Bucket Hooks Bucket Hooks...Again

[PLOWER]

Bob,
I wanted three two but he said no it buts alot of stress on it. That is perfectly fine with me that you printed that out, I will have to pose it real nice next time I have it out and take a picture and send it to you.[img]/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif[/img] Cliff

[Turfman]

Thanks for all the suggestions (and the link!!). I still wonder about welding them on the top, the top edge curves back, like a backward C and that appears to be weak. I think the deere had the lip curl down and under. That makes more sense to me.
Thanks,
Kevin

[PaulT]

I have a 2710 with the 402 loader, and I welded two peices of angle iron on the corners, oeverlapping the lip, and then welded the hooks on to the angle iron. I haven't looked at the thread in the link lately, but I believe my inspiration was in there somewhere (I'm not original). I used about a 3 inch length of 2 inch angle iron (1/8" think, I think). If you overlap the curled edge of the bucket with the angle, and hold it so that its flat on top of it (slide it forward so it doesn't hit the bucket sheet metal), then slide it backward until it just touches the bucket sheet metal, you have a lot of metal to metal contact, and you can slide the angle iron sideways against the side plate. I was able to get a weld on the top and bottom edges of the anbgle iron, as well as on the side where it hits the sidewall of the bucket. It is very strong, and I don't think I need a middle hook. If you do it this way, notch out the bottom corner, so that water and crud can wash out, rather than getting trapped and rusting. If I had a digicam, I'd post it - they look stock!!

[jyoutz]

Turfman, I reinforced my top bucket edge with angle iron and then welded 2 hooks to the angle iron on either bucket edge in line with the loader lift arms (strongest part of the bucket lip). I figured that I didn't need to have a hook in the center because if I need to lift from the center, I do the following : Attach a short length of chain to each hook, letting it loop down midway on my bucket. Then I have a double grab hook assembly that I made up. I take this grab hook and fasten it to the center of the chain. By doing this , I have a center grab hook for lifting single line loads, but the weight is distributed to the hooks at either end of the bucket edge. So there is no possibility of bending the center of your bucket.

[Turfman]

Paul, this sounds like what I am looking for, any chance of a digital picture? If I had a photo, my brother in law could weld it up for me. Thanks, Kevin

[Turfman]

jyoutz, that sounds logical. Thanks for the advice.

Kevin

[rancar]

<font color=blue>I will have to pose it real nice next time I have it out and take a picture and send it to you.</font color=blue>

This is great Cliff. Then I'll have sort of like a little group shot positioned above my PC and I'll really be getting excited. [img]/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif[/img]

BTW, did you name your 4710 yet? I'm getting sense here at TBN that we have to name our new compact tractors. [img]/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif[/img]

Bob

[rancar]

Thanks Jim for this. This makes sense. Now, I'll have to re-think my original 3 hooks down to 2 like you and Cliff have.

[PaulT]

My 2 yo daughter decided to play basketball with my digital camera, so now it works about as well as a basketball for taking pictures[img]/w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif[/img]. I have been meaning to get out my USB intel video cam and hook it up to my laptop - it can take snapshots. Maybe I'll get it working tonight. If I do, I'll practice by taking pix of the bucket hooks.

[PLOWER]

Bob,
I havent named it yet.......cant get the right one. Cliff