LCA078
Senior Member
I keep making a mess when clearing cedar with my Cat 325B excavator. I have a smooth lip bucket and a hydraulic thumb that does a decent job but I end up scooping too much dirt in order to get the bucket to curl up and get a good grab on the cedar when closed up on the thumb. Probably more operator error then equipment issue but I also want to be able to up clean up leftover roots better so the bucket is definitely not ideal. I can do a lot better with a rake but not sure if a typical 60-70" wide 5-tine rake is what I need. A local fab shop said they'll make anything I'll put on paper (it's a buddy's shop so I'm not expecting to get hosed on pricing too much) so figured I'll try to design a narrow 3-tine rake that meshes within my thumb teeth when closed. This should give me a good bite and be able to rip/pluck the typical Texas hill country brush without disturbing a lot of dirt.
I also started a thread a while back to extend the range of motion with my hydraulic thumb to help give you more background on what my current set up looks like. I plan to fab the progressive link pieces at the same fab shop. https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/threads/extending-range-of-motion-on-hydraulic-thumb.87151/
Attached are my thoughts on what a cedar-plucker rake should look like. Really need help on determining type and thickness of the steel plate. Anyone have suggestions to design it better? Think it'll work (or not)?
I also started a thread a while back to extend the range of motion with my hydraulic thumb to help give you more background on what my current set up looks like. I plan to fab the progressive link pieces at the same fab shop. https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/threads/extending-range-of-motion-on-hydraulic-thumb.87151/
Attached are my thoughts on what a cedar-plucker rake should look like. Really need help on determining type and thickness of the steel plate. Anyone have suggestions to design it better? Think it'll work (or not)?