Bobcat Soil Conditioner

[Equip Junkie]

Not sure if anyone is on the fence about these, but I cant say enough about mine. I use it all the time, from picking out rocks, to grooming an MX track to top soil prep before seed or sod. Awesome attachment, here are some before and after shots. I used the dozer blade to break up the big piles first, but the rest was done with the soil conditioner.

 

[CRAFT]

I've wanted one of these for a very very long time !!! …… but the Bcat brand built model, and the fully hydraulically controlled model hi-flow 8' One ….. I've been studying all diff brand types and models, but None of them have exactly what I am looking for.

A buddy of mine built one that was modelled after a huge drag behind PTO driven type from at least a 100+ hp farm tractor …… he built it to mount on the quik-attach and driven with a hyd motor ….only he did not have all the bells and whistles like my Bcat to control power beyond with the Joy-stick buttons. So he built it with a much larger 12"diam drum and it has teeth that are 3" tall off of that … he only built it with 5' wide drum due to the lack of hyd power of his 1845 @ 16gpm and only 80% of the 54hp engine hp (which is the common hyd hp factor used) …. I've used his on my machine and also demo'd the 8' Bcat soil conditioner ….. the Bcat was awesome to use BUT it had a tendency to bounce over the larger rocks due to the way shorter teeth …. on the other hand my buddies one would pull out rocks up to 12" and condition the soil all in one pass (roots and rotten old stumps are also not a problem) ….. being too narrow for my Bcat is what got me shopping and thinking about what my wants were …. LOL

I've been building one for a couple of years now and its drum is 8' wide, 12" diam and am using 3/4" thick x 3"x 4-1/2" tall Hardox 550 Teeth (148 of them strategically placed) …. I modelled mine mostly after the Bcat version, including the articulating front axle & using bigger front caster wheels …. I am using from Bcat the hi-flow full function hyd manifold and wiring harness to plug'n/play with my 7-pin boom plug and will add a second 6-way splitter manifold to choose between 2 of the normal functions, What I added was being able to tilt the head left and right to compensate for twisting terrain as you would be driving in a straight line (the OEM manifold was short one 2-way function to do this) but not a problem to add the extra and will just choose to either operate the left/right angling for wind-rowing the debris and set it there and switch to the left/right head oscillation function at the touch of a switch, when reversing direction of travel switch it back, change angle and re-activate the oscillation mode ……… The only thing that I couldn't justify was to direct couple the hyd motor to the drum, I chose to chain drive it allowing me to change the drive sprockets and fine tune the RPM's perfectly …… It's a work in progress …. once I get it finished i'll make an attempt to post pics of it totally finished …. maybe by next spring … LOL ….

Cheers for now !!!

 

[Equip Junkie]

Way to go CRAFT. I have the 8' high flow Bobcat model. I agree with wishing you could articulate 6-way. Would help for making swales for sure. If I don't have my 6-way dozer blade with me, then you have to come at the slope from a different angle. It definitely works a little better if the soil is not very hard/ compacted. I cant believe how strong the teeth are. I need to replace 2 right now and I would guess at well over 100 hours on it total. Sounds like you have a beast of a machine in the works.

 

[CRAFT]

………... I agree with wishing you could articulate 6-way…………. It definitely works a little better if the soil is not very hard/ compacted ……….. I cant believe how strong the teeth are………………. Sounds like you have a beast of a machine in the works.

Equip Junkie …… Thank-you and Yes I'm hoping it will be the Beast Attachment i've been wanting it to be, but in the same breath very Tameable to do the Fine Finesse work for the final finish with the least amount (if any ?) Hand work …..Again i've probably put in a few hundred hrs of thought into this ….. But being that my Buddy's works so well even on his smaller Case 1845 I'm pretty confident that this will work that much more efficient …..
The Teeth ??? ….thats another reason we've gone with the way more aggressive teeth and pattern …. in our area the ground even if it's not littered with embedded rock can be super hard and the other brands don't cut through in the first pass (not efficient !) they just glide over top, the ones I demo'd also broke the buttons (teeth) off, the Carbide is tough but also brittle so with the consistent pounding they break …. I also prepped the Drum the way I built it, to add it full of liquid (I'm going to use old motor oil, NOT Water, that way it can stay in there and not freeze or worse rust eventually thru from the inside) … that will also reduce the high pitched clingy sound of the drum and give it less bounce keeping the teeth ground engaged for a smoother finish ……. My buddy has been called upon to grade gravel, pot-holed, rutted-up driveways and has had huge success …. you mentioned swales ! …. True and also for creating a crown on a road or driveway ….. I also have a 6' Allied Skid-Pac ….. the 2 of these attachments will work hand-in-hand for jobs like that ….

Again, it's a work in progress should have it done this winter …… Cheers !

 

[TriHonu]

Craft, are you building a small version of this



Or more along the lines of Soil Preparer with a Tilt-Tach? I have a Soil Preparer and a Tilt-Tach but never purchased a selector valve so I run them together.

 

[CRAFT]

Craft, are you building a small version of this

View attachment 124820

Or more along the lines of Soil Preparer with a Tilt-Tach? I have a Soil Preparer and a Tilt-Tach but never purchased a selector valve so I run them together.

Whoa ! ….. now that thing looks like it could do some serious damage !!! ……. LOL …. That's an asphalt resurfacing grinder isn't it …. to prep the surface for new overlay …..

Actually i've been calling mine a Soil conditioner on Steroids … LOL …..we've also been calling basically a Hydraulic Rock-Rake ….

 

[TriHonu]

I have the manual turn 72" model. It does a nice job with my standard flow 763. Our soil has a lot of clay and silt, if it isn't fairly dry it will stall the drum if I travel too fast.

With yours having an effective 21" diameter drum, you're going to need all the hydraulic HP you can muster.

The Harley Rakes are very popular in our area. The biggest complaint about them is problems with the chain drive. Hope yours is trouble free.

 

[Equip Junkie]

I have run mine two summers so far. I have had to replace both of the hyd lines that control the right to left swing. They were both 2500psi lines and high flow produces 3500. No problems since I upgraded the lines. ( PS Bobcat warranted both lines. ) Yes if the ground is hard clay it will bog out if I go to fast. I picked up a set of ripper teeth for that. Just breaking it up a couple inches makes the conditioner work way easier.

 

[CRAFT]

I have the manual turn 72" model. It does a nice job with my standard flow 763. Our soil has a lot of clay and silt, if it isn't fairly dry it will stall the drum if I travel too fast.

With yours having an effective 21" diameter drum, you're going to need all the hydraulic HP you can muster.

The Harley Rakes are very popular in our area. The biggest complaint about them is problems with the chain drive. Hope yours is trouble free.

YUP-YUP !!! … I am totally aware of the extra diameter vs RPM and ALL the extra Hyd HP needed ….. I have the Bcat Hi-flow Stump grinder and a Customized 74" Rotary disc Hi-flow Mulcher ….I HAD an original problem with stalling the stump grinder until I visited a Fuel Injection Guru …… He gave my A-300 ~15% more HP on the engine by re-dialing in the Pump on the Kubota engine … in turn adding more Hyd HP …. my hyd stalling problem went away, fuel consumption never changed, and engine runs slightly cooler because it maintains the rpms to cool rather than having a lugging situation all the time ….. Keep in mind it did NOT add any extra top end engine Rpm, it just maintains the governed speed….
The chain drive doesn't worry me either …. i am using an H-80 chain where as those other guys use a smaller pitch double chain, if you look at them closer they run things at a 1:1 ratio over SMALL diam sprockets, tighter turns = more stress …. that is tough on things and because they have a way smaller diam drum & tip to tip teeth speed has to rotate faster to be effective, again because of my buddies version it turns a only 150 shaft RPM and his chain has been on there 10yrs running dry too (he puts on better than 200hrs a year with it) …… the same issues have come up with Hyd Snowblowers (which I've got one of those too, hi-flow & chain driven … no issues) ….. one of the biggest reasons I like the chain drive it allows you to tailor the speed of the driven attachment to your exact machine ….. JMHO ……. Cheers !

 

[TriHonu]

I hear you on the chain drive allowing you to fine tune the attachment to the hydraulic flow of the machine.

I bought a snow blower at an auction not knowing how much flow it needed. The price was low enough that I was still good even if I needed a different hydraulic motor. I ended up with a slightly larger motor than what would have been ideal for my 763. There is no adjustment since the fan is mounted directly to the motor.

I contemplated machining a stub-shaft and converting it to chain drive. After the first winter, I was satisfied with its performance. It will move wet snow without loading down. However the next smaller displacement motor would have added a nice increase in speed at the tips of the fan to increase the throw distance.

I guess a guy could couple a small car transmission into the design to allow you to select more torque or speed as required...

 

[TriHonu]

Yes if the ground is hard clay it will bog out if I go to fast. I picked up a set of ripper teeth for that. Just breaking it up a couple inches makes the conditioner work way easier.

My Landplane has the hydraulically activated scarifier option. Since I got the Soil Preparer, it kind of got retired and has been sitting in the rack. Maybe it should come out of retirement.

 

[OTG AuGres]

Just picked up a 72” model hydraulic adjust model yesterday. Does anyone know if there is a way to fine adjust the drum (parallel to ground)? It’s about 3/4-1” low on the left side. This is my first go around with one of these so if I’m overlooking something obvious, take it easy on me. Lol. It’s a lightly used demo model and I made a quick pickup yesterday afternoon. My sales guy wasn’t there so I got no paperwork or manual with it. No invoice either…that’s the good part. Lol.