I've got an older dozer that has a ripper bar on it but no ripper shanks. I've priced new ripper shanks but don't want to spend that kind of money at the moment and haven't found any used ones. Has anyone ever made any sort of homemade ripper shank? I was thinking of using something like railroad track or perhaps layered plate steel. It'll have to be fairly substantial since the dozer weighs around 24K and I'm working in rocky ground. Ideas?

 

Ripper shanks are heat treated your best bet would be to make 1 out of some kind of alloy . I did make some out of T1 steel that held up well but later found
some at a surplus store . maybe look at a tractor dismantlement shop too.

 

Yes sir, I made a few when we were in Mexico plowing in cable for ATT.
I made them out of 1/2'' plate, 4 layers thick, with a layer of plate on the work face.
I beveled and welded all the sections together, then beveled and welded a layer on the work face of the shank.
Then I crudely hardened and anealed them by heating them with a rosebud till cherry red, quenched in oil, then left them in a kiln at a tile plant @ 800 degrees for about 4 hours and finally allowed them to cool overnite.
They actually held up for quite awhile behind a D-8 Cat.

 

sounds like he was on the clock

i would figure out the cost of your time vs this effort,

and prolly just pay what they want for them, do the job,
and move on to your next project.

but i would call some scrap metal yards, and have them be on the look out.
our scrap metal yard had a $5000 heart monitor in last month,
and $1000 Blood PSI monitor. i like ebay

LOTS of forks for forkligts, but not what you need.

 

You didn't mention the age or size of your machine, but here's some ideas.

Call Dan at Granger Tractor and Parts, Medina, Ohio. He parts out Cats. 800-878-5533
Good, honest person to deal with.

David Weller at Weller Tractor Salvage, Great Bend, Ks. 800-255-9325. Very knowledgeable and has a lot of Cat parts.

Log on to: http://www.antiquecaterpillar.org/ and ask those guys. They deal in machines mostly older then 1965, but they are a wealth of knowledge.

 

The clock was not a concern. We were in Mexico, just south of Polanco, and it would have taken 3 weeks to get anything, not to mention a couple thousand dollars in bribes to get them through customs.
This was in the early 90's, they did not like anyone importing tools or equipment into their little dictatorship without compensation back then.

 

Sorry, not a Cat. Dealing with a '62 Allis HD7G track loader.

 

Maybe you have an old bucket or blade you could cutup and weld some plate together to try it?

That stuff is usually made out of T1 and might work ok.

You'll loose some of the hardness from the cutting and welding processes but would still likely be better than most mild steel.

Get few boxes of hard facing rod and build it up on the leading edge and try it.

What have you got to loose?