Thank you for your contributions to the excavation community. You have demonstrated more equipments than anyone in the field.

One of my favorite parts of watching Andrews videos are the long ariel shots. Well done.

So cool to see many things what you had done, i used to live on Orchard farm , and logskidder, tractor, standhigh with three wheels also fixing. Old cabin. In the past, you reminded when I was younger but not now as get old. I am so proud of you. I did repaired as woodwork on 1923 Runabout boat. 30ft , renovation 1973, i bought it 2000, about 18 years improving, fit shortbed truck.

Back again! One of my favorites here.

Nice ending with the music and drone shoot. Well done.

Thank goodness we have a rototiller ...a rock picker would have been nice here ....after it rains you got some work ahead of ya buddy! I feel your pain on the Stoney Ridge

Thank you Andrew. The variety of work you do, gives me ideas to repair some issues, I see at our place. Very Nice Work!

Interesting tool, looks like it worked fairly well, be interesting to see it in action when the soil is more dry. Hard to believe the birds were not scared of the drone at the end! Cool shots, neat looking house too. Thanks for the video!

watching your videos is like visiting America in convenient mode you are doing great job in any thing you touch well done Andrew! cheers

Love the view's you always share at the end of your video's. Thank's for sharing.

With your innovative mind set you came up with the simplest and easiest way of removing the preparator from the dump truck. ;-) In various situations I remind myself to "Stop, Study, Plan and Proceed". It may take some time to do that but in the long run it's the best way (faster and safer).

Thank you for sharing your amazing video, God bless you and your family

I used to do all my own grading on the houses I built because I loved running my skid steer. On this one house, I used a new landscaper and he'd finished and I was using the prep to get ready for sod the next day. I was having my usual great time, and as I was sneaking up to the landscaping I noticed that something was moving really fast below the mulch. I froze and wondered what was going on. Honest to god the first thought that I had was that it was like a hundred snakes. Gave me the creeps. Turns out the new landscaper used landscaping fabric under the mulch and I'd just reeled in around 30 feet of the stuff. The guys that did my basements were across the street pouring and felt the need to stop and laugh their asses off. It took me at least a couple of hours to get the damn stuff cut out. For some reason those guys were always around when I did something boneheaded. They were always kind enough to remind me of that stuff whenever I saw them out and about, and the stories were always expanded whenever my wife was with me. One of them died a couple of years later when a trench collapsed on him. I sure miss em.

Hi been watching your video for a while and really enpiered by them. I'm only 14 but some day hope to Owen a landscape and excavation business one day. Keep on making your video's.😁

You have explain a lot of stuff and enjoy watching your videos

Thanks Andrew: I always like your videos.

I've used a rockhound and it also works great to resurface a stone driveway

I rented a Harley Rake, which is similar but leaves a rougher finish. I read up on how to use it before I rented it and running parallel lines followed by perpendicular lines, produced the best results. I got rid of some 2' ruts in my lawn this way.

A+ quality videos and explanations of real-life situations. Love the channel. IMO best video was the one about snow plowing if you want to get into the business.

Nice video of how a ground prep machine works. I've seen them before but never got the opportunity to watch them.

Thanks Andrew - I really like your videos

That worked great. Great video. Thank you for taking the time to shoot the video and edit it all together, I know it takes LOTS of time to do that.

Never knew they had that machine ... I could have used it years ago ... it looks like the place where you planted the pine trees ... Another great video

My lot prep guy used a Harley on my lawn. It looked like a wave of dirt when he was running it. Did an amazing job.

I don’t care what anyone says, this guy is a boss. It was his first freaking time running this attachment and he didn’t look unnatural at any point.

That attachment, being like a sweeper and all, you should be able to stop the rotation, lift the arms & tilt forward, and then hit the reverse rotation. This will eject everything you've picked up. The beauty of doing it that way is you could pick up material and spread it around. I used to put a nice fine layer of sand over oil on the weighbridge at my last job at an asphalt plant. Hot black top, as you call it. :-) In the bobcat I operated, the reverse rotation was on top of the right-hand control stick. Next time you have a go of one of these, check it out...you'll get even better at spreading material.

Man, I needed that after I installed new lateral lines in my yard several months back. We have a lot of clay based soil here, and it made smoothing out the yard with other equipment pretty difficult. Once the dirt was dry that preperator would have been nice

Nice work Andrew. Great Video 👌

Noticed you having to look back over your shoulders while backing up. Sore neck after doing that for a day. I added a three mirror set to my track loader and eliminated the need to turn my neck so much. Cheap fix. Or consider a back up camera. Prices have really fallen on those. Cheaper than back up damages. Ask me how I know...

Love this machine and the grading it does. Love the sound of it working....

wow there are so many cool attachments for those machines

Basically a Harley rake with a bagger. Probably worth having one to wrap up projects before seeding. They even have one built into a bucket.

Really good video, thank you for your time 😃

Man I miss doing this kind of work. I used to do stuff like this at a private golf course when I was growing up.

Glad I stumbled onto this vid. Honestly did not realize there was such a thing as a soil preparator, at least not in the version you've shown. Looks like something I might have some use for.

Hi Andrew, super job as usual. That's a real interesting location there and an interesting container home. Or should we call it an Andrew Castle? Haha. I like the wild flower idea - plant it and let it alone. I'd also be tempted to plant willow trees so i could harvest the withies and make baskets or sell them to a local artisan. Maybe a couple of donkeys, chickens, you get the idea. And a home made lake for the migrating ducks. Thanks for sharing and thanks to the homesteaders for giving us a peek. Stay safe and keep up the good work. 👍🖖🐶🐶🦴

I bought this machine about 20 years. Ago very first machine in Cleveland Ohio saved a lot of money installing lawns almost eliminated the ordering of topsoil still use it today

Hi Andrew I actually own a preparator and use it on a daily basis. The best way I have found to run it in reverse with the bucket part dumped and letting the preparator just float or glide on the skids. I windrow all my material into a line the go back over it and pick up the windrow with the drum spinning everything into the bucket. I actually just uploaded a video this morning of me finish a yard with it. My page is Elite Earthworks LLC. You can check it out and see how it runs on dryer dirt. Thanks

They are a good unit to use for soil prep. They work real well if you still or disc an area first. Tilling breaks up the soil well, but it's to rough and needs to be "fluffed" to get any rust out.

We run a Harley Rake or Soil Conditioner first to remove the 1-1/2" and larger rocks then run the FFC Preparator for the finish raking. A Landscape Rake attachment is similar but uses a chain instead of a drum.

Another fine job great video

Your a very special person Mr. Pesci

Refreshing, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who doesn't get quick attach on the first try, and bends the handles a little bit.

Matt @Diesel Creek bought something similar to this, he used it to refresh a gravel parking lot. Now _that_ is something you could use and build. His video is the Pt 2 of the VFW series. He bought it, and fixed a cylinder. That looked awesome, it did a great job. You could just drive up & down one time for a driveway.

Like the stuff you do bud

I have a place in my yard that used to look like this. I rented a diesel dingo with a harley power rake attachment for

about 40 years ago I knew a guy who built one of those but on a bigger scale. His was powered with a GM 453 and had a drum 3 feet in diameter. It had chains which would dig down around 3 feet. Where we lived were a lot of ancient logs which would rise to the surface through the soil .His was connected to the front half of a Cat carry all Scraper and could cover 300 acrers per day doing pretty much the same as that little one.

That is a really interesting piece of machinery, one which they did not have in my day. Albeit, you are right, unless you are going to be using it quite often, it would not be on my to buy list, that is, unless I found a used one really cheap. Keep on, Keeping on.

Considering the job did there,i think maybe for future reference it would be a must have for your tool kit Arsenal, like the last big job where the septic Tank was put in after the ground thawed out, imagine on a nice day the work you could get done with that Preparator, then broadcast grass and flower seeds. (Christmas shopping list special i think Andrew.) Good job done.

Looks like it works best in forward direction, in reverse the collected debris came out... Expect much dust if the soil is really dry, I guess you got the right moment after the rain... Thx for the vid! ;-)

Great ariel shots at the end thanks

Looks like it works best while traveling in reverse.. only downside I see is emptying the catch container.. it definitely got rid of the rocks in the first clips. Good stuff

Like the video and imagine if soil was dryer . good job man

I need one of those. We live in a rocky area. That machine would be great for clearing the rocks.

Looks Good Nice JOB!!!

i love your videos ,im a landscaper /excavator north of you lake george area , biggest thing with any ground work ,wait til the ground is dry , not rock hard dry but with a minimal amount of moisture , i have a power rake and moisture is paramont , too wet work stay in place too dry , machine will work extra hard to grind up

He puts together pretty good videos. I've watched a bunch of his and I'd rather watch his then others. Like the drone effect.

that house looks like container-castle 2.0

Buy a preparator you can always hire it out when not in use awesome videos.

Andy nice job!!!!!!!! Nice show and tell!!!!!!! Never used one. But thought. It would a nice attractment to have,,,, but not at the price ???????? If you come across a York rake for a tractor. With a three point. Grap it. You could use it on the front of your Skidsteer. With all the tricks you got in your hat. And welding You could make it work. On your skidsteer. But when you make it. Have it be able to angle. Like a plow. Also. Be able to push with it and pull with it. Rotor head. Be able to turn 360 deg. I came up that idea. A few years ago. Reason I told you about. Been able to turn 360. Get right up close to anything no raking. At all. Take care. JUNKMANDO.

Cool attachment did a nice job even though ground was a little wet

Wow that thing is empressive I'll be using one now for sure on my skid steers.

Husband and I only have a very small lot, a quarter acre, but have wanted to try and get a small aerator for the land, since the community used to be two large farms, that were developed in the 1970's.. and the ground is pretty clay like, but trying to rent a small one is a pain in the ass, and with both of us being in our mid to upper 60's it is hard to try and get and handle one...sigh...

Glad to see you replaced your leg kick on the tailgate with a sledge hammer. You'll work an extra 10 years.

I like the niice overview!

We pulled a 20 ft wide version of the preparator type behind a fancy golf course tired John Deere on beaches every 2 days in the summer, it had a conveyor shoot to one side and we ran an old Ford 9N tractor towing a dump bin next to it. The seagulls loved us. LOL, you would be amazed not just by the tonnage of material cleaned out (can you say BIO HAZARD?), but consider the treasures we came across. Great video, great work and the editing was superb!

You should, and definitely could- build your own, add to your arsenal. Sheet metal, couple of hydraulic motors & hoses, a 4" pipe with lengths of 8"treaded rod run through the pipe, tacked with MIG, easy to change. Hydraulic motors on eBay are $80 ~ $150 all day. Love to see you fab something like this.

Nice attachment, never would have known... ...such a thing was available. Thanks Makes a good seed bed. Clay is so hard to work no matter what you do.

It looks great.

thanks for the video!

Yeah, if the ground wasn't so wet, it would have done a better job, you did good considering the conditions Andrew, nice job!!

That thing does a nice job! I would imagine that if it were dry, you'd be a dusty mess.

Great video. I wish Storage containers were cheap in my area. A forty five foot container is just over $3,000 and that doesn't include transport to the site. My state has only one city where large container vessels can get in there. I would have ran a tractor with a rear mounted tiller over that ground before doing the preparator over it.

I noticed that the preparator was bouncing during back dragging operation and debris was dropping that probably was in the bucket. Maybe slowing forward speed would produce a better result and lifting the preparator up off the soil while backtracking before lowering it down for another forward pass would produce a much better soil preparation. If back dragging is necessary, the bucket and cutting tool should be in a level plane to prevent bucket hop while preventing the loss of debris in the back of the bucket. I have observed the operation of "Harley Rake" type attachments. Operators are able to make a near-perfect seedbed by slowing the forward speed to give the rotating drum time to toss the debris into the catch bucket and pulverize the soil.

Interesting machine. Never heard of or seen one. I’ll put that in the memory bank for future reference. If you had the time you could address areas a second time at 90 degrees to your first pass to make it super finished.

That sure is a fascinating area of New York, so different than you would imagine. Quite hilly, very raw land - wonder if it will ever be densely populated? Looks great from the drone shots.

Drive it like it’s rented!

A Harley Rake attachment makes it look beautiful.

I do think you would of liked the Harley rake better. It would have pushed all of the bigger stuff into a pile. I just purchased a edge 72” power rake. Works amazing.

You HAVE TO leave the unit flat and set it on the withTHE SPINNING PART IN TO THE DIRT and back up slowly

Great video Andrew!! Thanks for doing them. I know they are time consuming. But very enjoyable to watch!!

Bobcat calls there's a soil conditioner for what you do you would love it's definitely worth it You do good work , this would just make your work a lot easer Soil conditioner run the drum backwards it keeps the junk in front so you can push it off to the side or push it in a pile it's like a rake Your just raking forward Also it levels the ground Only lets the find dirt or gravel go behind filling in the low spots

Eh! Andrew good demo Rockhound will do a good job, a Harley doesn't have a scoop for rocks so depends on what the ground is like, rocky or clean fill rockhound will grab good and leave a smooth finish whatever is avail go for it, Preparator also has a scoop that's a good choice, yes dry is good.

After you finish that Andrew you will have to hydro-seed it with a spray mulch application that would make the grass stick to the soil just a thought.

Looks pretty nice. I’ve used the bobcat rock rake on many jobs and if you get a chance you should try it out. Its got more aggressive teeth and really picks out the majority of the rocks. I only use it in reverse.

Your Drone shots are getting better and better --Congrads!! I get my t-shirt today!! Thanks for making them! Co mon summer!!

Cool videos. Only comment I have is, if your not using hearing protection while operating your stuff? you probably should be. When you get in to your 50's, your gonna wish you had been protecting your hearing because it doesn't come back.

It looked great finished and u got paid don't listen to negative comments u have a dam great thing going 4 yourself...!!! I learned a lot watching your videos

Power Rake...Final finishing kit. Remove brush and stumps. Plough top foot of ground. (Add soil improvers optional) Til soil...then use power rake = perfect soil for gardening.

I use a Harley rake to loosen the rocks and put them in a windrow the harley rake also tends to dry up wet ground then just use the rock hound to pick stones and roots comes out as smooth as a babies ass

Great attachment for lawn preparation for sure,...but it would seem that there's a fair bit of room for other manufacturers to improve of this idea.

it collects most of the rocks and makes the soil nice then you just go dump the rocks, but he always puts topsoil down first so it works great.

Use a rock hound in reverse and slow down! Lol glad it worked for ya though

That would be a great tool to attach to the back of a tractor for grading driveways.

Rocks will always percolate to the surface, they need to seed it with some quick growing rye along with whatever grass seed they want. The rye will keep it from eroding till the other grass comes it. Seems like left alone, an area will grow rocks!

Power rake works so much better than the rock hounds

great equipment but I found a stoneraker much better it must be emptied regular and used in reverse and a lot cheaper to buy .I enjoy all your videos keep smiling

For best results you need to till out all of the connected roots and little stumps first with a tooth bucket or a tilling attachment then use the soil preparator.

Talk about ingenuity: a vacuum cleaner for rocks. I wonder if it would work on yards in the spring to remove gravel displaced by the snow plow.

*Andrew you live in a beautiful part of the country*