Tooth bar is a little short

[Hoosier_Daddy]

I ordered a tooth bar for the FEL from the dealer a few months back. It finally came in. It's the type that slides on the bucket and fits the edge just fine (like a glove) but the sides that slide into the bucket to be bolted to the sides are a bit short. If I slide it to one side I have a total gap of about 3/4 inch from touching the side of the bucket.

Do you think if I center it and add some washer's to each side it would be OK? I would prefer a tighter fit. There has to be a lot of pressure on this thing when digging.

Tom

[hazmat]

Tom,

I'll answer your question if you answer mine.

I think you'd be OK with washers. The fore-aft & up-down loads of the toothbar should be taken by the cutting edge which you said fits like a glove. As far as side to side loading, one bolt will be in compression & one will be in tension which is how bolts are supposed to work.

If you are worried about it, talk to your dealer. Tell him it doesn't fit well, what is he going to do about it & will he stand behind it.

Now for my question, I saw in your profile that you used to be a plumber. I got in the shower this morning and it was making a hammering sound & I could feel the handle & plumbing pulsing. Water seemed to be coming out in a steady stream. Anything I should be looking for? In engineering school they only tought us how to design stuff, not fix it [img]/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Hoosier_Daddy]

Never thought I'd be answering a plumbing question. Just sounds like there is a rubber seal or rubber washer that is worn out and it is just fluttering when water passes through it. Sometimes faucets will just do that when they are not open all the way. If it's a single lever just change the cartridge. Most of the new faucets have ceramic seats in them. But if you need to change the washer in the old type look to see if it is cut. If it is, they make a ream tool to resurface the seat inside the faucet. It's pretty cheap. Other than that I would check for ghost. Tom

[hazmat]

Tom,

Thanks for the plumbing help.

I was rereading my post, & there is an error.

The bolts will also carry some load in shear when you are backdraging the bucket. In this case, the loose fit does add to the bending moment of the bolt. It shouldn't be a lot because if you were to aggressivly engage the teeth (bucket dumped (teeth down)) the cutting edge will carry the load.

[MrP]

Tom,

Mine is like that too. Just add a couple washers and tighten the bolts until tight. The bar should be fine. In fact, it makes it easier to remove the tooth bar when you aren't using it.

My biggest problems is that when the dealer installed it, they tightened the bolts so tight that it actually put the bucket slightly out of square. It made it a B!7ch to get the loader back on with the bucket out of square.

[Gary_in_Indiana]

That must be the way they're shipping them to Indiana now. [img]/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif[/img] Mine came from FFC in IL and it is also a little short though not as much as yours. I know they had all of the exact measurements because I ordered it through a deere dealer (KC Canary) for my Deere loader bucket. Mark Bruckner there told me he had all the exact spec's to order what I needed and I'm sure he did. I think it's just another example of (lack of) quality control.

[Buck]

Hoosier_Daddy.

Mine had the same gap. Used washers. Until you mentioned this, I completely forgot about it. No problems on my part and I am pretty rough with it.

Buck

[Bird]

Tom, I agree with the other posts; I'd just put some washers in there on each side to fill the space and wouldn't worry about it at all.

[EdKing]

I had about a 3/4" gap on either side of mine, I used 3 pieces of 1/4" steel on either side. Never had any problems with it.

[jhburke]

I to had to give exact measurements and when I got mine it was about 3/4 " short. I just added spacing washers and bolt it up. I have taken out stumps not big ones and roots. Just today I was using the bucket to get dirt from a pile that has been sitting for about 18 months. With the rain we have got it was well packed. No problem of six bucket loads I only had to make a second shot twice to get a full bucket. 5' bucket on a B7500.