Has anyone ever considered using abandoned rail spikes as material source for teeth? Seems like material, size,availability and price is right since I can collect a dozen walking along a railbed. Chisel end and square cross section would work with the right support bar design?
Bucket Teeth/Home Made?
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TractorGuy
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Whatever you use for teeth they need to hook onto the cutting edge.
I like the looks of the sicklebar rock guards. Not sure how deep the groove is that you would hook onto the cutting edge but it looks good in the post above.
I put the CAT style single pointed tiger teeth on my backhoe bucket and they have held up great. I found a set of 5 of those with the weld on shanks on eBay for about $150 shipped.
I like the looks of the sicklebar rock guards. Not sure how deep the groove is that you would hook onto the cutting edge but it looks good in the post above.
I put the CAT style single pointed tiger teeth on my backhoe bucket and they have held up great. I found a set of 5 of those with the weld on shanks on eBay for about $150 shipped.
dfkrug
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I wonder how hard/tough railroad spikes are.
Tiger-teeth that TractorGuy mentions are not expensive, esp if you find them at a local shop. Welding, cutting, or drilling is still gonna be your big effort.
I am just coming into 100hr on my custom teeth made from 3-point rake tines. They have held up very well on my mini-X bucket. I posted them in another thread, but here they are again. 12yo thread....brings back tooth memories....
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BrokenTrack
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I made my own bucket teeth for an old tractor from steel wedges. At the time I worked in a fabrication shop where we made these steel wedges by the thousands. They were made from 1 inch plate so 1 inch wide, by 3/4 of an inch in height, about 6 inches long. To make them better, I welded up the teeth with weld, and then submerged them red hot into water. That made them hard. I then welded up (5) along the edge of the bucket and they lasted until we sold the tractor about 8 years later.
Railroad spike might work. They are kind of narrow so maybe weld (2) together? They would have to be heat treated, but that is easy enough. Either way, they are cheap, so use what you got right?
dfkrug
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They are cheap or free, yes. If they are mild steel like A36, they won't heat-treat well, however.
I bought these>>> 6 Toothbar Shanks, Teeth, & Pins, For Loader Buckets, 23?, 23?SP, D5175?, TF23D | eBay
Now I'm waiting for the flat bar that I order from Titan ebay store so's to weld the shanks to. The flat bar was suppose to be here this past week, If I'd went to a steel shop would've had it put together by now, I think Titan has slow service, the teeth were here in 5 days.
Kudos for getting rust off a 12 year old thread............
Now I'm waiting for the flat bar that I order from Titan ebay store so's to weld the shanks to. The flat bar was suppose to be here this past week, If I'd went to a steel shop would've had it put together by now, I think Titan has slow service, the teeth were here in 5 days.
Kudos for getting rust off a 12 year old thread............
FTG-05
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The HC version, which stands for High Carbon, aren't really HC. It's roughly equivalent to 1030 or 1035. And yes, it won't heat treat very well. Which is why RR spike knives are about only good for letter openers.
As teeth, they'd probably work a little better than mild steel but probably not much more.
BrokenTrack
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The homemade teeth I made were out of A36 and they lasted just fine. Like anything made out of steel, that digs in the dirt. If there is some wear showing, surface weld it so it continues to wear. It is not like we are moving thousands of cubic of yards of soil here, if we did, then we would be buying bucket loaders.
I did project "Endless Haul" last year, digging and hauling gravel out of my gravel pit for my Tiny House, and it was still only 700 cubic yards. I did it with a straight cutting edge, but it does help to have teeth to break up the gravel before the bucket gets there.
I did project "Endless Haul" last year, digging and hauling gravel out of my gravel pit for my Tiny House, and it was still only 700 cubic yards. I did it with a straight cutting edge, but it does help to have teeth to break up the gravel before the bucket gets there.
That is a nice convenient set up and should dig right in. I personally like the idea of a bolt in versus a welded one simply for maintaining the integrity of the bucket strength. I would like to make a suggestion. If you could use the type of bolts made for the sickle bar teeth that have a tapered head they would fit flush with the top of the tooth (guard).It would be less apt to keep the dirt from sticking and building up in the bucket.