Build me a ripppper

[Polishammer]

I looked at one of those rippers or subsoilers that are manufactured by heavyhitch and decided to build one. 3/4" plate and heat treated replaceable plate just in case.

So over the long weekend I decided to test it out. I have to say it performed very well. I was able to pull and cut through various size roots as well as pull stubborn stumps that have been bothering me for a while.

And then, pulling on one stubborn stump all of a sudden the tractor just went forward. Shoot, I already broke the thing. I looked back and all seemed ok, so came off the tractor and here is what I see:

Ripper is fine, but I just broke my hitch!!!!

High Lift jack, welder, brace, some paint and few hours later all was well again with the world.

Lesson learned "even when you overbuild your stuff, there is always something else that will crap out on you"

 

[Kubota_Man]

Nice work

 

[Tooljunkie]

I had a similar failure on one of my hitches,added a gusset as well. Made it right to shop before weld completely failed.

Now its rock solid.

 

[alansz400]

Nice work. High lift jacks are great.

 

[hodge]

That looks like a poor, cold weld- you might want to check over the other factory welds. Chances are, the others are substandard, too.

 

[armylifer]

That hitch of yours looks just exactly like one that I have from Northern Tool. Mine broke in exactly the same place while I was carrying a 15 gallon tank of water. It should not have broke carrying just about 110 pounds of water on a 40 pound cargo carrier. Total weight was about 150 pounds and the hitch broke exactly where yours did. I went to my Kubota dealer and bought a much stronger hitch.

Now I still have that Northern Tool hitch frame and I welded it back just like you did, but I don't trust it for anything. the metal is way too soft and thin. I would not even trust it to pull my garden trailer.

 

[chim]

It's a pretty safe bet that hitch was designed for duties like moving a small trailer around a property and not for mounting ground-engaging implements. If there's something dragging behind the tractor that has the capability of hooking something and stopping it in its tracks, that's asking way too much of that hitch.

Look at even a cheap factory built subsoiler and study the design for a bit.

 

[Polishammer]

Armylifer, yes, it it Norther Tools hitch and you are right, the metal is thin and soft. I never had a problem towing a trailer or using it for smaller duties though, but at this point seeing how it broke, I'm not sure it will withstand its rated capacity.

Chim, you are right, in general the hitches are not designed for ground engaging activities, but seeing that such rippers are commercial available and used by homeowners one would think that an average hitch would last more than one session There is a lot of force on the hitch when the ripper is engaged, no question about it. This particular hitch is rated at 10,000 lb so assuming 10% tongue that's 1000 lb. Not sure if I exceeded it in my case, but based on armylifer experience, he was at a fraction of its rating.

I'm not sure if based on ratings, any other hitch available would be rated more. Of course, not counting construction and material thickness.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Polishammer,
What you did was take half of a systems design and use it.
You need the entire designed system for it to work properly.
It would be like wanting a loader without wanting the mounts.
Or trying to haul a 10'000lb trailer with a Ford Focus!
There is nothing wrong with the design of the hitch you had, but it's designed for down force like a trailer tongue not up force from an implement.

You copied one half (the ripper), now copy the other half (the hitch) and it will work right.

 

[bearskinner]

Shall I show you a picture of my Ford Focus hooked to a 30' Weekend Warrior toy hauler triple axle trailer? I used to park it on the street before a trip, take my Diesel to work, and back the Focus under it with an 8' lift hitch, ( of course no weight on it) When I lived in the city, you couldn't leave an unattended trailer. I would get some crazy looks from the neighbors!

 

[armylifer]

Shall I show you a picture of my Ford Focus hooked to a 30' Weekend Warrior toy hauler triple axle trailer?

Yes, I would love to see that picture.

 

[chim]

................This particular hitch is rated at 10,000 lb so assuming 10% tongue that's 1000 lb. ......................

If it's the one I saw on the Northern site, it says the tongue weight is 8,000 POUNDS! With the material in the picture, I'd have to believe someone misplaced a decimal. It looks too flimsy for that weight.

 

[Polishammer]

Yes, that's the one. I saw that as well. There is no way this thing can handle 8000 LB

Looks like the main frame is made from 1/8" steel that is fairly soft. And at total weight of 42lb, that's preatty light. Heavier duty hitches are constructed from 3/16" or even 1/4" tubing and come at around 70lb +.

Not sure I would trust it to pull 10K lb load, but it works good with my 3K lb trailer.

As to the ripper, based on my experience, I would be cautious with any hitch that has the receiver tube welded below the main frame, especially if there are no gussets, as most of the stress is absorbed by the the welds and not the whole frame.

Not good:

Better:

Of course, 3/16" tubing at minimum, 1/4" would be better.

 

[windzer]

This the one I built this year if it gives you any ideas for yours it's all 1/4 and 5/16 wall 4x4 inch tube

 

[hank2000]

I like what u made. A couple of questions.

1. Where did u get the bars and feet for it at.

2 can't tell but how many hp is ur tractor and does it pull it ok having 3 plows in the ground at the same time. I just have a 30hp L3000. Will mine pull it ok.

May have to build one.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[windzer]

I have a 23 hp bx2370 the shanks are regular 18 inch box blade shanks I got them from agrisupply.com. I can pull all 3 about 8 to 10 inches deep thru our garden last spring in high range I don't recommend that found that out by accident oops lol. I was really suprised in how easy it pulled it the bota's got some power lol

 

[Hassman]

For a deep going ripper like that you may want to incorporate a "fuse bolt" -say the top of the ripper is bolted using a 1/2" bolt and the lower bolt point is a 3/8" bolt -then the 3/8" bolt will shear and the ripper will simply fold up out of the ground if hitting something too solid.

I have a field that used to be an orchard and if I go deeper than 8" I tend to hit tree roots. Before I made up a fuse bolt system I damaged my hitch all the time. I used a 10mm bolt as a fuse bolt and it worked, where you are a 3/8" bolt may be easier to find than metric sizes.