5/8" of wiggle room without the keeper maybe? I won't be back to the grader until sometime next week if you need more accurate information.
Isn’t the cutting done on the bottom?
The front does the most and the bottom would wear on an angle. Hardfacing the front makes them self-sharpening. Most wear is on the front as they pull forward in the ground. The bottom does wear but hardfacing the bottom could make them duller and there's a chance the hardfacing could spall. I have some hardfaced chocky bars I could try welding on the front. They are 1/4" mild steel fully overlaid with chromium carbide hardfacing at least 1/4" thick. The 1/4" plate makes them simple to weld on. As long as the bottom wears at an angle I don't think it matters how wide the teeth are unless trying to penetrate the hardest ground possible.
I was more curious how loose the shanks fit on the beam in up and down play. I read something that says they need some play instead of being relatively snug on the beam. Most keepers I've seen don't go down to the lower part of the beam so maybe the notches have to be loose enough to allow the shanks to pivot back enough so they hit the back edge of the beam? Your keepers look longer though so maybe they go down the full height of the beam? It seems to me it would be better to have the keepers the full height so the slot in the beam doesn't mushroom over time. If the keeper mushrooms just replace it. I have smaller shanks on my box blade with the same type of mounting and the beam does show wear where the shanks slip on at the notch.
Sounds like you're getting your shanks figured out in your other thread and I haven't been back to the machine until now but I thought I'd follow up anyway. The keeper doesn't go all the way down. The pocket looks like it's designed to take the wear instead of the keeper. The shank can move up and down about a half inch but these aren't the correct Cat shanks.
The Cat style pockets are better because they have a bigger surface at the back to push against. The T lock keepers use a rubber grommet to keep them from coming out. The Volvo style beam has 3/4" upper and lower plates the shanks hook on and push against. I think it's wide enough the rubber grommets will push on the shanks enough the keepers will stay in. The Cat style pocket looks like a ratchet type deal to select what notch you want to use. Tilt the shank back and slide it up and down where you want. JD has really fancy keepers for their shanks. I'm not sure why they need to be so fancy. Maybe some engineer with too much time on his hands designed them?? They appear to use 2 of the rubber plugs to hold them in. I'm not sure what the notch on them is for. The shanks have notches on the rear of them. T150346: Scarifier Retainer | T150346 Scarifier Retainer: Designed to help secure and retain components for proper fit and consistent operation shop.deere.com T150347: Fin-Type Push Plug | T150347 Fin-Type Push Plug designed to securely seal holes in panels, ensuring a tight fit and reliable performance shop.deere.com
the grommet is more likely to stop the retainer coming out when traveling on rough roads.but i have had them come out and laying on top of the rippers and the shank is some where on the road up to 20 ks away. you need play in the shanks when fitted so you can wiggle them out when dirt packs around them.i have done a lot of cement stabilizing and if the mixer is not water injected they add water to the spread cement and sometimes i have to rip it in to give the mixer and water cart traction . when the job is done if you dont pull the tynes out and clean out cement its quiet the task to get them out when the cement cures
Well I think I have the scarifier shanks where they will work. Looking at Volvo style shanks some were listed as 2 7/8" and some were listed as 3" wide. I don't know how thick the Volvo keepers are but the shanks I got are 3" and the Cat T Lock keepers wouldn't fit except for maybe 3/16" at the top. I used a torch and cut the back of the slot on top about 1/8" longer so the keepers would go all the way in. The first I cut slightly too much but I think as long as the shank notch fits on the beam a little it won't come out. I put the rubber grommets on the keepers so they shouldn't be able to pop out. The notches on the shanks fit on the beam so I didn't have to grind them wider. I don't know why the shanks have multiple notches. Using the top notch they don't go down very far from the bottom of the beam. With the tips on they aren't angled very far forward. It seems like the top slot should be moved back the depth of the notch so the shanks are at 90 deg's. to the beam in working position. I didn't need to re-engineer how the shanks fit. Just need them to work.
I picked up a small pack of general purpose hardfacing rods for $33. I could have got some with more abrasion resistance but they were more money and I didn't feel like driving around to get them. They sure don't need a lot of amps. I built the tips up lengthwise and then put a couple passes across them widthwise at the end. I think they'll work good for what I want but need to figure out a way to tell how far down they are. It's easy to be dragging dirt with the beam. Hopefully they'll last a long time. I was able to hold them on the cultivator frame so I could sit down. Sure saved my back from bending over.