I’m glad you posted this video. It shows the importance of making sure everyone’s on the same page before starting a job. You’re definitely not alone, things like this happen to everyone
💥 I’m glad that you did publish this. Just goes to show this is real life and mistakes happen. Hopefully someone will learn from your mistake. Keep on tractoring!
This was a tough one to watch. I hate seeing equipment get abused, especially from what I assume is a volunteer job where you're already eating all of the transport, fuel, etc... costs. Now you have to add repair cost to it. Tim and Christy, regardless of how bad things are going (the house issues, the flooded yard, this job, etc...) you always seem to have a good attitude. Thanks for posting this, being transparent and hopefully teaching us a lesson along the way. Your channel is a breath of fresh air and one of my favorites.
Great video guys. Tim, I have a lot of respect for someone who will not only admit to making a mistake but is also willing to show it. I was always told that a person who makes few mistakes makes little progress.
Tim & Christie I’m very glad you published this video. You were able to demonstrate the importance of ensuring complete understanding of the customer’s’ goals.
I have done alot of work for alot of different contractors and alot of them get mad when you ask too many questions. But I don't care because you have to understand exactly what they want you to do or you run in to situations like this. You will be imagining they want one thing and they want something totally different. Excellent video, great for others to learn from.
A clear lesson on why communication is so important. Thank you for this true demonstration. Side question: Did they ever call for a scan on underground utilities?
Just to let you know a single tooth sub-soiler works pretty good for breaking roots in hard ground as long as you have enough tractor to handle it. I think that it would have been a good choice for that job
This shows something we always wrestle with before starting a project, will what we have be the right choice for the job or will the repair costs and time spent be so high that it would be cheaper to just spend the money to rent the right tool. It really was a construction equipment project. Outside of dirt and loose gravel most tractors are just not built for the job, but that doesn't mean you can't get something done if your willing to put in the time pain and effort, but it shows why the rippers on dozers and graders are so heavily built. Great episode, hope you didn't tear up to much that you didn't notice.
I watched this video twice and I believe it's actually crushed concrete!! We used that for a lot of parking lots and/or driveways coz even tho it crushes down to a road gravel type substance, once it's laid down correctly and once it gets rained on or watered down several times, it will get almost as hard & tough as concrete!!! I worked with alot of crushed concrete in my life and I know a trucking company that put that down in their lot, running semis over it daily & it's still standing today!!! They even dolly semi trailers off on it without using cribbing under the dolly stands & the trailers don't fall or work thru it!!! So yes I believe it gets almost as hard as solid concrete!!! Good episode tho Tim as yes it shows real life the capabilities limitations of these attachments!!!
So many thoughts on this video. First, thank you for publishing! This is real world and I feel one of your very best video’s. Second, I like when you try so many tools for the job, you answered the what if’s. Third, your honesty is second to none! Absolutely great! Thank you!!!
I like that you try to do jobs with tool not necessarily the best to use . Y’all doing a great job informing about tractors and attachments. I also like that you show you can have some fun doing your videos. Have a great day.
This is exactly why I have a hydraulic top link. The box blade can be adjusted from the seat front or back depending on how deep or how aggressive you want to dig or whether you’re backing up pushing or forward pulling. You should really try it. You won’t know w how you worked w o one. As far as publishing this video I think it’s great. When we work for others they explain what they want the only way they can. Some folks have an idea of what they want but can’t articulate it well. Sometimes they do just fine but we don’t completely understand what they want. It’s all part of the business.
Tim, Great example of what things can go happen on a job. As a experience operator, you did you best using the box blade in a abusive environment. when I worked a high end landscape company, there was plenty of times my crew had to improvise on the job with pushing my equipment as much without causing to much harm or abuse. That's the reason I like y'all's video's. It's real life experience and nothing is sugar costed or scripted like HGTV. Y'all show what it takes and what all can happen both good and bad. Keep up the good work!
I spent significant time looking at all the tooth bar designs I could find, and decided on the Heavy Hitch. Now that I've used the HH for a few months, I'm glad I chose it! The teeth on the HH, are incredibly useful, for breaking up sod, scarifying hard ground, and digging up rocks and roots. I discovered, that my Titan clamp on pallet forks - clamp on right over the tooth bar. That lets me leave the tooth bar on, all the time. The Heavy Hitch Tooth Bar, is a fantastic tractor upgrade!
Oh wow ! There's a big lesson here about fully communicating exactly what your end goal is and another about completely understanding the needs of the customer. I guess it's important to keep in mind that the customer may not totally understand exactly what they want or the capabilities of the equipment. Thanks for sharing 👍
This is why forum advice also includes renting the proper equipment rather than beating on something that might work. Thanks for choosing to publish this. It’s nice to see what happens without taking a hit to the wallet.
...but we didn’t realize it was so hard. The whole ‘rent it’ thing presumes you know exactly what you need and exactly how long you will need it. I’m not a fan.
Tractor Time with Tim there is the not knowing factor, but given the tools you had available, and the difficulties you immediately found justify a small backhoe. I’m not sure how far you were from home, but at 5 hours I think you could have made the run got the backhoe, and even if it still took 5 hours you wouldn’t have broken anything. Working smarter not harder includes stepping back and changing plans rather then hit it harder. At the point where you were saying this is hard on equipment I would generally stop and reassess unless it was an emergency and then I’ll accept the cost of repairs later.
Tractor Time with Tim By learning these lessons, hopefully it will make people more proactive with thinking what could go wrong ahead of time, so they prevent the issue of needing hindsight to say that was a bad idea.
Tim, you grew up on a farm. Did you ever hear the story about the old bull and the young bull looking down over a field full of cows? The young one runs down to meet one, the old one walks down and meets them all. Who needs asop?
"I wish I didn't have to" Kristie you are funny. I know it must be hard to film Tim working and watching him do the crazy things he does and still keep the camera still and rolling. Good job on getting it done even though it was tougher than you thought. Nice video work as well.
Good video Tim glad you published it too, shows you are human like the rest of us. We make mistakes and learn from them. Plus it shows why my favorite attachment is a box blade they are tough as nails and can do so many things even if they are not really designed for it.
Tim this was painful for you but gave a real world abuse of equipment that more people than will admit to do often. Your a gentle man with respect for equipment. You also have access to many more attachments than the average homeowner. Excellent video altho it may have been by accident.
There’s also a thing that I’ve heard about people doing where they will mix dry concrete with dirt to try to extend the volume... then they get it wet after it’s in place. The result is something tougher than compacted dirt; but not nearly as strong as concrete poured off of a truck.
You're definitely right about using what you have to do the job. I couldn't justify the cost of a sub compact when I bought a new yard tractor, but I wish I had. I had to regrade my yard and build a pad for a storage shed with a John Deere X570 and a 40 inch shovel blade. Plus dug a 4 foot deep hole to remove an old basketball goal. I'll keep watching your videos and thinking how much easier my jobs would be.
Tough to watch you guys go through this. I had a similar gig with my 3 series. Lost 3 out of the 5 teeth on the scafiers. Dry hard pan with lots of rocks. For me, given my same equipment, I wait for rain to soften things up a bit. You handled it with grace. Like always. Mine was also a volunteer gig 150 miles away.
That was a real life situation that we can all sympathize with. I have unfortunately tore up several pieces of equipment over the years attempting to do things that it may not have been designed for. Thanks for posting this one!! God Bless!! The Other Tim With Tractors
FYI- my 2038R loader stand bolt also came free.... Plus, tilt and trim hydraulics help out 110% better use with box blade. good video THANK YOU! Oh I believe the ripper are meant to break or bend so that the main frame does not break.
I have a hard packed parking lot similar to this but with no concrete underneath. I’ve been considering buying a box blade to help bring it back to life, and maintain it, instead of just continuing to put new stone on top and filling the same old potholes. After watching this video, and reading some of the suggestions in the comments, I think the box blade is my best bet. The suggestions about using less scarifies seems to be good advice. Also, the job is for myself so I can take my time which will hopefully be easier on the equipment.
I had a fight with my tractor and a chicken coup today, a standard shift tractor without power steering. She's a great Kubota B8200D, but I really am getting too old for struggling to move a steering wheel to reposition before moving. i'm sure you learned a lot from your adventure and that's what it's all about. at least it didn't cost you more than you can stand to pay. God Bless.
Definitely took the harder path on this job. My first thoughts were backhoe, backhoe with a ripper or a middle Buster. Then when you explained the final goal and what you should have done. I slapped my forehead and said “DOH!!!” That would have been so much easier
I understand your frustration Tim. Maybe you should have asked more questions, but the person heading up the project should have explained everything before starting. Volunteer labor at church can be frustrating, but you alway have to remember you’re working for the Lord and everyone hopefully is doing the best they can. 👍👍👍
Great honest video 👍 Glad to see someone else has damaged there box blade this year. I got mine really good while moving dirt I had the loader bucket over filled while running the box blade on the ground leveling low spots 2 things at once cause I'm lazy lol. I hit a buried maple root and my New Holland grunted for a second but I thought it in 4wd it fine and it pulled free. Life was good until I got done 2 rippers went through the back brace ripping the brace like butter. So now I get to repair that mistake tractor lessons are hard learned and costly sometimes. Thanks for sharing.
Team Stucker Very slow is your friend when using a box blade, because you never know what you will hit. This gives you time to react and let off. Additionally, it allows time for the box blade to distribute the material evenly.
It’s still a good learning experience. Thanks for sharing. I’m about to level a 50’ - 70’ piece of land that’s about like what you’re going through. Thanks again 👍
I admire your dedication to the customer. I probably would have cut my losses and walked from the job, or at least went to the local rental place and rented a machine. I'm a little picky with my equipment.
I'm compleatley confused myself. It broke my heart to see good equipment going through such punishment for no good reason, thanks for showing the video.
Let me be one of the many here to thank you for publishing this video. Were were able to learn a lot about what will and wont work and the importance of communication. And if I break anything trying to do something at home I can always show my wife this video and say see it could have been worse. LOL
This video is teaches some good lessons. That Johnny 2 is a nice looking tractor! BTW, Austin Industries in Dallas TX owned Rhino for many years. In WWII, the Dallas factory was converted to bomb production for the war effort. I used to work for Austin.
Well Tim, I give you a lot of credit for showing your man enough to show when you don't have a clue what the actual end game was. Laugh Tim! It was still a good video guy's!
I learned two things from the video... 1) Know your scope of work 2) Every job is a learning experience. In this case you learned some limitations, (and strengths) of your equipment. My question to you guys is if you’re offered a job like this again with ground like that, would you accept it? If so, I’m guessing you would rent some heavy duty construction equipment.
We would tackle a job like this for the church, sure. I’m talking with a couple of the guys right now. None of us knew that the existing surface was so hard. Once we figured it out, we were committed....perhaps we could have ‘bailed out’, but we likely would have left it in a mess. It doesn’t matter...lots of things in life are less than perfect. No big deal.
May I help with some ideas Tim? I got me a box blade this weekend for 1025r. I have spent most the day using and learning how to use it. I have found much similar to what your working in,hard stuff. That if only drop the scarifiers just one hole and adjust the 3rd link on tractor so that you can adjust the depth of the scarifiers. Tilt the box blade front cutting edge is adjusted out of the way. So the front cutting edge can't touch the ground. Hard to explain. Put negative angle on the box blade!. No cutting. I use the negative angle to grade the drive as well. The blade will smooth and fill in and not cut. It work amazing on leaving drive
It's always nice when you go into a job thinking one thing and it is totally different then what you thought. BTW I could watch ya do that for several hours.really enjoy your videos
Personally, I would not have treated my tractor and equipment the hard. Furthermore, your customer should have made it clear to you what he wanted. Sorry for the negative thought, but having been in the Army Engineers and construction all of my working life I am used to clarifying things up the first time. I commend you for sticking to it and I personally like your videos. Now I can understand your hesitation to post this.LOL
Thanks for putting yourself out there Tim and Christy - no whitewashed videos - real-life situations and misunderstanding as they really happen, warts and all - life is not all puppies and rainbows, and it ain't always pretty - but hopefully all of us watching have learned some valuable lessons in communications - and fortunately not too expensive on the machinery.
Tim. Concrete washout is something contractors get from concrete company. It's where all their trucks wash out at plant. It's dumped in pit with water. Then they have to get rid of it so they give it away. It's wet and has hard pieces in it. I've done this on wet areas. But it's gets hard. Been doing this 40 years. They load in tri axle dump trucks and have to knock down with doses most of the time. EPA has put stop to this. Now has to be run Thur crusher. But that was probably put down some years ago. I've seen motor graders break when they hit patch of this. Not worth tearing up your machine and equipment.
It wasn’t that you didn’t understand the end goal, I think it was more poor explanation of what the end goal was before you showed up for the job. But by sharing this Tim it shows that everyone needs to understand the job before the job is started. We had a job like that at work this summer.
Cledus Snow He said only about 6 inches comes out to make a place for the ties, which immediately made my think of a six inch backhoe bucket, as it would made sense the ties would be buried a little deeper than the surrounding area to hold them in place. Seemed clear from what we heard in the video. Therefore, I was surprised when he started ripping a large area. However, I’m not sure why he wasn’t stopped by the customer when he began to rip the whole place to pieces if that’s not what the customer wanted. Seems like a lack of communication by both parties.
I bet you had a lot of fun cleaning the air filters on the tractors. No need to be reluctant. We all misunderstand sometimes and you've shown lots of tools attempting to get through a hard surface. It is too bad you spent all that time on something that didn't need to be done but oh well. Hopefully there was not too much permanent damage to any equipment. I think you earned a cheeseburger Tim, one for Christy as well.
Tim, the boxscraper can take quite a bit of torture. But the weak point is the scarifier attachment. My WOODS BSS72 has pins holding the scarifiers behind the main beam. Instead of pierced through the main beam. You were fairly gentle and I don't see much damage. Might use the boxscraper WITHOUT the quick hitch for jobs like this.
This is a good video. It shows that mistakes are made in real life. Like my father told me before he left this world. If you want your equipment to stay new leave them in the shed. As a contractor I always know the scope of work and design. This seems like a case of the designer did not explaining the job very well. And you couldn't bring the right equipment. Thanks for sharing. Now we get to see a repair video in the shop
As with life in general, communication is key. Messages are subject to interpretation. While the project sounded simple, sometimes a drawing can make the vision better understood.
I don't know about box blades but when we rip hard ground with a Cat we only use one or two ripper teeth to match the Cat to the load. Maybe try half the ripper teeth down?
Tractor Time With Tim : Have you ever looked at the "Gravel Rascal" by ABI equipment? I think it would have mulched up that surface in a few passes. The tool itself is crazy strong, might be made out of the same material as Thor's hammer. The scarifiers depth is controlled by wheels and you can also adjust the angle/pitch to provide additional down force on the tool, it's like having an extra 1000#'s on the tool. Looks like a tough job though! Surprised that the power rake didn't cut right through that.
@@mymorristribe Agreed! That is 3X the cost of any other implement that I own. It definitely does a good job though and I can use my 4-Wheeler or 3-Point tractor. It pretty much pulled my quad apart, so tractor works much better 🤣
Well , I what I dug up with my box blade last week looks EXACTLY like what you dug up. I know that mine was where a concrete truck had washed out after a pour. Maybe that's what happened in your case. Mine came up the same as yours, hook the edge, raise the box blade bust a chunk off and start over again.
At least you showed everyone that your human and make mistakes along with the rest of us. I would say that that is what we call soil cement. Its cement mixed with base rock spread out and rolled down and allowed to cure just like concrete. Here in kansas they use it under the concrete hiways for the base. You did good anyway Im proud of ya!!!
You sure are right about the Auto Throttle on Johnny2. I think a video with some guidelines and examples of when to USE and NOT use Auto Throttle. I've seen countless videos of folks putting around at or near idle doing loader and dirt work when they probably would have been better served to just set the throttle around half and let it there. About the only good use I've seen for the Auto Throttle is when plowing snow. It gives higher RPMs when you are pushing the snow pile and then idles back down when you stop.
I have found everybody thinks they know what they want. In a lot of cases they don't know as much as they think they do. You have to play 20 questions with them, until you find out.
Sometimes writing things down and discussing it with everyone involved helps to clarify what the real purpose is for the project. I've worked on projects where the ultimate goal was not understood by those involved in completing the project. If not clarified right away, you waste time and money chasing in different directions. Write things down, clarify the ultimate purpose, then lay out the project in bite size bits with the purpose for each bite. This will help get you to the final goal of a completed project. Doing it this way may seem "wasteful" but it will reduce the amount of work to be redone. It also ensures everyone knows what is planned and when it is planned to be done. Very helpful if it takes more than one day to complete the project.
Those scarifiers are around 40 dollars a piece at Rural King I break them often on my king kutter box blade when I use it on my 50 horse Kubota with wheel weights normally on chunks of concrete. Once I got a spot where they cleaned out to chute on cement truck and it got covered over by gravel and ripped it up and broke two of them. But as you said the box blade still looks good.
LOL. I worked with that guy Lazy, funny how he worked when the boss was around. Seems he showed up at many places. Maybe just have two or three of the box blade teeth down when ripping? I guess he should have been more clear what they wanted. We all learn ( hopefully ) from our own mistakes. Maybe get a ripper tooth that goes in place of the bucket or the 1025R backhoe, then you could rip up small areas like you needed here just to place the RRTies 1/2 way below grade?
Hard to tell in the video but after you got a small section out were you working away from it or into it? Working away from the open section you were fighting the entire mass, working into it in small sections would be less resistance I would think. Am I missing something about my way of thinking?
Wow, that was hard to watch, I cant even imagine being there. That being said you stuck with it and got the job done, if it weren't for the hard jobs you wouldn't appreciate the easy ones. I'm not sure I understand the point of putting the ties in if just filling with slag, but no one called me for my opinion. Glad you did publish simply because it shows that I'm not the only one who gets into those types of situations. Thanks
I like that you did publish. This is also an all to common problem, not fully understanding the end result of a project. We see this all to often around us. I would have questioned why they were switching to crossties for pouring concrete, they used standard form boards previously. But, in all honesty you should have brought Casey2 to the party. It could have dug out the concrete with relative ease.
I've got a question couldn't you reverse the hydraulic cylinders around on the front bucket and be able to push with the bucket because the hydraulic cylinder would be inside the cylinder?
thanks for sharing this video, if they would have used a sprinkler on the dirt the night before that would have softened that ground up made it a little more workable, I break shanks off all the time hitting big rocks
I have a L2900 Kubota with 6 foot box scraper. I have pulled 4 of 5 scarifiers thru cross brace but scarifiers didn't break. I was building a house and attempting to level some areas and hit roots n rocks. I am surprised the scarifiers broke in half on this unit and more damage wasn't done to rest of scraper, prefer that versus my failure of cross tube/support brace. Wondering if there is any way to hit roots/rocks and not damage something? As they say something has to give :). Better a scarifier than the support or worse yet tearing up 3 point hitch links/tractor. Also the material looks like crushed limestone.
Tim, I understand that you didn't really need to bust that up, but if you ever need to get through something like that again, try a sub-soiler. It's single shank is heavy and will penetrate the hard pan. Don't confuse this with a "middle buster" as it has a wide plow foot on it for getting between crop rows. Think of a sub soiler as a single scarifier on steroids. Caution: Sub soilers are VERY good at finding buried water and electrical lines. Don't ask me how I know. 8-)
Sorry Tim, I didn't see your sub soiler video from 2017. I still think the subsoiler would have broken through the hard pan for you easier than the scarifiers or grapple teeth.
Hey Tim.. Love your videos.. My question is tire pressure.. My JD2025R calls for 40lbs pressure in rear tires...I been running them at 30lbs... but still looks like not getting good use if all the tread traction.. only center of tread shows dirt on tread. I do run a 5ft Bush hog and a 6ft box blade regular.. handles then great.. Thank you and value your input, and opinion
Maybe laying a soaker hose to melt the hard pack from parking on it for a long time. All to often the design is in someone's head but can't get out in words that others understand. I put mine in LOW and 4-Wdrive and just drive into the stack of rock and I fill the bucket. No jerk action that might fly back and break something. Now you know what West Texas farmers run into - native and natural limestone rock and deep hard dirt. Special equipment is needed for work like that.
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I’m glad you posted this video. It shows the importance of making sure everyone’s on the same page before starting a job. You’re definitely not alone, things like this happen to everyone
I'm with some of the other guys. I'm glad you posted because now we know what it takes to dig through that 304 if that's what it will is or the 411
💥 I’m glad that you did publish this. Just goes to show this is real life and mistakes happen. Hopefully someone will learn from your mistake.
Keep on tractoring!
This was a tough one to watch. I hate seeing equipment get abused, especially from what I assume is a volunteer job where you're already eating all of the transport, fuel, etc... costs. Now you have to add repair cost to it.
Tim and Christy, regardless of how bad things are going (the house issues, the flooded yard, this job, etc...) you always seem to have a good attitude. Thanks for posting this, being transparent and hopefully teaching us a lesson along the way. Your channel is a breath of fresh air and one of my favorites.
Thanks Gary.
Great video guys. Tim, I have a lot of respect for someone who will not only admit to making a mistake but is also willing to show it. I was always told that a person who makes few mistakes makes little progress.
Mistakes happen. Communication is key. This was almost painful to watch but a lesson for us all. Thanks for having the guts to upload. 👍🏻
Tim & Christie I’m very glad you published this video. You were able to demonstrate the importance of ensuring complete understanding of the customer’s’ goals.
I have done alot of work for alot of different contractors and alot of them get mad when you ask too many questions. But I don't care because you have to understand exactly what they want you to do or you run in to situations like this. You will be imagining they want one thing and they want something totally different. Excellent video, great for others to learn from.
Edward Cullen Exactly, poor communication by both parties.
A clear lesson on why communication is so important. Thank you for this true demonstration.
Side question: Did they ever call for a scan on underground utilities?
Just to let you know a single tooth sub-soiler works pretty good for breaking roots in hard ground as long as you have enough tractor to handle it. I think that it would have been a good choice for that job
This shows something we always wrestle with before starting a project, will what we have be the right choice for the job or will the repair costs and time spent be so high that it would be cheaper to just spend the money to rent the right tool. It really was a construction equipment project. Outside of dirt and loose gravel most tractors are just not built for the job, but that doesn't mean you can't get something done if your willing to put in the time pain and effort, but it shows why the rippers on dozers and graders are so heavily built. Great episode, hope you didn't tear up to much that you didn't notice.
I watched this video twice and I believe it's actually crushed concrete!! We used that for a lot of parking lots and/or driveways coz even tho it crushes down to a road gravel type substance, once it's laid down correctly and once it gets rained on or watered down several times, it will get almost as hard & tough as concrete!!! I worked with alot of crushed concrete in my life and I know a trucking company that put that down in their lot, running semis over it daily & it's still standing today!!! They even dolly semi trailers off on it without using cribbing under the dolly stands & the trailers don't fall or work thru it!!! So yes I believe it gets almost as hard as solid concrete!!!
Good episode tho Tim as yes it shows real life the capabilities limitations of these attachments!!!
You may be right. Thanks for the kind words.
Love the honest, real video's. Thanks, TTWT for all you guys do.
So many thoughts on this video. First, thank you for publishing! This is real world and I feel one of your very best video’s. Second, I like when you try so many tools for the job, you answered the what if’s. Third, your honesty is second to none! Absolutely great! Thank you!!!
Thanks for having the courage to post this video. This is how real world scenarios play out when you have to do the best you can with what you have.
I like that you try to do jobs with tool not necessarily the best to use . Y’all doing a great job informing about tractors and attachments. I also like that you show you can have some fun doing your videos. Have a great day.
This is exactly why I have a hydraulic top link. The box blade can be adjusted from the seat front or back depending on how deep or how aggressive you want to dig or whether you’re backing up pushing or forward pulling.
You should really try it. You won’t know w how you worked w o one.
As far as publishing this video I think it’s great. When we work for others they explain what they want the only way they can. Some folks have an idea of what they want but can’t articulate it well.
Sometimes they do just fine but we don’t completely understand what they want. It’s all part of the business.
Tim,
Great example of what things can go happen on a job. As a experience operator, you did you best using the box blade in a abusive environment.
when I worked a high end landscape company, there was plenty of times my crew had to improvise on the job with pushing my equipment as much without causing to much harm or abuse. That's the reason I like y'all's video's. It's real life experience and nothing is sugar costed or scripted like HGTV. Y'all show what it takes and what all can happen both good and bad. Keep up the good work!
My goodness, this was hard to watch. You really know how to test the limits of your equipment!
Yea, this was pretty rough. Not only on the blade, but the rear tires on that tractor took a beating/
I spent significant time looking at all the tooth bar designs I could find, and decided on the Heavy Hitch. Now that I've used the HH for a few months, I'm glad I chose it!
The teeth on the HH, are incredibly useful, for breaking up sod, scarifying hard ground, and digging up rocks and roots. I discovered, that my Titan clamp on pallet forks - clamp on right over the tooth bar. That lets me leave the tooth bar on, all the time. The Heavy Hitch Tooth Bar, is a fantastic tractor upgrade!
Oh wow ! There's a big lesson here about fully communicating exactly what your end goal is and another about completely understanding the needs of the customer. I guess it's important to keep in mind that the customer may not totally understand exactly what they want or the capabilities of the equipment.
Thanks for sharing 👍
we done that with the 400hp case it 24foot hla snow wing blade
This is why forum advice also includes renting the proper equipment rather than beating on something that might work.
Thanks for choosing to publish this. It’s nice to see what happens without taking a hit to the wallet.
...but we didn’t realize it was so hard. The whole ‘rent it’ thing presumes you know exactly what you need and exactly how long you will need it. I’m not a fan.
Tractor Time with Tim there is the not knowing factor, but given the tools you had available, and the difficulties you immediately found justify a small backhoe.
I’m not sure how far you were from home, but at 5 hours I think you could have made the run got the backhoe, and even if it still took 5 hours you wouldn’t have broken anything. Working smarter not harder includes stepping back and changing plans rather then hit it harder. At the point where you were saying this is hard on equipment I would generally stop and reassess unless it was an emergency and then I’ll accept the cost of repairs later.
Yep. Hence the reason I hesitated posting. Hindsight makes it easy.
Tractor Time with Tim By learning these lessons, hopefully it will make people more proactive with thinking what could go wrong ahead of time, so they prevent the issue of needing hindsight to say that was a bad idea.
Tim, you grew up on a farm. Did you ever hear the story about the old bull and the young bull looking down over a field full of cows? The young one runs down to meet one, the old one walks down and meets them all.
Who needs asop?
Thanks for publishing this- lots of lessons learned as usual.
Good call on posting the video Tim. Lessons learned for all of us watching
Glad you published it guys.
Not all jobs are fun.
Nice to see you using a box blade finely.
A hydraulic top and side tilt will benefit a lot.
"I wish I didn't have to" Kristie you are funny. I know it must be hard to film Tim working and watching him do the crazy things he does and still keep the camera still and rolling. Good job on getting it done even though it was tougher than you thought. Nice video work as well.
Good video Tim glad you published it too, shows you are human like the rest of us. We make mistakes and learn from them. Plus it shows why my favorite attachment is a box blade they are tough as nails and can do so many things even if they are not really designed for it.
Tim this was painful for you but gave a real world abuse of equipment that more people than will admit to do often. Your a gentle man with respect for equipment. You also have access to many more attachments than the average homeowner. Excellent video altho it may have been by accident.
There’s also a thing that I’ve heard about people doing where they will mix dry concrete with dirt to try to extend the volume... then they get it wet after it’s in place. The result is something tougher than compacted dirt; but not nearly as strong as concrete poured off of a truck.
You're definitely right about using what you have to do the job. I couldn't justify the cost of a sub compact when I bought a new yard tractor, but I wish I had. I had to regrade my yard and build a pad for a storage shed with a John Deere X570 and a 40 inch shovel blade. Plus dug a 4 foot deep hole to remove an old basketball goal. I'll keep watching your videos and thinking how much easier my jobs would be.
Tough to watch you guys go through this. I had a similar gig with my 3 series. Lost 3 out of the 5 teeth on the scafiers. Dry hard pan with lots of rocks. For me, given my same equipment, I wait for rain to soften things up a bit. You handled it with grace. Like always. Mine was also a volunteer gig 150 miles away.
That was a real life situation that we can all sympathize with. I have unfortunately tore up several pieces of equipment over the years attempting to do things that it may not have been designed for. Thanks for posting this one!!
God Bless!!
The Other Tim With Tractors
Thanks for posting, we learn from everything!
When in doubt, publish the video!! It’s good to see all situations, even when they can be frustrating.
FYI- my 2038R loader stand bolt also came free.... Plus, tilt and trim hydraulics help out 110% better use with box blade. good video THANK YOU! Oh I believe the ripper are meant to break or bend so that the main frame does not break.
I have a hard packed parking lot similar to this but with no concrete underneath. I’ve been considering buying a box blade to help bring it back to life, and maintain it, instead of just continuing to put new stone on top and filling the same old potholes. After watching this video, and reading some of the suggestions in the comments, I think the box blade is my best bet. The suggestions about using less scarifies seems to be good advice. Also, the job is for myself so I can take my time which will hopefully be easier on the equipment.
As long as not concrete, you will be fine.
Less scarifiers is fine as long as your blade is strong enough to handle it. Mine would not have been
Seems like you have learned a valuable lesson!! Great video and shows your only human!!
I had a fight with my tractor and a chicken coup today, a standard shift tractor without power steering. She's a great Kubota B8200D, but I really am getting too old for struggling to move a steering wheel to reposition before moving. i'm sure you learned a lot from your adventure and that's what it's all about. at least it didn't cost you more than you can stand to pay. God Bless.
Definitely took the harder path on this job. My first thoughts were backhoe, backhoe with a ripper or a middle Buster.
Then when you explained the final goal and what you should have done. I slapped my forehead and said “DOH!!!” That would have been so much easier
communication break down will get you every time
I understand your frustration Tim. Maybe you should have asked more questions, but the person heading up the project should have explained everything before starting. Volunteer labor at church can be frustrating, but you alway have to remember you’re working for the Lord and everyone hopefully is doing the best they can. 👍👍👍
Great honest video 👍 Glad to see someone else has damaged there box blade this year. I got mine really good while moving dirt I had the loader bucket over filled while running the box blade on the ground leveling low spots 2 things at once cause I'm lazy lol. I hit a buried maple root and my New Holland grunted for a second but I thought it in 4wd it fine and it pulled free. Life was good until I got done 2 rippers went through the back brace ripping the brace like butter. So now I get to repair that mistake tractor lessons are hard learned and costly sometimes. Thanks for sharing.
Team Stucker Very slow is your friend when using a box blade, because you never know what you will hit. This gives you time to react and let off. Additionally, it allows time for the box blade to distribute the material evenly.
It’s still a good learning experience. Thanks for sharing.
I’m about to level a 50’ - 70’ piece of land that’s about like what you’re going through.
Thanks again 👍
I admire your dedication to the customer. I probably would have cut my losses and walked from the job, or at least went to the local rental place and rented a machine. I'm a little picky with my equipment.
Volunteer work for our church.
Gotta give u credit Tim great job.. I woulda felt that ground with my box blade and I woulda said bye bye 👋 to the guy !!
I'm compleatley confused myself. It broke my heart to see good equipment going through such punishment for no good reason, thanks for showing the video.
Let me be one of the many here to thank you for publishing this video. Were were able to learn a lot about what will and wont work and the importance of communication. And if I break anything trying to do something at home I can always show my wife this video and say see it could have been worse. LOL
Watching you struggle to break through that crust reminds me of what its like to deal with compacted red clay here in NC.
This video is teaches some good lessons. That Johnny 2 is a nice looking tractor! BTW, Austin Industries in Dallas TX owned Rhino for many years. In WWII, the Dallas factory was converted to bomb production for the war effort. I used to work for Austin.
Well Tim, I give you a lot of credit for showing your man enough to show when you don't have a clue what the actual end game was. Laugh Tim! It was still a good video guy's!
Man, that was some chunks of concrete brother! Love the ventrac! Can’t believe your broke one man, warranty time LOL
Felt bably for you and machinery. But you did"my guit on it. Way to go😁
Hehehe..... Good to see I'm not the only one to screw up occasionally.. Great video Tim. Keep up the good work.
I learned two things from the video...
1) Know your scope of work
2) Every job is a learning experience. In this case you learned some limitations, (and strengths) of your equipment.
My question to you guys is if you’re offered a job like this again with ground like that, would you accept it? If so, I’m guessing you would rent some heavy duty construction equipment.
We would tackle a job like this for the church, sure.
I’m talking with a couple of the guys right now. None of us knew that the existing surface was so hard. Once we figured it out, we were committed....perhaps we could have ‘bailed out’, but we likely would have left it in a mess.
It doesn’t matter...lots of things in life are less than perfect. No big deal.
Good video Tim that concrete was some hard stuff
Tim Christi what a job you persevered I would have quit but now we know what the equipment can do a d more
Thank You
God Bless All
PaK
May I help with some ideas Tim? I got me a box blade this weekend for 1025r. I have spent most the day using and learning how to use it. I have found much similar to what your working in,hard stuff. That if only drop the scarifiers just one hole and adjust the 3rd link on tractor so that you can adjust the depth of the scarifiers. Tilt the box blade front cutting edge is adjusted out of the way. So the front cutting edge can't touch the ground. Hard to explain. Put negative angle on the box blade!. No cutting. I use the negative angle to grade the drive as well. The blade will smooth and fill in and not cut. It work amazing on leaving drive
It's always nice when you go into a job thinking one thing and it is totally different then what you thought. BTW I could watch ya do that for several hours.really enjoy your videos
Personally, I would not have treated my tractor and equipment the hard. Furthermore, your customer should have made it clear to you what he wanted. Sorry for the negative thought, but having been in the Army Engineers and construction all of my working life I am used to clarifying things up the first time. I commend you for sticking to it and I personally like your videos. Now I can understand your hesitation to post this.LOL
Well, we are all volunteers at our church. Many times none of us know exactly what we want or need.
@@TractorTimewithTim I get it, Church + help+ God
Thanks for putting yourself out there Tim and Christy - no whitewashed videos - real-life situations and misunderstanding as they really happen, warts and all - life is not all puppies and rainbows, and it ain't always pretty - but hopefully all of us watching have learned some valuable lessons in communications - and fortunately not too expensive on the machinery.
Tim. Concrete washout is something contractors get from concrete company. It's where all their trucks wash out at plant. It's dumped in pit with water. Then they have to get rid of it so they give it away. It's wet and has hard pieces in it. I've done this on wet areas. But it's gets hard. Been doing this 40 years. They load in tri axle dump trucks and have to knock down with doses most of the time. EPA has put stop to this. Now has to be run Thur crusher. But that was probably put down some years ago. I've seen motor graders break when they hit patch of this. Not worth tearing up your machine and equipment.
You may be right. Who knows. Done now.
It wasn’t that you didn’t understand the end goal, I think it was more poor explanation of what the end goal was before you showed up for the job.
But by sharing this Tim it shows that everyone needs to understand the job before the job is started. We had a job like that at work this summer.
Cledus Snow He said only about 6 inches comes out to make a place for the ties, which immediately made my think of a six inch backhoe bucket, as it would made sense the ties would be buried a little deeper than the surrounding area to hold them in place. Seemed clear from what we heard in the video. Therefore, I was surprised when he started ripping a large area. However, I’m not sure why he wasn’t stopped by the customer when he began to rip the whole place to pieces if that’s not what the customer wanted. Seems like a lack of communication by both parties.
I bet you had a lot of fun cleaning the air filters on the tractors.
No need to be reluctant. We all misunderstand sometimes and you've shown lots of tools attempting to get through a hard surface. It is too bad you spent all that time on something that didn't need to be done but oh well. Hopefully there was not too much permanent damage to any equipment.
I think you earned a cheeseburger Tim, one for Christy as well.
Tim, the boxscraper can take quite a bit of torture. But the weak point is the scarifier attachment. My WOODS BSS72 has pins holding the scarifiers behind the main beam. Instead of pierced through the main beam. You were fairly gentle and I don't see much damage. Might use the boxscraper WITHOUT the quick hitch for jobs like this.
Never thought I’d hear you say that a box blade was the right tool for the job!!
This is a good video. It shows that mistakes are made in real life. Like my father told me before he left this world. If you want your equipment to stay new leave them in the shed. As a contractor I always know the scope of work and design. This seems like a case of the designer did not explaining the job very well. And you couldn't bring the right equipment. Thanks for sharing. Now we get to see a repair video in the shop
I'm glad the tiller is still AT HOME.
Tim those land pride box blades are tough do not worry about tearing it up
I enjoyed your video today! Thank you 😊
As with life in general, communication is key. Messages are subject to interpretation. While the project sounded simple, sometimes a drawing can make the vision better understood.
I don't know about box blades but when we rip hard ground with a Cat we only use one or two ripper teeth to match the Cat to the load. Maybe try half the ripper teeth down?
B Laquisha Correct, or not go as deep on each pull with all the teeth down and angle the box so it’s not trying to dig so aggressively.
I was about to say the same thing.
Less scarifiers down would only concentrate the force even further. Yes, would improve the ability to dig, but would destroy the blade even quicker.
Tractor Time With Tim : Have you ever looked at the "Gravel Rascal" by ABI equipment? I think it would have mulched up that surface in a few passes. The tool itself is crazy strong, might be made out of the same material as Thor's hammer. The scarifiers depth is controlled by wheels and you can also adjust the angle/pitch to provide additional down force on the tool, it's like having an extra 1000#'s on the tool. Looks like a tough job though! Surprised that the power rake didn't cut right through that.
It sure is pricy though.
@@mymorristribe Agreed! That is 3X the cost of any other implement that I own. It definitely does a good job though and I can use my 4-Wheeler or 3-Point tractor. It pretty much pulled my quad apart, so tractor works much better 🤣
Well, thanks for pointing it out. I've been reading up on it now. It does seem to be a better solution than many others out there.
Well , I what I dug up with my box blade last week looks EXACTLY like what you dug up. I know that mine was where a concrete truck had washed out after a pour. Maybe that's what happened in your case. Mine came up the same as yours, hook the edge, raise the box blade bust a chunk off and start over again.
At least you showed everyone that your human and make mistakes along with the rest of us. I would say that that is what we call soil cement. Its cement mixed with base rock spread out and rolled down and allowed to cure just like concrete. Here in kansas they use it under the concrete hiways for the base. You did good anyway Im proud of ya!!!
You sure are right about the Auto Throttle on Johnny2. I think a video with some guidelines and examples of when to USE and NOT use Auto Throttle. I've seen countless videos of folks putting around at or near idle doing loader and dirt work when they probably would have been better served to just set the throttle around half and let it there. About the only good use I've seen for the Auto Throttle is when plowing snow. It gives higher RPMs when you are pushing the snow pile and then idles back down when you stop.
I have found everybody thinks they know what they want.
In a lot of cases they don't know as much as they think they do. You have to play 20 questions with them, until you find out.
I'm a contractor and and couldn't agree with you enough.
Sometimes writing things down and discussing it with everyone involved helps to clarify what the real purpose is for the project. I've worked on projects where the ultimate goal was not understood by those involved in completing the project. If not clarified right away, you waste time and money chasing in different directions. Write things down, clarify the ultimate purpose, then lay out the project in bite size bits with the purpose for each bite. This will help get you to the final goal of a completed project. Doing it this way may seem "wasteful" but it will reduce the amount of work to be redone. It also ensures everyone knows what is planned and when it is planned to be done. Very helpful if it takes more than one day to complete the project.
Those scarifiers are around 40 dollars a piece at Rural King I break them often on my king kutter box blade when I use it on my 50 horse Kubota with wheel weights normally on chunks of concrete. Once I got a spot where they cleaned out to chute on cement truck and it got covered over by gravel and ripped it up and broke two of them. But as you said the box blade still looks good.
Great video 👌🏻👍🏻
LOL. I worked with that guy Lazy, funny how he worked when the boss was around. Seems he showed up at many places.
Maybe just have two or three of the box blade teeth down when ripping?
I guess he should have been more clear what they wanted. We all learn ( hopefully ) from our own mistakes.
Maybe get a ripper tooth that goes in place of the bucket or the 1025R backhoe, then you could rip up small areas like you needed here just to place the RRTies 1/2 way below grade?
You needed Casey!
This teaches what not to use your box blade for what it can take and not.maybe they need to have one to use in all things.
i do not know for sure but i think tufline would be proud to see it at its limits
We’ll soon find out!!!
Communication is key bro. But nevertheless, I've learned a lot watching this video.
Hard to tell in the video but after you got a small section out were you working away from it or into it? Working away from the open section you were fighting the entire mass, working into it in small sections would be less resistance I would think. Am I missing something about my way of thinking?
I think it is a great idea for using those attachments
That's some tough conditions to work in!!
Tim, you need a hydraulic top link! Makes a HUGE difference on that box blade!
Grapple definitely looks like an Everything Attachments design
Wow, that was hard to watch, I cant even imagine being there. That being said you stuck with it and got the job done, if it weren't for the hard jobs you wouldn't appreciate the easy ones. I'm not sure I understand the point of putting the ties in if just filling with slag, but no one called me for my opinion. Glad you did publish simply because it shows that I'm not the only one who gets into those types of situations. Thanks
It looked to me like designated parking spaces.
Your making us ventrac owners look bad Tim, when that stump grinder fell off.
Nah! You can show folks how I’m the only one stupid enough to do that!
This was like watching the dark side of tractor work. I hope Vinny and Johnny II got a good rub down after this job.
I like that you did publish. This is also an all to common problem, not fully understanding the end result of a project. We see this all to often around us. I would have questioned why they were switching to crossties for pouring concrete, they used standard form boards previously. But, in all honesty you should have brought Casey2 to the party. It could have dug out the concrete with relative ease.
Casey is gone for the moment. Went away to a trade show, and seems to be enjoying the fame! Not sure when he will be back!
I've got a question couldn't you reverse the hydraulic cylinders around on the front bucket and be able to push with the bucket because the hydraulic cylinder would be inside the cylinder?
thanks for sharing this video, if they would have used a sprinkler on the dirt the night before that would have softened that ground up made it a little more workable, I break shanks off all the time hitting big rocks
I have a L2900 Kubota with 6 foot box scraper. I have pulled 4 of 5 scarifiers thru cross brace but scarifiers didn't break. I was building a house and attempting to level some areas and hit roots n rocks. I am surprised the scarifiers broke in half on this unit and more damage wasn't done to rest of scraper, prefer that versus my failure of cross tube/support brace. Wondering if there is any way to hit roots/rocks and not damage something? As they say something has to give :). Better a scarifier than the support or worse yet tearing up 3 point hitch links/tractor. Also the material looks like crushed limestone.
I agree I use what I have and abuse what I must they make replacement parts and I have a wielder nice video
Tim, I understand that you didn't really need to bust that up, but if you ever need to get through something like that again, try a sub-soiler. It's single shank is heavy and will penetrate the hard pan. Don't confuse this with a "middle buster" as it has a wide plow foot on it for getting between crop rows. Think of a sub soiler as a single scarifier on steroids.
Caution: Sub soilers are VERY good at finding buried water and electrical lines. Don't ask me how I know. 8-)
Sorry Tim, I didn't see your sub soiler video from 2017. I still think the subsoiler would have broken through the hard pan for you easier than the scarifiers or grapple teeth.
i hope no one else from GTT saw this episode :P...because there would be a big discussion already.. ^^
Hey Tim..
Love your videos..
My question is tire pressure..
My JD2025R calls for 40lbs pressure in rear tires...I been running them at 30lbs... but still looks like not getting good use if all the tread traction.. only center of tread shows dirt on tread.
I do run a 5ft Bush hog and a 6ft box blade regular.. handles then great..
Thank you and value your input, and opinion
Wow, 40lb!!!! Even 30lb sounds way too high. I’ll look into it.
Thank you so much.
BLOOPER REEL!
Maybe laying a soaker hose to melt the hard pack from parking on it for a long time. All to often the design is in someone's head but can't get out in words that others understand. I put mine in LOW and 4-Wdrive and just drive into the stack of rock and I fill the bucket. No jerk action that might fly back and break something. Now you know what West Texas farmers run into - native and natural limestone rock and deep hard dirt. Special equipment is needed for work like that.
Tim, you really need to get a “Top & Tilt” kit for your tractor