chuck172
Platinum Member
How useful are rock bucket loader buckets? I live on a base of a mountain. Rocky is an understatement for sure. I'm also infested, and getting worse with Jap Barberry. How well would a rock bucket work out for me?
Rock bucket loader
- Thread starter chuck172
- Start date
Rustyiron
Super Member
Chuck are you digging or trying to separate the rocks from the dirt?
For digging in rocky soils, the bucket needs teeth, that will be handy also with your clearing also.
For screening the rocks out, the "skeleton" or "rock bucket" require's shaking and depending on your soils that the your trying to separate, very dry helps. Small roots and organic matter along with any clay soils will only plug up the bucket. I borrowed one and was not impressed at all, and that was on a SS with much faster bucket "shaking" ability than a tractor.
For digging in rocky soils, the bucket needs teeth, that will be handy also with your clearing also.
For screening the rocks out, the "skeleton" or "rock bucket" require's shaking and depending on your soils that the your trying to separate, very dry helps. Small roots and organic matter along with any clay soils will only plug up the bucket. I borrowed one and was not impressed at all, and that was on a SS with much faster bucket "shaking" ability than a tractor.
CDN Farm Boy
Veteran Member
Back when I was a teenager, I used one for several summers picking rocks for the farmer I worked for. Ran it on a 60 ish hp tractor after the cultivator went thru and before the planter. It was a bloody pain in the but, needed to be on a far bigger tractor, the Isiki just didn't have the hydraulics to run it properly and you couldn't see the tips so you were always making a bigger mess than needed. I figure one of NH's bi-directionals would be the ideal ticket. While the SS would have the hydraulics to run one, it would have to be a big one to have the weight/stability behind it. I was working in loose soil and hated it, I couldn't imagine trying to dig. Scooping up rocks that were already windrowed was the only time it wasn't too bad.
I'm not familiar with what those bushes are but any of the rock buckets I have seen only manage to strip the branches off and leave the trunk/stem firmly rooted.
I'm not familiar with what those bushes are but any of the rock buckets I have seen only manage to strip the branches off and leave the trunk/stem firmly rooted.
I have a grapple attached to my rock bucket. I like that it picks up stuff and the dirt sifts through. Also being able to see through the back is a huge help picking things up. Just last week I sifted a few big piles of crushed bluestone that had rip rap rocks in it. Worked like a charm .02