smaller backhoe bucket

[charlz]

My Kubota b7100 came with a b670 which had a 16" bucket. I have a fair amount of sprinkler line to put in and I decided to make a smaller bucket. I read some of the posts on here concerning dirt sticking in the smaller buckets but we don't have clay so I think it will be OK. Also, I could just rent a trencher but what fun is that?

I made templates from my original bucket, here are the materials, one bucket side already cut out:



I used the pieces for the 'ears' to help make the 90 angle that is at the back/bottom of the bucket.



Both sides now cut out, bottom bent, 'ears' made. I cut the sides with some Harbor Freight metal cut off wheels in my angle grinder. Worked pretty well and used about 1.5 of them



The original bucket and one pin had a wee bit of wear so I made a new pin. I thought about reworking the bucket to use collars on the ears and longer pins. I figured if this is what 30 years of use does the original design would probably work for me The holes in the original bucket were out of round about 1/4 inch on one side, some quick work with the welder and they were close to new.



Everything tacked together for a test fit on the tractor. It fit perfectly.



A lot of welding later and some wishing for a MIG the bucket is now ready for bending/welding of the bottom.



I still need to get the cutting edge material and some teeth. Without those two items I have about $42 in materials which includes the new pin. I think I have spent about 8 hours on it so far. Mostly checking and rechecking the pin hole locations before drilling

I'll post some pics after I finish it.

 

[sandman2234]

Nice job!
A lot better than the last bucket I made, which was 42" wide for my boom mower. I just posted a picture from that. I used a piece of 1/2" flat bar for my cutting edge, cut at a 45 degree angle with a milling machine. I knew I wasn't going to be using it for digging but needed something to stiffen the long edge of the bucket. I figured a piece of 1/2 x 6 would stiffen up the edge, which it did.
How many teeth do you need, two or three? Does anyone make them that will adapt to your new bucket?
David from jax

 

[gunmaker]

Excellent work! How about some dimensions, steel thickness, type. This looks like a good spring project for my electric lines. Craig

 

[digger2]

Great idea,my last hoe had a 12" bucket and i can already see i'll miss it at times.My new hoe came standard with a 18" and i also was thinking about making a 12" out of some 1/4" steel.I have to study mine a little more as its a quick disconnect and i have to figure it all out first.I think with enough time and determination i can do it,whenever i run out of other stuff to do.
Looks good so far.Make sure you send those pictures in to show us your progress!!!!!What material did you make your new pin out of ??
digger2

 

[3RRL]

What a great project.
I love that you are doing it all from scratch like that. I bought a smaller bucket and it set me back over $600 bucks not including shipping! Not only that, but the bushing holes did not line up perfectly so I had to ream them out to fit. I should've made my own like you are doing.
The smaller 12" bucket made a big difference not only for narrower ditches, but also in the digging power. I use it when digging up trees and tearing through roots too.

 

[MJPetersen]

Indeed!! Great work! The narrow bucket will allow your hoe force to be more concentrated. What kind of soil do you have there? Sandy? A narrow buck sometimes also has problems with larger rocks, if that is on the menu. Great craftsmanship. Looking forward to seeing it dig.

Mike

 

[charlz]

Thanks for the comments! The new bucket will be about 9 inches from cutting edge to cutting edge. The bottom/inside is 8".

The original bucket is made out of surprisingly (I thought) light materials. The sides and bottom are 1/8 inch plate, the ears are 3/8 plate and for the angle bracket across the back I used 2x2 by 3/16. I couldn't find any references as to these parts being made out of anything other than mild steel so that is what I used. The cutting edge wraps around a little on the sides and ties the whole thing together.

I used a local place that is one of the Metal Supermarkets stores. They cut everything to the right length etc. with only one $5 shearing charge. Obviously your mileage will vary based on your particular hoe but here was my cut sheet:

(2) 1/8" plate 10"x14" (had to be sheared out of a sheet)
(2) 3"x3/8" bar 9" long (something was a little off with my measurements.. probably really needed 4"x3/8" but I made it work)
(1) 2"x2"x3/16 angle 5-1/2 inches long
(2) 2"x2"x3/16 angle 3/4" long
(1)1/8"x8"plate 25" long (need more like 24" but I wanted some room if my bend ended up wrong or I measured wrong... it's easy to cut off)

(1) 1"x7-3/8" 4130 round bar for the pin.

I still need to order the cutting edge which I think I will get from discountsteel.com and the bucket teeth. I am looking to put 3 teeth on it. I posted another thread looking for input on teeth. I think I can get what I need off ebay for a lot less than what Kubota wants for the teeth on the original bucket.

Charles

 

[charlz]

Indeed!! Great work! The narrow bucket will allow your hoe force to be more concentrated. What kind of soil do you have there? Sandy? A narrow buck sometimes also has problems with larger rocks, if that is on the menu. Great craftsmanship. Looking forward to seeing it dig.

Mike

Our soil is mostly loam down to about 3' where there is a really hard old clay layer. Not many rocks, most are fist or double-fist sized with the largest well under head sized. That old clay layer is tough going with my 16" bucket and probably would be a lot easier with a smaller bucket. I don't need to go that deep though for what I want to use this bucket for (irrigation lines).

Charles

 

[charlz]

Had a chance to work on this some more today.

I thought I would give bar clamps a try to bend the bottom to fit. I drew a line on the inside of both sides as to where the top of the plate should be. On the big bucket the sides extend past the bottom about 1/4 inch. Sorry its at bit out of focus, didn't realize that until I downloaded the camera. The alternate method was going to be to mount the bucket on the hoe and then use the hydraulics to press it against the ground and bend the plate. With the clamps I didn't have to crawl around on the ground


Worked the clamps alternating sides... it was tough going sometimes. I tacked at little more than one inch intervals. When I got to the end I couldn't get it to bend in much. Looking at the big bucket I realized the end slowly tapered out until the bottom was flush with the edge of the sides. Makes sense as the cutting edge sits on both and is welded to them. Bending it in that much was easy.



Went back and slowly welded all the spots between the tacks.... Hard to weld inside the bucket but I did manage to duplicate some of the not-so-hot-looking welds on my original bucket Notice the extra 1" of material I added to the bottom plate is there at the end... looks like I didn't need it after all. I will wait to cut it off until I have the cutting edge in hand.




Here is a pic of the new bucket next to the 16" I am using as a template.


Looks like I have better get on the stick and order the cutting edge and find some teeth!

Charles

 

[bx24]

Great looking work. There are lots of places to get the teeth as well as the cutting edge. I have never priced lengths of cutting edge, but I wonder if using plow shares (~$14 or so for 16" length) would work.