I'm wanting to affix an undercarriage shovel to the uprights on my open ROPS structure to be retained with the tractor. Is there a favorite type to use in this application meaning such as a round, or square nose drain spade? Any favorites? Fiberglass handle, wood handle, "D" handle, straight handle, short, long handle?
I always carried a sharpshooter. D handle, round nose, narrow spade style. Probably about 3-4’ long overall. Had a little cup for the blade to sit in and a magnet on the handle so it was easy to get at. I dug out many a side boom and drill rig. Kept one long enough I wore it out. The plastic handles don’t last in the elements.
Preferably a shovel like this: Razor-Back 23.5 in. Wood D-Handle Steel Blade Drain Spade 2597400 - The Home Depot This Razor-Back shovel is ideal for construction use. Digging narrow trenches and cleaning out previously dug ditches. 16.25 in. blade depth is used for transplanting shrubs and trees. www.homedepot.com
I am either thinking on the interior side of a vertical riser on the right side, or a horizontal mounting across the back of the tractor. I don't have it but there was an optional 1/2" steel plate that was a rear fuel tank guard and I've seen tools, and tool boxes mounted to them in the past: Going to mount a 30K Braden winch I have just behind the round PTO cover plate at the rear of the tractor so have a way of skidding things up hills and getting others out of their "OH ****"!! moments such as these: I think that RazorBack shovel is the exact one I have and use in the application so far. It has a metal "D" handle frame and has held up very well over the years riding in the back of an open bed truck.
Somebody might wanna tell those boys to stay away from the pond . . .
That was the neighbors to our property. We call them the "Dynamic Duo" which is a father and son team. Not hard to see the rock didn't roll far down the hill with them either. Father got the tractor in the pond, (I don't know how) and son went to drag him out. Again, I don't know how either happened as you see in the photos but nobody got hurt. My dozer didn't even struggle with either of them but both engines were partially submerged so drained right up on the bank and oils changed. No problems afterward I'm told. Don't think a shovel would have helped in this case.
They were lucky neither machine rolled over in the pond. Did they not have a long enough tow strap or chain?
Reminds me of a local farming father and son team many years ago, they were cleaning out a dry dam (pond). The son was driving the wheeltractor that had a 3PL scoop on the back. He was racing around the inside walls, driving across them horizontally (they're normally 1-in-3 slope here), cleaning dried mud off and shaping the walls smooth. Pa yells out, "You be careful there, son! You'll tip that tractor over if you don't go a bit slower, take extra care, and watch out for lumps or bumps that will send you over!" Son yells back, "I know what I'm doing, ya worry wart of an old fool! I can handle this, no worries!!" Pa leaves and goes back to the house. An hour later, son walks in, bruised and scraped and limping. "What happened?", says Pa. Son replies, "Ahhh, the tractors upside down in the bottom of the dam, we need to go pull it upright". Son was darn lucky, he got thrown clear when the tractor rolled. This was in the days of no ROPS, no roll bars, no cabins, just open-air seating.
The father was going to mow. Hard to see but the tractor has a rotary mower on the three point hitch. I think, (but don't know) he was going to start by the water line, got too close going too fast and the momentum pulled him in once the rt. front tire sank into the mud. The skid steer was a very recent purchase for them and I'm sure unfamiliarity was a player.
I thought it was two different places and time periods. Then I saw the tractor in the water, behind the skid steer in the water. Some people just shouldn't breed.
We call them track spits here in UK
They are the handiest hand tool I've found so far to clean undercarriages. far ahead of the standard spade shovel.
We use a tree planting shovel. It works pretty well, the long narrow profile gets into the tight area between the track frame/pads adjacent to the sprockets pretty effectively. Bush pro made here in BC is quite well made.
You can do wonders with a couple of stainless hose clamps for fabbing up a shovel mount. Cut some plywood to fab up a pocket for the blade and then secure it with hose clamps to the ROPS. I'd toss a small bungee around the upper handle and consider that good. Use a black heavy zip tie to keep that bungee from wandering off. I ran this D4C last spring that had a slotted scabbard for the farm saw, he just tied it to the ROPS. Low tech is OK when it works.
your little picture story reminds me of my brother and dad and I getting the Mitsubishi unstuck, using every thing we had on the farm tied together. I had dammed up the irrigation overflow, which ran right down the edge of the field with just enough room to till that last row of berries. My brother drove up on the scene I had made with toys and army men and roads and my little lake, and right into the mud I had created. He was so fascinated by my work that he stood up in the seat to admire it, until he got buried. We had a car and the pickup on the hard road and the only way out was back out across the ditch and up onto the hard neighbor's driveway. Nothing was narrow enough to come down that row, except the Mitsubishi. I recall that nobody got mad at me, we just took out my dam and it quickly dried out. I moved my mayhem to another location.
I ordered these but have not received them yet as my wife has them in the yard barn and they seem secure. If they don't work in the dozer, they'll join their compadres in the shed: https://www.amazon.com/Verdenu-Stainless-Command-Organizer-Bathroom/dp/B09ZXZNZCM/ref=psdc_2422463011_t1_B08MZPK5L3?th=1 Being 304 stainless construction they shouldn't rust from the exposure. If they don't work I'll order a pair of these "truss clamps" in the correct size. I had these on one of my service trucks when I was in the field and they work well: https://www.amazon.com/Clamps-165lbs-Aluminum-Lighting-32-35mm/dp/B09655BWR5/ref=pd_ci_mcx_mh_ci_mcx_mr_bw_mh_d_sspa_dk_detail_2?pd_rd_w=OPSgI&content-id=amzn1.sym.f5df7e34-0b7b-4623-b833-4bc428eb1494%3Aamzn1.symc.c0e3441f-e8db-463a-beb3-b6fa76b89153&pf_rd_p=f5df7e34-0b7b-4623-b833-4bc428eb1494&pf_rd_r=B9NH7Z9WG1A4K5N0V0PV&pd_rd_wg=dIo2u&pd_rd_r=8512fcad-b60e-479e-904e-fa4374281cca&pd_rd_i=B09655BWR5
Looks to me like it’d fit wedged between the fuel tank and rops then use a bungee cord on the handle.
I know you are correct but the space is being allocated for other things to be used for winching and skidding; bridles, clevis, sheaves, chains, etc. I'm a creature of habit and like shadow marking where a tool normally resides. The interior surface of the ROPS riser where the shovel mounts will be "Blaze Orange" in color so I'll be able to immediately tell if some dumbass, (myself) left the shovel sticking in the ground after finishing with it from the operator seat.
While I've not fully evaluated the thought process yet, I'm thinking to make a plate to mount to empty holes for the optional/missing fuel tank guard. To this plate a box will be mounted housing a hydraulic motor to chain drive the winch that will mount below. From the books there looks to be a power beyond port on the hydraulic valve block and if I can cabbage onto that through an external tandem center valve to drive the winch, I'd be set. Might even look to remote control this setup through D05 manifold valving fitting it all inside the box. Everything would be weather shielded that way. Only photo of the winch that will be mounted I can find right now:
A shovel I can't make much use of. I use a long Vaugn Super Bar. When I was a kid my father had one made from a leaf spring. I don't know if wonderbars weren't available in an earlier day, or we didn't have the candy stores for people like me. In my youth we had E C Crosby & Sons. It started as a freight agent for the railroad, evolved into a retail store selling everything that arrived by rail, then grain, farm machinery, eventually building materials. The business failed a number of years ago. I remember being in awe the first time I saw a "home improvement store"! I could see & buy items I'd have to special order, sight unseen before. Had I known about a Vaugn Super Bar as a teenager, I'd have paid $20. plus shipping, plus tax. Having never owned one, I likely wouldn't trouble myself to buy it.
My favorite pry bar is the same brand. It is blue in color and goes by the same name of "Super Bar". I too like their hammers as well balanced.