Educate me on beefing up the FEL bucket to add hooks

[Teikas Dad]

You know, I am really going to have to defer to more experienced fabricators than myself here. All I know is, when I looked at your sketchup model, to me, it looked like if I was going to weld up those holes (assuming a 1/8" rod) the weld would totally fill the holes. In that case, I wouldn't be confident about the weld tying in to the base metal. If you make the hole big enough, you can treat the whole thing like a circular fillet weld, ensuring adequate tie-in to both the bucket and the angle iron.

Just to throw out a number, with a 1/8" rod, you're going to end up with maybe somewhere between a 3/16" and 1/4" bead, or a total of about 1/2" of bead since there are two sides to the circle. Personally, I would go up to about 1" or maybe 1.5" just to give myself room to work. Thing is, you're probably not going to get yourself in trouble making the circles a little bigger than absolutely needed. But, again, you should get better advice from those who are more experienced than myself.

Thanks, I'll have to see what size drill bits I've got around here.

 

[joshuabardwell]

Thanks, I'll have to see what size drill bits I've got around here.

Hole saw. You really want a hole saw, IMO. Or maybe a stepped bit if your angle iron is small enough thickness. I'd be surprised if a regular drill bit got big enough.

EDIT: But remember--the plug welds are almost certainly totally unnecessary, so if you're just doing them on a lark, more power to you, but if they become a hassle, you won't hurt anything leaving them out.

 

[Shield Arc]

Just a word of caution on those plug welds. If for some reason you ever need to remove the angle iron from your bucket, those plug welds are going to be a beach to get cut loose.

 

[k0ua]

If you want my opinion, and that is all it is, just an opinion.. You don't need the plug welds, and you don't really need the whole 3x3 angle either. Just cut out a 3 inch section off the 3x3 and weld it on. If you don't like the looks, or you are thinking you might put more things on your "shelf" later, well then by all means use the whole things. But if a couple of hooks is all you want, then why put the whole thing up there.

James K0UA

 

[Gary Fowler]

I really didnt want to weld on my new bucket so I made mine bolt on. Just another idea to play around with.
Steve

View attachment 301095

This looks to be one of the better bolt on hooks I have seen, lots of strength in that double angle and double point bolting.

As for plug welds, you don't need them for the angle iron attachment, Skip welding each edge is sufficient. I attached my chain hooks using just a 4" x 6"x 1/4" plate that was purposefully built for attaching the leaf springs to a trailer axle and it had some holes about 1/2" in diameter that I plug welded prior to attaching my hooks. I did this partially for strength but mainly so the plate hole wouldn't get water under it and freeze or just rust the bucket. I filled the holes flush then welded the hooks over it. If I had had some flat plate, I wouldn't have made holes for any plug welds but since I had to use what I could find, those leaf spring plates were just the right size to fit the top of my LS FEL bucket.

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

I've got the same bucket on my B3300SU. Have you thought about using a piece of 2.5" x 2.5" square to reinforce? It will fit perfectly inside the original lip, stitch weld it on add your hooks and be done. It will be easy to add, easy to remove if you ever wanted to (don't know why you would but was a good comment on the plug welds). It's clean and neat and does the whole bucket. Adding the whole length right away will allow future addition of other hooks etc if you want. It will also eliminate hooking anywhere other than the proper hooks.

Sometimes bending will come from things other than lifting a load. I was moving my empty 6x12 landscape trailer by hooking the safety chains on the lip, bound up against the hitch on a turn and bent the top edge. Lift was no more than a couple hundred pounds.

Just a thought.

 

[Teikas Dad]

Thanks all....I'll deep six the plug weld idea. It was just something I started thinking about as I only want to do this once so I want to do it right.

CDN Farm Boy, thanks...I didn't think of a 2.5X2.5 for inside the lip. I may have to take a run back to my steel guy and see what he's got in stock.

 

[massy1635]

I did not read all 57 posts so this might have been already mentioned. If so, sorry. But just to be on the safe side, I would suggest you remove the bucket from the tractor before you weld on it. With all the electronics used today, you run the risk of burning out some componet. That could cost you big $'s. I welded a piece of 3" chanel iron on top of my bucket and welded hooks to that. So far no problems.

 

[Teikas Dad]

I did not read all 57 posts so this might have been already mentioned. If so, sorry. But just to be on the safe side, I would suggest you remove the bucket from the tractor before you weld on it. With all the electronics used today, you run the risk of burning out some componet. That could cost you big $'s. I welded a piece of 3" chanel iron on top of my bucket and welded hooks to that. So far no problems.

Thanks, nobody else mentioned it but it was something I was concerned about. I've got the Kubota Quick Attach on the bucket so I had planned on dropping the bucket and doing all the welding on it while it's unattached.

 

[Danno1]

Thanks all....I'll deep six the plug weld idea. It was just something I started thinking about as I only want to do this once so I want to do it right.

CDN Farm Boy, thanks...I didn't think of a 2.5X2.5 for inside the lip. I may have to take a run back to my steel guy and see what he's got in stock.

Good idea to deep six the plug welds. Not needed.

Bad idea to use the 2.5x2.5. It will just add a lot of weight you don't need. Stick to the original idea. I would also run the angle full length/width.



.