Advice on technique rocky ground w 743

[marko13]

Hey guys, new owner of old 743 here.
I have small sloped lot w lots of semi submerged rocks in generally rocky ground in ozarks near table rock lake. I want to so some smoothing, a little reshaping of contours, remove protruding rocks the mower clips and dress up a natural drainage swale by placing rocks for erosion control.
I have a tooth attachment for my smooth bucket and was planning to kind of skim over and use teeth like a rake to separate and redirect rocks. Also try to dig out any larger rocks as needed. I know a excavator would be better at digging and if they're too big I'll just have to cover with dirt or expose what I can and call it a landscape feature lol.
Any advice or suggestions on technique and do or don't do warnings etc appreciated.

 

[laurencen]

with the tooth bar you still have to pry them out,

 

[mrbb]

if it was me, I think Id be investing in a stump bucket , they will allow you to target one rock at a time and not need as much force and effort as trying to use a whole bucket or one tooth on it!
and or better yet a stiff arm backhoe with a thumb, to both more and dig rocks and stumps
and I'd want the smaller bucket I could get on the hoe
I also maybe try looking at what your area rental shops have implements, maybe can rent and try each before buying

that or break down and just rent a excavator for a day or two and 10 times the work done with that, and then use your skid steer to do things after the rocks are out

 

[Schifference]

I live on a rocky piece of property. Recently I was doing some skid steer work and realized that the best way to get rocks out of the ground was by using my forks. Simply angle them down and pry. It probably even puts less stress on the machine since you get to incorporate leverage. Once you get it out you can easily relocate by simply picking it up with the forks. IMHO much easier than using a bucket.

 

[Geo Man]

Hi @marko13 , lots of great ideas on how to leverage (pardon the pun) your skid steer. However, the best and easiest thing to do IMO on a rocky sloping lot (We live on 15 acres on top of the first ridge line of the Appalachians in Southern central Pennsylvania (oak forest and rock) is to build up. We have done swirls, filling out for a 30 x 40 work shop and are also trying our hand at gabion's for retaining walls seeing's how many rock we have strewn around the lot.

My Avatar photo is of the wifey building a swirl. I also own a JD 410 Backhoe digging rocks and trying to dig into the hill is tough on the machines and even tougher on the patience's. I have included some photo so you can visualize, though now doubt you get the idea.

I drove around the area down in the valley till I found a guys who owned a couple of triaxles, I dropped a message in his mailbox to call if interested and struck up a deal about when he has done at job sites if he brings back a truck load of dirt I'll pay him for it. 10 - 25% the price of getting it from landscaping companies who charge like Bobcat on spare parts. Get cardboard and any composted material such as cow, horse chicken manure and mix that in as well to add bulk and nutrients.

I also posted on Facebook market place free dump site for clean fill.

That's the route we went, hope it gives you some thoughts and ideas.

Cheers

Geo.

 

[reaperman]

Pallet forks work good for this kind of work.

 

[willett]

Pallet forks work good for this kind of work.

i was going to say the same thing

 

[marko13]

hey @geoman, beautiful property! Thanks for the tips.
I'm looking for used forks around here, a grand for something I'll rarely use is pricey for me.
I did manage to dig out a vintage 2" iron clothes pole buried in my yard 2 - 3 ft deep w concrete yesterday so this puppy does work pretty good.
Granted that's in rich black soft dirt w no rocks and the rocky site will be much different LOL

 

[laurencen]

if you have a welder and some old iron you could make a device to slip on the bucket and have a extended tooth to say, use a ratchet strap to hold it in place and pry out the rocks

 

[riftware]

hey @geoman, beautiful property! Thanks for the tips.
I'm looking for used forks around here, a grand for something I'll rarely use is pricey for me.
I did manage to dig out a vintage 2" iron clothes pole buried in my yard 2 - 3 ft deep w concrete yesterday so this puppy does work pretty good.
Granted that's in rich black soft dirt w no rocks and the rocky site will be much different LOL

Its amazing how many things you will wind up using pallet forks for if you have them. They are great for lifting things either from underneath, or from above with straps in addition to pallets of course. I use mine at least as often as I use my bucket

 

[marko13]

if you have a welder and some old iron you could make a device to slip on the bucket and have a extended tooth to say, use a ratchet strap to hold it in place and pry out the rocks

interesting idea, i'm trying to visualize that. like extending a pick point out in front of bucket? like in the sketch the black is section of bucket, red is like angle iron or something and blue is strap holding it onto the bucket???

 

[cdmccul]

Here's how's my bucket came when I bought it used. It is made out of a really old school chrome bumper hitch you'd have found bolted to a 1970s sedan, modified to slip around the edge of the bucket. A bolt just hand tightens into it through the hole. I added the square tubing to it for a quick swap of any towing accessory, or home made single tooth.

But, I also have a set of forks. To those forks I will be adding a yolk to give me some other options. Not ready yet though.

 

[marko13]

Here's how's my bucket came when I bought it used. It is made out of a really old school chrome bumper hitch you'd have found bolted to a 1970s sedan, modified to slip around the edge of the bucket. A bolt just hand tightens into it through the hole. I added the square tubing to it for a quick swap of any towing accessory, or home made single tooth.

But, I also have a set of forks. To those forks I will be adding a yolk to give me some other options. Not ready yet though.

oh cool that gives me more ideas. I have a light duty tow bar taking up space that I was wondering what I would ever do with LOL

 

[mrbb]

that;s why I recommended a stump bucket guys, it has a narrow front end, with teeth you can pick rocks out with and they can be had used at times pretty cheap and not that costly new
and like most tings once you have one you find many more uses for it than just digging stumps as it was made for

 

[laurencen]

interesting idea, i'm trying to visualize that. like extending a pick point out in front of bucket? like in the sketch the black is section of bucket, red is like angle iron or something and blue is strap holding it onto the bucket???

thats the idea, the support that is inside bucket A frame it prevents it moving side to side

 

[cdmccul]

that;s why I recommended a stump bucket guys, it has a narrow front end, with teeth you can pick rocks out with and they can be had used at times pretty cheap and not that costly new
and like most tings once you have one you find many more uses for it than just digging stumps as it was made for

I think it comes down to, for me anyway, is that a little bit of scrap and a welder is cheap. I can buy a lot of welding rod for $700.

Also smaller to store, don't have to take up lots of space. Also lighter, you can move some of the add-ons without using the skidder to do it.

I'm just a city home owner with a two stall driveway.

That said, I did just buy that fork setup. They aren't nearly as robust as the stump bucket. I'm sure I'll end up with a stump bucket after getting my backhoe attachment. (Talk about overkill for a city guy!)

 

[mrbb]

keep in mind that items like stump buckets, sell fast and hold value
some times its worth buying something to make life easier, and then when done with it, just sell it and , you can many times, , all the more so in current crazy prices on everything rising almost daily, get all your money back, and or possibly more! HAHA!

a few yrs back I bought my stiff arm backhoe for 700 and change, and there now like 2 k for same model, some crazy price hikes over last few yrs!
I can sell it for way more than I paid if wanted
But I also see your side to things about welding and making what you want for less out of pocket money, not everyone has the skills or equipment to do this, thus why I didn't mention

Best luck to you