portion 11 of the sliding pad 10 should face the rear of the bulldozer 4 in order for the ripper assembly 7 to operate correctly once the ripper assembly 7 has been attached to the ripper box 2 the operator of the bulldozer 4 can then lower or raise the ripper assembly 7 thus when the operator of the bulldozer 4 wishes to commence using the ripper assembly 7 he or she merely lowers the ripper assembly 7 so that the ripper shanks 14 penetrate into the ground as the bulldozer 4 moves forward the ripper shanks 14 rip the ground in a manner similar to the prior art ripper assembly although the ripper shanks 14 can bring slabs of rock to the surface these are crushed by the sliding pad 10 and by the operator of the bulldozer 4 applying more downward pressure to the ripper assembly 7 the sliding pad is adapted to extend across at least 70 of the width of the work surface that is traversed in one pass of the earth moving machine as it progresses over the work surface more preferably the sliding pad is adapted to extend across the full width of the work surface the curved portion 11 of the sliding pad 10 prevents the sliding pad 10 from digging into the ground also the curved portion 11 prevents the rocks from passing over the pad 10 and enables the ripper assembly 7 to crush large rocks the surface produced by the ripper assembly 7 as it moves over the ground is quite flat and evenly textured this is because the ripper shanks 14 rip to a consistent depth and also because.